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Winterfair Gifts

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

This Hugo-nominated novella adds a delightful extra chapter to Bujold's acclaimed Vorkosigan series. Falling in between the novels A Civil Campaign and Diplomatic Immunity, it describes the wedding of Miles and Ekaterin and the events leading up to it.

In the festive season of Winterfair on the planet Barrayar, Lord Miles Vorkosigan is making elaborate preparations for his wedding. The long-awaited event stirs up romance and intrigue among his eccentric family and friends, particularly for bioengineered space mercenary Sergeant Taura and shy, diffident Armsman Roic. But Miles also has an enemy who is plotting to turn the romantic ceremony into a festival of death.

Winterfair Gifts offers another of Bujold's witty, character-centered science-fiction plots with a twist of romance.

Hi-fi sci-fi: listen to more in the Vorkosigan saga.
©2004 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
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Critic reviews

"Miles is one of the most enjoyable characters in science fiction." ( School Library Journal)

Featured Article: 12 of the Best Sci-Fi Series in Audio


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What listeners say about Winterfair Gifts

Average customer ratings
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how the garden grew

What did you love best about Winterfair Gifts?

meeting Roic (fully dressed)

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. He's always good, and has corrected some mispronunciations from the earlier books in the series

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Worth the credit

It’s a hard to justify a credit to spend but if you really like Miles and these books it’s hard to pass it up. At first I was going to just go to the next book but I felt his wedding would be to big to miss and I’m very glad I didn’t.

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1 person found this helpful

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

A lovely story

A lovely story for Vorkosigan fans, from a new point of view character.
Narration has a problem, Taura's dialog is very quiet and so hard to hear

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Taura has a special time at Miles’ wedding

Guests have arrived for Lord Miles’ wedding to Ekaterin and Armsman Roic is tapped to escort Sergeant Taura for dress fittings and running. They’re also drawn into a mystery and a bit of romance. It’s 10 years since Miles rescued Taura and she’s on borrowed time, so it’s really sweet that Taura gets to enjoy the company of some handsome men and feel a bit of that fairy princess magic.
Gardner is just a great narrator.

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

Silly, typical, but fun

Had fun listening, though I felt that some character developments were a bit forced. It's a good follow up to A Civil Campaign. The story focuses a lot of time on a size relationship when it should have had more of the wedding itself. Still if you're a fan, you'll be grinning the entire time.

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

fabulous

A fabulous story as seen from the eyes of some of the supporting characters! A great character building piece.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great ending to a great character

Miles is one of the great characters in all of science fiction a nice end to his love life

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Action Packed Short Story

What did you love best about Winterfair Gifts?

This story wrapped up the Miles wedding story arc. But in this universe nothing runs easily.

What did you like best about this story?

I am a huge fan Lois McMaster Bujold's work most notably the Miles VorKosigan saga but I had missed this story for a number of years. I was delighted to find there was actually a story devoted to the wedding.

Which scene was your favorite?

Armsman Roic finds Seargent Tura taking one of the wedding gifts.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The wedding when it finally happened was very welcome.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Yes, I really gave it 5 stars

Any additional comments?

This little romp in the Vorkosigan universe is just plain fun. It might not be the place to start if you are unfamiliar, but it I really enjoyed getting the perspective of some normally "supporting cast" characters.

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

Another great story from a master

I had read the whole series of Miles Vorkosigan Novels, but not this one. I felt it maybe too short to tell a decent story. I was wrong. It worked very well as it filled in some gaps in the whole adventure.
Lois is a such a fantastic writer, filling each story, each chapter with so much detail. All this detail has relevance thats what amazes me.
The sad part is I have read the whole series now and I want more.
And I take my hat off the Grover Gardner also , the narrator , he helps make the characters very real.

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