Choko's Reviews > Winterfair Gifts

*** 4 ***

A buddy read with Evgeny and Maria, because we need some Miles in our lives!!!

Oooo, it is soooooooo good to be back with Miles and the gang!!! Something is magical about this series! I have been having some personal stuff that has been making me blue and just starting this short novella about the impending wedding of Miles and his chosen bride made me smile! As bleak as my personal life has been as of late, as overcast and rainy with the rivers flooding our streets and highways, and as terrible as our Congress's vote against the healthcare my family counts on was today, just getting to read about Taura from the guardsman in Vorkosigan House Roic's POV, brought some joy and amusement back in my heart. Is the story perfect? No, but it sure packs a punch in its little package.

"...“integrity is a disease, and you can only catch it from someone who has it.” ...

We got to meet Roic last book when he failed to wear clothes at a particularly messy time and it got very embarrassing for him as the whole Vorkosigan family and guests happened to arrive just at that moment... This whole book is from his perspective and is at New Years' festival, Miles wedding and a ton of guests for the occasion. Being security he is kept busy, but one of his main jobs, personally prescribed by Miles, is to escort Sargent Taura around and try to make her time enjoyable. This mostly means that he has to keep the exceedingly phobic toward genetically modified individuals Barrayarans away from her, so they don't hurt her feelings... Taura is a soul with which everyone can fall in love with, but stuffed in a body of a genetically engineered wolf-human hybrid meant to be the perfect solder, running on very fast metabolism, which shortens her life span to the early twenties... She knows this, she knows her days are numbered, and she still lives to the fullest, no regrets, no missed opportunities to be good, gentle, and embrace every experience as precious!!!! I always say I want to be like Cordelia, Miles's mother, but I also want to be able to cherish every moment the way Taura does! And I wish all of us had her gentle nature and capacity for all sides of life the way she does...

"...“When he invited me to come for the Winterfair season I wasn't sure if it was hunting or social. and whether I should pack weapons or dresses."
Lady Vorpatril's smile sharpened. "Dresses are weapons, my dear, in sufficiently skilled hands.” ...

This was a pleasure to read, seeing Roic grow out of his prejudices in front of our eyes and the little mystery thrown in was just a little sugar on top:):):) I love this series and I cannot recommend it more to all who enjoy light banter but some really significant thought processes most of the time.

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may we all find what we Need in the pages of a good Book!!!!