Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold is a Penric and Desdemona novella set in the World of the Five Gods. It is a direct sequel to Penric's Mission, which I have previously read and reviewed, and hence the blurb below contains spoilers for that earlier story.

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 hundred 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 ten dead women whose imprints make up the personality of the chaos demon Desdemona, comes to the fore with her own special expertise.

I bought Mira's Last Dance during a book slump and devoured it in less than 24 hours. Since it has been more than two years since I read the immediate prequel, Penric's Mission, it took me a little while to remember who the persisting side characters were. But it came back to me soon enough and the book was an entertaining read even before that. I do, generally speaking, recommend reading Penric's Mission before Mira's Last Dance, and probably also Penric's Demon, which sets up the whole concept of the novella series. However, you do not need to have read any of the novels in the World of the Five Gods — indeed, I haven't and I've been enjoying the Penric and Desdemona books just fine.

In this story, we see Penric escorting/delivering the two people we met in the previous novella to the city they were trying to reach. Of course, they run into troubles along the way, the most memorable of which requires Penric to call on the skills of one of Desdemona's previous possessed humans, Mira. Hence the title.

Mira's Last Dance was entertaining, a bit introspective and overall a good diversion. I recommend it to fans of Bujold's work and the other Penric and Desdemona books, with the prequel-reading caveat above. I plan to pick up the direct sequel, The Prisoner of Limnos, immediately.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: Self-published, 2017
Series: Penric and Desdemona book 4 in publication order, but 5 in current chronological order, of 7 so far
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased through Apple Books