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.

Some oddly sweet love stories

If you remain squeamish with the idea of a love story (or trist) between anything other than a man and a woman… this might not be for you. But it was sweet and tasteful and a lovely wrap up of the previous story.

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.

Excellent character study

Like most of this series, while there is action and jeopardy, those are simply used to elicit character. The story begins after what would normally be the core of an adventure story, and that part is only mentioned in passing. Here we have only the aftermath. It's an unusual choice, but works well for this sort of story.

The character development for both Pen and Des is extremely well done, even though the story ends on a cliffhanger of sorts.

Highly recommended.

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!

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 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.

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!

Novelas should’ve been two books

Grover Gardner, as always does an exceptional job with the characters. I found the Novelas to be somewhat disappointing as they should’ve been combined into two books. I have read most of the books, but I still do not know the order in which I should have read them to make them chronological.

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).

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.