Mira's Last Dance

A Penric & Desdemona Novella in the World of the Five Gods

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this sequel to the novella Penric's Mission, the injured Penric, a Temple sorcerer and learned divine, tries to guide the betrayed General Arisaydia and his widowed sister, Nikys, across the last 100 miles of hostile Cedonia to safety in the Duchy of Orbas.

In the town of Sosie, the fugitive party encounters unexpected delays, and even more unexpected opportunities and hazards, as the courtesan Mira of Adria, one of the 10 dead women whose imprints make up the personality of the chaos demon Desdemona, comes to the fore with her own special expertise.

©2017 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

A GOOD STORYLINE

Enjoyable as always from Lois Bujold but IMO this very...short novella should have been incorporated into book three. Especially when the story continued from book three to book four. I have always enjoyed Ms Bujold's books but I was a bit disappointed that these novellas on Penric in the Five Gods Series came out as novellas. It would have been better if all the four novellas been published as one book! But all the same the plot was good and was well narrated/performed by Grover Gardner.

How Disappointing!

Would you try another book from Lois McMaster Bujold and/or Grover Gardner?

Not anytime soon

What was most disappointing about Lois McMaster Bujold’s story?

There was virtually no story. Nothing interesting happened..

Which scene was your favorite?

The general's hostility to going in drag.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment and boredom

Any additional comments?

Lois has gone overboard with sexuality since 50 Shades of Gray became so poopular. Not all of us want text porn. This was not the style that made her famous.

A dance that drew me in...

Of all the novella's in this series, this is the one that captured and kept my attention, thus far. It is thoughtfully, humorously and sensitively written. Really excellent, and I am so happy I finally felt an attraction to the premise of the story. I am a huge Miles Vorkosigan universe fan, and a dear friend that introduced me to Miles, also really enjoyed this series...and I had trouble appreciating it like her, until now. On to the next, and maybe back to the beginning again... Well-narrated!

Lukewarm at best!

Would you try another book from Lois McMaster Bujold and/or Grover Gardner?

I usually really enjoy both Lois McMaster Bujold and Grover Gardner. The story was so milk toast that I don't believe Gardner had much to work with.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Probably a mystery

Would you listen to another book narrated by Grover Gardner?

Yes, he is usually very entertaining.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Mira's Last Dance?

The problem wasn't editing but the lack of character development.

Any additional comments?

I think this book spent too much time trying to force moral lessons so it wasn't fun or interesting.

Penrik was disappointing in the story.

for the first time ever in any of the stories of the land of the five gods oh, I was disappointed. And I was disappointed most and the character of the hero, whom I love.

Penric and Desdemona for the WIN!

I happen to love Penric! From the very beginning of this series where he accidentally acquires a Demon, to becoming a Protector and Sorcerer for the Order of the Bastard God... and as I'm sure you know, serving the Bastard God isn't always an easy job! For that matter, neither is placating the Demon inside you! That won't stop Penric from doing his best, though!
In this novella, Penric and his two companions are madly running for their lives. Exhausted, and desperately in need of recuperation, they hole-up at the only place available... a brothel! Find out what happens when Penric's Demon takes over (to be precise, when Mira, one of his Demon's aspects takes over)! It gonna have you giggling!!!
Don't miss this read, or even better, have Grover Gardner read it to you!

A comparatively limited story

Not much of a story here really IMO. It was more like a short intro to the next book (Prisoner of Limnos) which was quite good (more “on par” with most of the rest of the books in the series).

well written

This story picks up at 3 nights after Penric’s Mission and covers Penric’s travels with companions to the Duke of Orbis.
Well written and a bit zany, but didn’t engage me like the first 3 Penric books.
Grover Gardner is one of the best narrators out there.

A sad ending for Penric

Grover Gardner is a joy to listen to, i enjoyed listening to these five books, I'm sure i will enjoy the last one.

More, please!

My favorite author read by my favorite narrator. I nust wish the story could go on. Can't wait for the next one.

A decent instalment of the series

The story in this one was pretty much a direct continuation of the story in Penric's Mission.

Penric, Nikys, and Adelis, are still trying to flee to Orbas but the journey through the last parts of Cedonia proves anything but smooth and is hindered by the fact that Penric is still recovering from the happenings at the end of the last novella.

The story was decent enough but not quite as exciting as the story in Penric's Mission. It might just be a personal preference but I've always preferred intrigue stories to journey tales. That is not to say this was a bad listen as it was still pretty good. It had a lot of the elements that made the last instalment of the series so good. We got the combination of Pen, Des, Nikys, and even the surly Adelis again and that resulted in the opportunity for plenty of humour and even a little romance in the tale.

The big plus to this instalment was that we got to enjoy Pen having to draw on the skills of one of Desdemona's previous hosts, the courtesan Mira, to aid his companions flight and that produced a bunch of hilarious moments!

I was not a giant fan with a few developments late in the story and that likely hurt my enjoyment of this story overall.

All in all I felt like this was a good read and a decent sequel to Penric's Mission. Bujold's writing is always good and engaging and the story had plenty of humour and a bit of tension to keep it ticking along at a decent pace.

I think I'm liking Grover Gardner a little it less every time I listen to him. He still does an OK job with this series but I preferred the trio of narrators that did full books in the World of the Five Gods series.