REVIEW: Penric’s Demon (Penric & Desdemona) by Lois McMaster Bujold
On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, “master of all disasters out of season”, and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric’s life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him.
Set in the fantasy world of the author’s acclaimed novels THE CURSE OF CHALION, PALADIN OF SOULS and THE HALLOWED HUNT, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold’s work.
Dear Lois McMaster Bujold,
I’ve heard your name and books praised for years but this is the first one I’ve ever read. I realize that it slots into other series you’ve written but it seemed a good place to start since the entries in this series are novellas. Note, I required the given backstory to learn this world but I think that if a reader is familiar with it, the amount might be a lot. Now having finished it, I can confirm that it was a good starting point for me and am looking forward to continuing.
Young Lord Penric – or Lord Cowherd as two characters mockingly call him – is on his way to his betrothal ceremony, mentally numbering all the ways to be a good husband or rather not to be a bad one, when his life changes forever. Now he’s got to figure out how to proceed and who he can trust.
Pen’s new life could be summed up as “tossed into the deep end” and, bless him, he doesn’t even know how to swim. He wakes up after The Event to discover that even his mother and older brother subtly edge back away from him and he can forget continuing with the betrothal. Instead he gets packed off by the local Learned and arrives at the Temple of the White God aka the Bastard.
Pen is painfully ignorant and few people – most treat him as more of a nuisance than anything else – take much time to explain things. Luckily he and his new demon begin to settle in and Desdemona – who is, I think, tickled pink to have her first name – has quite a bit to teach him. Pen is also painfully earnest and thrilled to have access to a library where he finally gets his hands on a book which unlocks some interesting things for him to know. I could see where the story was headed but was still grinning as Pen and Desdemona worked together as a team.
Someone mentioned that, at least in this first book, Pen acts quite young. Yes, I agree but he’s still a teenager and on his first trips to larger cities so it makes sense to me. He’s on his own, groping to understand his new reality, so he makes some mistakes and does sometimes look like a yokel fresh from the farm. Desdemona seems pleased with him though and I enjoyed watching him start to wise up. By the end, he’s making decisions and considering his choices. He also does one thing that not only shows his character, but wows everyone who sees it or hears of it. I had fun with the story and look forward to the next one. B
~Jayne
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This is a great series. I listen to it as an audiobook – Grover Gardner does the narration, and he is fantastic.
I enjoyed reading the first six or so in this series before my library stopped carrying them. I heartily recommend the author’s The Curse of Chalion which is set in this same world but in a different time. It is a book I’ve reread numerous times.
I also have not read these books, although I tried THE CURSE OF CHALION and it didn’t fit way back then. Time to try again. Thanks, Jayne.
Oh I love the Penric books. But then I am a Bujold fangirl from way back. The first several of the Penric books are all novellas and continue his and Desdemona’s various adventures. I think, of all of the novellas, my favorites are this first one and The Orphans of Raspay. She does go into full a length novel …I think maybe after seven novellas…. with Penric but I haven;t read that yet. Still on Mt. TBR.
I also have to put in a shout out for the Chalion series, especially the first two books. Bujold’s character development work, imo, is peerless. In both books ‘The Curse of Chalion’ and ‘The Paladin of Souls’ we get two protagonists who are older and start off a bit broken by events in their lives . But over the course of their individual books, their characters develop in such a rewarding way. The journey and destination are fun and rather triumphant. They are comfort books for me.
@TinaNoir: I really like Bujold also and I third the recommendation for The Curse of Chalion and also really liked Paladin of Souls. I need to get back to the Vorkosigan books and I’ve also wanted tor read the Sharing Knife series for a long time. I noticed while I was reading the Vorkosigan books that the characters often act older than their ages. So I think it’s good that she made the Chalion characters a bit older to begin with.