The Sharing Knife: Passage

The third book in Bujold's Sharing Knife series is incredibly slow. It follows the first half of Dag and Fawn's honeymoon. Which is largely an idyllic time. Which is kind of boring.

Most of the book chronicles their trip downriver on a boat. But it takes about 100 pages to get there. And since it's clear that that's where everything is leading, I was just impatient to get there. Instead Bujold spends a lot of time setting up new characters and potential conflicts and generally building up the world a bit.

The climax does eventually kick in, and it's thrilling a satisfying. But I struggled with the rest of the book. What's interesting is that I'm finding I like it better in retrospect (and having finished the fourth book). Bujold ultimately convinced me that it was fun to just hang out in this world with these characters, and I'm remembering the book fondly. I'd probably enjoy it more on a re-read than I did the first time through.

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