Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold

 I've said it before, I'm certain, but Bujold is one of those writers whose works I can enjoy over and over again. She's like comfort food for my brain.

Knot of Shadows continues the saga of Penric and Desdemona which began with Penric's Demon, and has generated a total of nine novelettes so far. Can't determine whether the story length selection by Bujold has been an inspirational affair or a financial decision; more books at a lower prices = better net sales over time? It certainly has made it an easier decision for me to pull the trigger on the latest Kindle offering at $3.99 rather than $14.99 for most other authors. Dorothy Grant has done something similar that seems to be working out well.

Anyway, most of the recent offerings in this saga have had at their heart some quirky mystery that Penric needs to solve, using his wits, sorcerous skills, and Desdemona's experience, as well as a little help from his friends. In this story, a body has been fished out of the harbor which is only, as they say "mostly dead". It turns out to have been inhabited by a ghost, not the spirit of the person who occupied the body originally, who has been slain by death magic, or death miracle, depending on your theological point of view in the world of the Five Gods.

For those who have been following Bujold for some time, this further explores some concepts that arose in her first book in this world, Curse of Chalion, about how death magic/miracles work and some of their more unexpected consequences. Hmmm...we don't seem to have any novels by Bujold involving death magic where it happens exactly as expected, do we? Point to ponder.

Reading this one inspired me to go back and binge read Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls over the weeekend. I highly recommend all of Bujold's books, but most especially the Vorkosigan stories and the Five Gods stories.

Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold

This novella, set in Bujold's world of the Five Gods, picks up the tale of Penric - all growed up, trained as a Learned now - a couple of years after the events of Penric's Demon. When a temple investigator named Oswyl shows up on the trail of a murderous shaman, the young scholarly fellow sets out to help justice be done, though perhaps not in the way that Oswyl intends.

Bujold seems to be trying to express a theme I've heard discussed in a few sermons regarding how the Gods get their work done in the mundane world - usually by sending their servants, willing or not, to go take care of things. When you whine about, "why does God allow this to go on? Why doesn't he do something?", the answer seems to be to get up off your tail and do your part, miracles may follow as required.

Not the best of her Five Gods stories, but amusing enough.

Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

This story is a bit like the rhyme regarding the fellow journeying to St. Ives, who met a man with seven wives. A minor nobleman, Penric, is on his way to his wedding, when he meets a party traveling with a sorceress whose demon has somewhat more than seven lives. When the woman is stricken with a heart attack suddenly, our well-meaning bumbler tries to assist her, and ends up with the demon jumping in to inhabit his body, as the sorceress passes away.

His wedding plans in sudden turmoil, his future in doubt, Penric is dispatched quickly to a temple of The Bastard in Martensbridge, where the Learned Tigney is in charge. It is hoped that the Learned will have some idea what to do about Penric's demon. On the journey there, however, Penric, always a curious fellow, begins to make the acquaintance of his inhabitant in perhaps a deeper way than any of its previous...owners?...have done, and actually gives it a name, speaks to it kindly, and asks for stories of its past lives.

Various adventures in the temple and town ensue, as Penric simply tries to survive and find out what path his new life should take, and the more politically minded folks in the story either try to get control of the demon for themselves, for its powers, or to banish it from the land of the Five Gods forever.

A nice little novella my favorite Bujold fantasy realm.

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

 Sequel to Curse of Chalion, this story picks up about three years after those events. The Provincara of Valenda has died, and her daughter, the dowager royina, Ista, finally decides she must throw off the chains that have bound her to that place and go on a pilgrimage. She gathers "by chance" an interesting crew to accompany her - the brothers Foix and Ferda of the Daughter's Order, the Learned dy Cabon, a priest of The Bastard, a young woman courier named Liss, and a miscellaneous troupe of men at arms acccompanying Foix and Ferda. Her path is indeterminate at first, and they wander from holy site to shrine casually, but when they encounter a Jokonan force on a scouting expedition gone astray in one of the northern provinces where war with the Roknari is about to break out, things get hairy in a hurry.

Ista sends Liss off to warn the countryside and summon help, instructs Foix, who was recently "infested" by a demon, and dy Cabon, who will be tortured by the Jokonans for his faith, to hide in a culvert until the force has passed, and flees like a wounded mother bird to lure the force away from her young companions. She is capture by the Jokonans and will be held for ransom, a tasty prize due to her close connection with the ruling couple of Chalion. She is rescued after a short time by Arhys dy Lutez, a bastard son of the same dy Lutez who was her husband Ias' best friend, and who died in a misconceived ritual to rid the kingdom of the curse in the previous book's title.

Arhys rules a small but strong keep called Porifors, which contains an interesting mystery in and of itself, and which turns out to be the key to stopping a Roknari plot to invade Chalion. Ista finds that the gods have plans for her which do not include her settling down and acting the part of an aging spinster, and finds that the work they hold for her has rewards beyond her expectations.

Great stuff, and the only bad thing is that it appears to be the final book in this cycle, aside from the vaguely related The Hallowed Hunt.

I leave you with a marvelous Bujold quote:

"I am too old to start over."

"You have more years ahead of you than Pejar, half your age, whom we buried outside these walls these two days past. Stand before his grave and use your gift of breath to complain of your limited time. If you dare."

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

Some months ago my daughter, who has never been terribly interested in science fiction or fantasy, asked me if I could recommend a couple of good books in the genres. I loaned her a copy of Crystal Singer and The Curse of Chalion. She never read either one, and I retrieved them on my way home from Florida through Salt Lake after Thanksgiving. Just had the urge to read (for at least the third time) Bujold's novel, so here's my thoughts:

I've mentioned before that there are some authors whose newest novels I don't dare start reading at bedtime, such as Orson Scott Card. Bujold is another one who consistently turns out engrossing and wonderful stories that just demand to be finished - even on a third read.
Lupe dy Cazaril was once a page to the Provincar of Valenda,next a courtier, a disappointed poet, and a soldier. While commanding the fortress of Gortoget during the most recent war with the Roknari, he and his men endured a long siege, which left them with a fine appreciation of recipes for roasted rat. When Caz was finally ordered to surrender his post to the Roknari, all of his men were ransomed by the commander of the Chalionese forces, but his name was omitted from the list - by the brother of a man whose cowardice he had once witnessed.

So, after being creatively tortured for a while by the Roknari, he was sold into slavery on a war galleon, and spent months enduring the hardships of rowing and the cruelty of the oarmasters. When things appeared most dire, he and the rest of the slaves were freed by an Ibran ship which captured the galleon, and executed its crew for their crimes. He was released in the port of Ibra and spent several months having a nervous and physical breakdown at one of the temples there. The clerics nursed him back to a semblance of health, fitted him with some castoff clothing, and sent him on his way.

As the story begins, we find Caz on the road "home" to Valenda, hoping to beg a spot as a scullery worker, in the household of the Provincar's widow. He is granted an audience when he arrives, and she offers him refuge for a time, with food, new clothes (still hand-me-downs, but of a better quality) and a roof over his head. The Provincar's daughter, Ista was once wed to the chief ruler - the Roya - of the land of Chalion, but after his death, she apparently went mad, and has been sheltering at her mother's home in Valenda ever since.

Her children, the royce Tiedez and royess Iselle, are heirs to the throne of Chalion, after their half-brother Orico, the current Roya. Orica and his wife, Sara, have been unable to produce heirs of their own, due to - as you can gather from the title of the book - a curse upon the royal house, which clings like some sort of dark miasma to the royal house and all who are born or marry into it. When Iselle and her younger brother are summoned to court, the Dowager Provincara needs a man she can trust to watch over Iselle, and she charges Caz with being her hands and eyes in the palace.

The story of what happens after they arrive at the castle is filled with wonderfully twisty political and personal motivations, and Caz must not only defend his charge from false friends and suitors, but from the dark urgings of the curse, which takes the virtues of the people it chokes in its grasp and exaggerates them into vices.

Richly detailed, gloriously fun, and filled with the usual well-developed characters and plotting that are Bujold's signature.

The Hallowed Hunt, by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Hallowed Hunt takes place in the same fantasy realm as Bujold's earlier fantasy novels, Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, but in a different part of the countryside. In the earlier novels, there is a source of conflict between the nations that follow the doctrine of the five gods, and those who only acknowledge four. In The Hallowed Hunt, we encounter another nation that worships the five Gods (Daughter of Spring, Mother of Summer, Son of Fall, Father of Winter and The Bastard), which long ago conquered a group of tribes who seem to have a more druidic tradition, allying themselves with nature spirits by taking the souls of animals into themselves with ritual sacrifice.


Bujold continues to live up to her reputation as the mistress of tale-telling. She has well developed characters, realistic scenery, and enough adventure and intrigue to keep you turning pages till well into the night. The story begins when Ingrey, a servant to one of the high counselors of the Hallowed King, arrives at a country estate where a prince of the blood has been murdered, to investigate matters. It gets complex quickly, as the prince was killed by a woman he was raping as part of performing a dark ritual attempting to gain the soul of a leopard for himself. It seems an obvious case of self defense to Ingrey, but the political aspect quickly spins out of control, and a romantic relationship begins to develop between Ingrey and Ijada, the prince's victim - or was he hers?

I believe it was John W. Campbell, noted SF editor, who defined science fiction as being stories about the effect upon people of new technologies (I paraphrase badly). If that's the case, then fantasy should be stories about the effects upon people of magical environments. Bujold demonstrates once again that she understands the necessary consequences of magical and divine activity for ordinary folks.

Bujold's fantasy doesn't have that sort of out-of-the-frying-pan feel found in her earlier Vorkosigan SF tales, but I give all of it a two thumbs up.

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