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Penric’s Demon audiobook cover art

  • Penric’s Demon

  • A Fantasy Novella in the World of the Five Gods
  • By: Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Narrated by: Grover Gardner
  • Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
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On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is the Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • A Kinder, Gentler Demon

  • By Carol on 01-10-16
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  • The Hallowed Hunt

  • By: Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
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The half-mad Prince Boleso has been slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile. It falls to Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff to transport the prince to his burial place and to bring the accused killer, Lady Ijada, to judgment. The road he travels with his burden and his prisoner is fraught with danger. But in the midst of political chaos, magic has the fiercer hold on Ingrey's destiny, and Ijada herself may turn out to be the only one he dares trust.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Magic and Kingship in the Land of the Five Gods

  • By Rose on 04-25-07
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  • Falling Free

  • By: Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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    4.5 out of 5 stars 1,719
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 1,408
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Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall. Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Don't read this one first

  • By Carol on 02-20-13
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  • The Sharing Knife, Volume 1

  • Beguilement
  • By: Lois McMaster Bujold
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  • Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
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    4.5 out of 5 stars 636
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Young, pregnant Fawn Bluefield has just fled her family's farm to the city of Glassforge, where she encounters a patrol of the enigmatic soldier-sorcerers known as Lakewalkers. Fawn has heard stories about the Lakewalkers, who are wandering necromancers with no permanent homes and no possessions except the clothes they wear and the mysterious knives they carry. What she does not know is that the Lakewalkers are engaged in a perilous campaign against inhuman and immortal magical entities known as "malices".

  • 2 out of 5 stars

  • Not really my thing

  • By Eric C. Zawadzki on 08-27-09
All Systems Red audiobook cover art

  • All Systems Red

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All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • I LOVE MURDERBOT

  • By Michael - Audible Editor on 11-06-17
The Spirit Ring audiobook cover art

  • The Spirit Ring

  • By: Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Narrated by: Jessica Almasy
  • Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
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Fiametta Beneforte dreamed of making beautiful and enchanted objets d'art, but alas her magician-goldsmith father was more likely to have her scrub the kiln than study magic. After all, it was a waste to train a mere daughter beyond the needs of the moment.... Thur Ochs dreamed of escaping the icy mines of Bruinwald. But the letter from his brother Uri arranging his apprenticeship to Master Beneforte was not the only force that drew him over the mountains to the Duchy of Montefoglia.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • On the whole, a disappointment

  • By Becca on 02-18-12

Publisher's Summary

A delightful collection of Lois McMaster Bujold's early stories and a comprehensive introduction by this New York Times best-selling author.

Protozoa is a word from biology via the Greek, meaning "first animals". These short stories were indeed among the first life spontaneously generated in Lois McMaster Bujold's nascent writing career. Along with an introduction by the author, this collection features the short stories "Barter", "Garage Sale", "The Hole Truth", "Dreamweaver's Dilemma", and "Aftermaths".

©2011 Lois McMaster Bujold. “Barter” © 1985 by Lois McMaser Bujold. “Garage Sale” ©1987 by Lois McMaster Bujold. “The Hole Truth” ©1986 by Lois McMaster Bujold. “Dreamweaver’s Dilemma” © 1995 by Lois McMaster Bujold. “Aftermaths” © 1986 by Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Classic Bujold if a bit underdeveloped.

First, Ms. Bujold's narrator is, as always, perfect. I don't believe she has ever used anyone other than Grover Gardner and I applaud her good sense in this. The narration is excellent in each and every Vorkosigan saga. That said, I could have lived without this entry in that saga. It is well written but totally disjointed and confusing as to how it relates to any of her other books except, of course, the last entry which is already published in Shards of Honor (I think, or is it in Barrayar?).

My vote says good writing, great narration, but poor storyline in this compendium. I will listen again after digesting the other two stories that just came out and perhaps change my mind but first impression is that this should have been held back and released during the long drought between books and not at the same time as two other books from Ms. Bujold's are released.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lois McMaster Bujold is the best!

I love Lois McMaster Bujold characters, so well developed flawed funny and Excellent. My favorite reader too. can't get enough!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Michael
  • Walnut Creek, CA, United States
  • 07-21-16

Three Weak, One Repeat, One Very Good Short Story

These are very early, mostly note previously published, short stories. Most are better than average short stories, but that is not saying a lot as the vast majority of short stories are very weak. "Barter", "Garage Sale", "The Hole Truth" are short stories with rather weak, slightly humorous Twilight Zone endings. These were all previously unpublished, for good reasons. "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" is a very good short story, and was Bujold’s first published work. It is set in the Vorkosigan universe with interesting characters and a pleasant little mystery. "Aftermaths" was previously published in Cryoburn and is an excellent short story, but all Vorkosigan readers will have read this before. Nevertheless, it was pleasant to hear this again.

Only Bujold completests need to read the first three stories. “Dreamweaver” makes the rest of the book quite worth the time and “Aftermath” is nice to rehear.

Grover Gardner’s narration is, as usual, wonderful. He makes the lessor stories quite tolerable, and brings life and humor to the best of the stories.

7 of 18 people found this review helpful