Mira's Last Dance

Unlike the other stories so far in the Penric series, which take place years apart, this one is a direct sequel to the previous one. It picks up hours after Penric, Nikys, and Adelis narrowly escaped their pursuers and follows the rest of their journey to safety in Orbas. They stop briefly in a brothel to recover and get their bearings, where Penric gets the idea to disguise himself as a wealthy, semi-retired courtesan, with the aid of one of Desdemona's previous hosts.

This disguise, of course, leads to shenanigans and makes for a fun farce. It also complicates the developing relationship between Penric and Nikys. What had been a slow-burn, seemingly inevitable romance between the two is thrown off. This being a Bujold story, I was expecting a happy ending. I was pleasantly surprised to discover something much more ambiguous.

It was refreshing to get a story from her that wasn't all wide-eyed optimism and love-conquers-all. I love those stories, of course. The great comfort of Bujold's work is knowing that it will all turn out alright in the end. And things mostly do, here. The characters find sanctuary and livelihoods. They just don't find love. But since it's not all alright, I can only hope that means that this isn't the end of Penric's adventures. I hope I don't have to wait to long for the next installment.

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