Presumably people reading these novellas already know about Bujold's World of the Five Gods, but if you're new to it I would definitely suggest reading The Hallowed Hunt before this. Still, Bujold does give a fairly short background on what the great-souled animals really are. Penric and Desdemona are now more used to one another, and it's so fun to see them complement each other. Inglis and Oswyl have great potential as recurring characters, although hard to say if there's room in these short novels for them to return.
