SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold

Winterfair Gifts (Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Winterfair Gifts is a sequel novella to A Civil Campaign (Reviewed earlier on this blog), and features the events leading up to and through Miles and Ekaterin's wedding, as well as the return of an older character from the series, Sergeant Taura.  Told from the perspective of Miles' Armsman Roic, Winterfair Gifts follows up its romantic predecessor with a romance of its own, which is really sweet.

(Obviously, don't read this before A Civil Campaign, and if you picked up this series with Komarr, you might miss some of the references here, particularly since Taura is the second main character of this story, so if you did start the series that late, try to read the novella "Labyrinth" if you can)


Quick Plot Summary:  In the few days before Miles and Ekaterin's wedding, Miles' friends from the Dendarii Mercenaries arrive as guests:  Elena and Baz (and baby Cordelia), Arde Mayhew, and Sergeant Taura, the genetically engineered 8 foot tall fanged woman who Miles rescued years ago (and who was his former lover).  Armsman Roic finds himself assigned to watch over Taura as she first shops for clothes, then runs for exercise....and then as she creeps through Vorkosigan House at night and possibly finds a plot against Miles and Ekaterin.  As a Barrayarn man born and bred, Roic has never seen anything quite like Taura, and begins to find himself enthralled with her...

Winterfair Gifts is very predictable story but is still very very sweet as we follow Roic, who we saw in small glimpses in ACC, as he battles through his insecurities with himself and his insecurities as a typical Barrayaran confronted with the reality of the greater Galaxy in Taura, and how sweetly his response to that comes to be.   Other Barrayarans might have very different reactions to Taura, but it should be no surprise that even the least experienced Armsman of the Vorkosigans would have a more progressive response....to say the least.  And it's nice to see Taura again and to see both Roic and Taura happy in the end (again this is so predictable that I don't mind spoiling it) makes this a ery fun story for those who have read the series.