Penric is escaping Cedonia with Nikys when his talents lead him to a brothel for an evening rest. Overnight to hide their identities Penric dresses as a woman. When a Cedonian general takes an interest in the tall "courtesan", Desdemona's own Mira takes over for a last bow she never expected. ( )

While overall I enjoyed this novella, I found Arisaydia frustratingly ungrateful and stubborn. But the romantic subplot between Penric & Nikys is so much fun -- it reminds me of Miles and Ekaterin :) ( )

More Penric and Desdemoma. What more could you want? Bit shorter than the other three, but closes out the story of Penric's Mission very nicely. ( )

Bujold, Lois McMaster. Mira’s Last Dance. Penric and Desdemona No. 4 (pub order). Spectrum Literary Agency, 2017.
I found the first few Penric and Desdemona books quite engaging, but this one fell a little flat for me. Mira was never as much fun as she was cracked up to be, and Penric’s two traveling companions were never brought to life as most of Bujold’s characters are. There was some fun in watching Penric travel in drag, but it was not enough to sustain even a short novella like this one. I know that not raving about a Bujold piece is like saying Meryl Streep or Daniel Day Lewis gave a bad performance, but still . . . ( )

Light fun, maybe less impressive than the rest of the Penric novellas, but this one has more of one thing than all the others combined. Boobs.

It was very funny, and even though it's basically a direct follow up from Penric's Mission, still a roadtrip novel, it was a delight just for seeing Penric have to cross-dress. :)

That's what you get when one of your ten demons was a courtesan! The poor boy never stands a chance. :) ( )