Ahoy there me mateys! The Penric and Desdemona novellas take place in the World of the Five Gods from the trilogy of that name. Book one of the trilogy, curse of the chalion, is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read and I really enjoyed the remaining two. Penric, a sorcerer, and Desdemona, his chaos demon, are a fantastic duo that I ADORE.
I normally read in publishing order but have to admit that I strongly feel this series should be an exception if ye be new to it. I recommend the omnibuses. The first omnibus contains novellas 1 – 3 in the internal chronological order not publishing order. The second set has novellas 5 – 7 and the third has 4, 8 – 9.
I own the first two omnibuses and had only not read number 9 (masquerade in lodi) so I gave in and went to give the author some loot. Of course when I did, there was number 12 (demon daughter)! I don’t know how I missed that but I got them both and read them back to back. Not surprisingly, I loved them.
Masquerade takes place in Lodi where it is the holiday Bastard’s Eve. But no rest for Penric or Desdemona. A man has lost his wits, a nasty demon is on the loose, and a Saint is summoned to help. It was fun to go back in time and see Penric not as assured in later books. I did guess the bad guy in this but loved the Saint and the town of Lodi. It is excellent to watch Pen be out of sorts by dealing with women. I can always read more about the world building and Penric. I was glad to finally have this gap filled in.
Daughter was even better and a new favorite. A six-year-old girl is washed up on shore and is carrying a demon. Penric has to deal with her and the demons don’t play nice with each other. It was lovely to see Nikys play a larger role. It was interesting to see Penric and Desdemona be at odds. I loved revisiting one of the best Saints. I loved some of the new philosophical questions. I loved this period.
I cannot believe I have now read all the World of Five Gods stories. If the author writes more, I will read them. I guess now I should get caught up on the rest of The Vorkosigan Saga. Arrrrr!
To visit the author’s website go to:
Lois McMaster Bujold – Author
To add to Goodreads go to:
Yer Ports for Plunder List
Previous Log Entries for this Author
The World of the Five Gods series – Fantasy
the curse of the chalion – book 1
paladin of souls – book 2
the hallowed hunt – book 3
penric’s progress – omnibus 1 (eArc)
penric’s travels – omnibus 2
the orphans of raspay – book 8
the physicians of vilnoc – book 9
the assassins of thasalon – book 10
knot of shadows – book 11
The Sharing Knife series – Fantasy
knife children – book 5 (eArc)
The Vorkosigan Saga – Sci-Fi
shards of honor, falling free, and the warrior’s apprentice – books 1, 4, 2
ethan of athos, brothers in arms, borders of infinity, and the vor game – books 3, 5, 5.1-5.3, 6
Captain's Quarters 