Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Simply a great book. Don't know how many times I've read it. Here's a great quote:
Simply a great book. Don't know how many times I've read it. Here's a great quote:
[Cordelia said] "..I've always thought - tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"No," Said Vortala.
"Yes," said Vorkosigan.
"I've always felt that theists were more ruthless than atheists," said Ezar Vorbarra.
"If you think it's really wrong," said Cordelia to Vorkosigan, "that's one thing. Maybe that's the test. But if it's only fear of failure - you have not the right to refuse the gift for that."
"It's an impossible job."
"That happens, sometimes."