The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

For some reason Bujold had a story in mind she wanted to tell that required a very kooky setup, is the only way to describe it, in a big break from the last two books of her's that I just finished, so although I spent the first two thirds of this book shaking my head at how downright silly some of the events were, the payoff was fantastic and I couldn't put it down.