• The Prisoner of Limnos

  • A Penric & Desdemona Novella in the World of the Five Gods
  • By: Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Narrated by: Grover Gardner
  • Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (497 ratings)

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The Prisoner of Limnos  By  cover art

The Prisoner of Limnos

By: Lois McMaster Bujold
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's summary

In this sequel novella to Mira's Last Dance, Temple sorcerer Penric and the widow Nikys have finally reached safety in the duchy of Orbas when a secret letter from a friend brings frightening news: Nikys's mother has been taken hostage by her brother's enemies at the Cedonian imperial court, and confined in a precarious island sanctuary.

Their own romance still unresolved, Nikys, Penric, and of course Desdemona must infiltrate the hostile country once more, finding along the way that family relationships can be as unexpectedly challenging as any rescue scheme.

©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about The Prisoner of Limnos

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, but the pricing is off...

I am a lon-time Audible listener and also a fan of this author and narrator. Usually, I use one of my monthly credits on a 20-40 hour work, which lasts me mist of the month. However, after listening to the first longer book, there was a series of 4-5 hour separate books each costing $9.95 or 1 credit. I ended up buying each instead of using the credit I would need for a more expensive book. But with each book being so short, I ended up spending a lot. Frankly, all of these short volumes chronicle the tails of the same person and mostly the same characters. There is no reason I can see that they were not all part the f the same book, which would have made sense to use 1 credit on. So feel a bit cheated due to the strange pricing model.
Otherwise, the content and performance were good.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Penric returns

At 5 hours and 25 minutes, this is one of the longest of Bujold's novellas about Penric and his demon Desdemona. It starts soon after the ending of Mira's Last Dance. I don't want to go into plot details, as it is too easy to get into spoilers, but this book has Penric meet some new friends, have some adventures, tie up some loose ends and more. One of the new characters is an engineer, possibly a tribute to Bujold's late father who was an engineer as well as weatherman.

If there are no more Penric novellas in the future, this can serve as a conclusion to the series. But plenty of room is left for future tales if Bujold is inspired to write them (as I hope she is). And, if she writes more, I hope Grover Gardner narrates them also. Listen and enjoy. (But, I think you will enjoy it more if you have listened to earlier works in the series first, starting with Penric's Demon.)

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Wouldn’t start the series here

This installment of Penric & Desdemona was a good intro to Nikos’s people but otherwise kind of boring. I listened on audiobook and, while I admit to being quite tired at the time, the characters blurred together and I lost track of who was who and what was going on and it kind of didn’t seem to matter.

I was glad that there was no outright torture at least. There just wasn’t as much to the story as I had anticipated based on previous adventures. Couldn’t there have been some shenanigans in trying to resettle everyone?

I’ve quite enjoyed most of the series so I’ll probably give this one another try to see if it improves on repeat. If you also like the series, you’ll want to read it to keep up with the ongoing character arcs. I’m not manic about reading order but even I recommend that if you’re new to the series, start elsewhere.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

You're gonna wanna rush to read this one!

Ummm, yeah... I may have binged 4 of the Penric and Desdemona novellas in 2 days, wanna make sumpthin' out of it? LOL!  You gotta realize that if I did that (and I really did), that there's something to these fun lighthearted tales... Penric's so affable in his daily tête-à-tête with his Demon, Desdemona, it's just so much fun to eavesdrop on them. This may just be my favorite Penric story, yet!
This is the conclusion to the mini ARC which started with Penric's Mission, and we find him rushing into danger to aid the widow Nikys... a woman who's captured his heart, but sofar, refused his advances!
Will Penric get an HEA... or is that just a pipe dream? The answer lies ahead... if you let Lois McMaster Bujold and Grover Gardner take you on another fine adventure, with The Prisoner of Limnos!

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2 people found this helpful

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

Pen and Nykis earn their HEA

Nykis won’t marry Penric, but he’s the first one she goes to for help when her mother is imprisoned. They get financial support from the Duke and assistance from her brother’s almost-fiancé. The machinations and characters involved make for an interesting story.
LMB wraps up the series with Nykis accepting Penric after a serious conversation with Desdemona.
So glad Gardner was able to narrate this series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Worthy sequel to tie loose threads in prior story

A well-written sequel to the loose threads in the last book about Penric & Company. What I love most is how much he lives in his head (like Miles) and fights to not do that, to not overthink. I love the supporting cast of women as I always do in all the Miles books, as well. Clever story construct, that holds up so very well over time.

Very well narrated.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lois McMaster Bujold and Grover Gardner are my fav

This author and narrator pair are my go-to when I want a listening experience as cozy and relaxing as flannel pajamas and hot soup on a snow day. I turn to these stories again and again in between new listening experiences and they never get boring. Lois McMaster Bujold writes some of my favorite characters and mesmerizing escapades, while Grover Gardner is THE BEST at balancing interesting character voices with an even relaxing overall narration. I love how the volume doesn't jump from loud to soft so I can set a listening volume and just enjoy the story. Most of my listening is while I am relaxing into sleep at night but these stories are also grand on long car trips.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun Read

This book reminded me of Jane Eyre: a really good book, but a bit heavy on the coincidences, even for a world where predestination is true. It's still well worth a read, and the narration is excellent.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Desdemona is so amusing

Loved it, favorite author, superb reader. Always a pleasure. The last two books before it were hard on my beloved Penric and this one set things more to right.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good story enhanced by good narration

i had already read the story. The narrator and the narrative enhanced the story so much, i bought the whole series on Audiobook. I also looked up other books by the same narrator.

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