3.5* for this audiobook edition, narrated by Grover Gardner.

This is a long short story or a short novella. In any case, while I liked having a tale told from Ekaterin's point of view, I felt that it wasn't quite as good as the similar plot in "The Mountains of Mourning". ( )

A great quick visit into Vorkosigan space. Love this series and while this was very short, it was just lovely to experience these characters again. Only for those who have read all the rest though. ( )

A surprising but apt exercise for Ekaterin in her role as Mistress of the Vorkodign Estates ( )

Short novella where Ekaterin explores the radioactive parts of Miles's district with a view to rehabilitating them with butter bugs. A nice story, which complements the Mountains of Mourning. ( )

The Flowers of Vashnoi recounts the story of Miles's new wife Ekaterin and eccentric scientist Enrique as they attempt to repurpose Enrique's insects for cleaning up radioactivity from an old war zone. In doing so, Ekaterin encounters a family of refugees, who has to convince them to leave their radioactive home and join modern society. As much as I like stories about competant people being competant, this one had practically zero suspense. This was a nice way to get to know some side characters a little better, but there wasn't anything remarkable here. ( )