Penric's Fox

Penric's Fox is a murder mystery. Except that in this case, Oswyl is the dogged detective following up on every lead and Penric is the excitable reader who jumps to the answer about a third of the way through the story. So there's not much mystery at all.

Still, it's always a pleasure to spend time in one of Bujold's worlds. So many of her characters are genuinely good people. The fact that she seems to care about them even more than the reader guarantees that they'll all come through alright. Everyone has a happy ending waiting for them. Except for the villains, who don't seem quite so cartoonish against the current political landscape and always meet justice in the end.

It was also fun to revisit the characters from Penric and the Shaman, the second installment in this series. Bujold does so by going back in time a bit to before Penric's Mission. It's a little disappointing to not find out what happens next after that particular story, but it's also fun to see some of the gaps filled in. Bujold is no stranger to writing out of order, and I can't really complain about what she chooses to write about so long as she writes more.

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