Winterfair Gifts {novella}

Summary: Winterfair Gifts is a novella, originally published in the anthology Irresistible Forces, and takes place a few months after the events of A Civil Campaign. It's the Winterfair season, and Miles Vorkosigan is only a few days away from his wedding to Ekaterin Vorsoisson. Vorkosigan House is in an uproar with the preparations, only exacerbated by the arrival of a contingent of Galactic guests, including Miles's former comrades from the Dendarii Free Mercenaries. For some, it's a homecoming, but for others -- most notably the genetically engineered eight-foot-tall super-soldier Sergeant Taura -- it's their first visit to a planet that is still in the grip of a fierce cultural prejudice against genetic mutations.

Miles details his show more most junior armsman, Roic, to be Taura's guide around Vorbarr Sultana; Miles knows this may well be Taura's last chance to see Barrayar, given the shortened lifespan that comes part and parcel with her engineered enhancements, and he wants the trip to be a pleasant one. Roic is a quintessential small-town boy, although his initial wariness of Taura begins to dissipate as he gets to know her. However, one casual remark about genetic engineering (in reference to the butterbugs of A Civil Campaign) shatters their growing connection. Meanwhile, it seems as though someone is plotting to stop Miles and Ekaterin's wedding, and only Taura, with Roic's help, will be able to save them.

Review and Recommendation: Unusually for the Vorkosigan Saga, Winterfair Gifts is narrated entirely from the point-of-view of a minor character -- an extremely minor character, if truth be told. I don't remember Armsman Roic having more than five lines in A Civil Campaign, but he's thrust into the spotlight in Winterfair Gifts, and he acquits himself quite well.

What surprised me most about this story was how effective it was at breaking my heart on behalf of characters other than Miles. The Vorkosigans have been around for so many books that they feel like family, so it's no surprise that my heart breaks on Miles's behalf roughly once per novel. Taura's had much less screen time, but Lois McMaster Bujold is so deft with her characterizations that there were several times in the two and a half hours of this book that I found myself going "Oh, please, no, don't do that to her; hasn't she been through enough?" It all wraps up to a satisfying conclusion, but Bujold manages to wring a lot of drama and a lot of emotion out of 71 pages of text.

While Winterfair Gifts was originally published in an anthology of fantasy and sci-fi love stories, I don't know how well it fared with a reader unfamiliar with the Vorkosigan Saga. The basic plot is straightforward enough, but so many nuances and details would be lost without knowing these characters and their backgrounds. For example, while the general implications of Ellie Quinn's wedding present of a cat blanket is explained within the confines of the story, I don't think that someone who hadn't read both Brothers in Arms and Memory would really grasp how sharply double-edged that present is.

Within the context of the broader series, however, it's an engaging little story. I do wish the solution to the mystery had been developed a little more; as it is it feels almost like an afterthought. But even so, I really enjoyed listening to it -- Grover Gardner does a wonderful job with the narration, as usual -- and it made a nice cap to Miles's and Ekaterin's romance of the past two books. 4 out of 5 stars. show less

I've waited a long time to listen to Winterfair Gifts, but it was worth it! Before we get to Miles and Ekaterin's wedding, there's all the fun with narrator Armsman Roic's reactions to everyone, especially the bio-engineered super-soldier, Sergeant Taura.

Taura has had the misfortune of taking to heart what someone told her: pink is a non-threatening color. Pink just isn't Taura's color. Good thing that Miles asked his aunt, THE Barrayaran Social Arbiter, Lady Alys Vorpatril, to take Taura's wardrobe in hand. Armsman Roic is as stunned by the effect of the first new outfit he sees as any young man in a movie or on TV seeing a great makeover done on a woman or girl he thought was plain.

Poor Roic has been suffering the aftereffect of the show more ridiculous showing he made in the hilarious climax of A Civil Campaign. He's sure that Miles thinks he's a dolt. Armsman Pym keeps him on night duty. This enables him to help Sergeant Taura foil a plot against Miles.

If you love the Vorkosigan Saga, don't miss this story! If you're new to the series, check the suggested reading order so you will be able to properly appreciate this entry. show less

I love this holiday themed story featuring Taura, who deserves a happy story after all she's been through in her short life. I like to re-read this story on the Winter Solstice.

Miles Vorkosigan's wedding has to involve danger and mystery—but this time, while Miles is run a bit ragged, it's armsman Roic and Sgt. Taura who are point persons. All in service of Taura getting some rapt attention from someone near her size. A short life, but an eventful one.

This charming novella is itself a gift from the author to fans of her Vorkosigan series. It follows on from the events in A Civil Campaign with the arrival of guests for the wedding of Miles and Ekaterin. Along with the Bothari-Jeseks and Arde Mayhew, Sergent Taura arrives to celebrate her ex-lover's nuptials. The story is told from the viewpoint of Armsman Roic, who has never seen anyone like Taura before, a huge half human, half mutant, super-soldier with fangs.

Miles does not feature much in this story except as a harried husband-to-be fretting over his bride and the arrangements for the wedding.He is keen to see his guests from his former life enjoy their time on Barrayer and instructs his mother to take Taura under her wing and show more dress her like a lady and ensure she has a good time. Roic gradually warms to Taura, particularly when they uncover a heinous plot together and he overcomes his awe of her to see her as essentially a lonely but lovely woman.

Good fun as always, will appeal to all fans of this series. show less

Winterfair has come to Vorbarr Sultana, and Miles Vorkosigan and Ekaterin Vorsoisson are about to be married. The wedding is planned, the garden is laid out for it (yes, in the winter; Ekaterin designed the garden and Miles is determined to have the wedding there), the gifts are arriving, and so are the guests.

Elli Quinn, Miles' successor as Admiral of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, is not coming, but has apparently sent two gifts. One is a Cetagandan genetically-engineered living blanket, which purrs. It's accompanied by one of Elli's ribald limericks. The other, arriving separately and a little later, is a beautiful string of pearls, with no limerick.

When Ekaterin puts on the pearl choker to see how it looks, and decides it will look show more very good with her wedding dress, all present agree. She doesn't have it on long at this point, because she starts feeling worn out and needs to go lie down. Among those who watch this happening are Sgt. Taura (another of Miles' former Dendarii comrades), and Armsman Roic, who is the newest of the Vorkosigan armsmen.

When Ekaterin doesn't feel well enough to attend the emperor's celebratory dinner for the couple about to be married, it's Taura and Roic who become uneasy about that pearl choker.

Nothing Miles does is ever calm and unexciting, or even particularly safe.

Along the way we have the gracious and terrifying Alys Vorpatril, Taura's first encounter with upperclass Barrayaran women's clothing, and Ivan Vorpatril successfully obeying to the letter the order not to exercise his sense of humor in any way that will disrupt Miles and Ekaterin's wedding. Really, he does not disrupt the wedding. At all. And I grinned; it was very, very Ivan.

Is this novella essential to following the overall Vorkosigan story? No. But it's an enjoyable novella, and the "minor" characters who take leading roles here were very well presented and quite likable.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. show less

This novella is a follow-up to A Civil Campaign, and it's interesting because for once the story is not told from Miles' point of view, but from a humble armsman's. Therefore, we get to see the action from a distance, and at the same time we get to cheer for an unlikely hero.

Like A Civil Campaign, the story is a romance, but in Miles Vorkosigan saga a romance is as interesting as a space opera thriller, so don't expect to be bored. Anyway, if you enjoyed A Civil Campaign, which I did, you'll enjoy this one in the same way.