Bookish Thoughts

This book is 100 pages long and it took me two weeks to read it because November was so non-stop. I liked it a lot. It's fun and comforting with a twist that I saw coming just in time. And one or two lines that reminded me why I love Lois McMaster Bujold so much. I just wish I'd been able to read it a bit quicker.

The Penric and Desdemona novellas remain a lovely little slice of escapism. I'm glad that Bujold is continuing to write and publish them regularly. This is a world (like all of her worlds) where the people in charge are both generous and competent, which means that any problem is quickly solved and everyone gets a happy ever after. It makes for a wonderful fantasy world.  This one is about a plague, and I gotta say that it was interesting to read about a plague during a plague. Especially since this one only lasted a few weeks, while the real one has been going on for months. Still, some of the beats were similar, which the plague being better understood, the death rate going down even as the infection rate went up because they were learning how to handle it. Also, Penric's separation from his family (and new baby) both because he was so busy and because he didn't want to infect them was heartbreaking to read about. Also too relatable were his fears about contracting the di...

Lois McMaster Bujold remains an auto-buy and auto-read for me. It doesn't matter what she writes or when, as soon as I hear about it I buy it. And then I read it as soon as I can. It probably helps that her "retirement project" has her releasing e-novellas for less than $5 each. They're the perfect impulse buys. That said, I think Bujold's best work may be behind her. Her Penric and Desdemona series is a light-hearted fun, and I always enjoy the adventures these two go on. But they don't quite have the depth of some of the mid-late Vorkosigan books (particularly Memory ). Not that there's anything wrong with that. A quick, light adventure can be exactly what I want to read. It helps that everyone is competent and well-intentioned and everything always works out for the best in the end. I think Bujold is becoming more of an idealist in her old age. Or at least she's writing books that embrace an idealism, perhaps as a response to what's going on...

The Prisoner of Limnos  is pretty much the definition of a feel-good story. Lois McMaster Bujold is incapable of not giving her characters the happiest possible ending. So there are no real surprises here. There's excitement but not much tension. And everyone ends up right where you hope and know they will. There's a lot to be said for comfort reads like this. Where characters clearly state what they want, value open, frank communication, and find their way to the same page. It's nice to watch characters do what they're good at and do it well. It's nice to know that two people who are so clearly meant for each other will end up together. It's not that there aren't obstacles. But they're met head-on by mature adults, and it turns out that they aren't so hard to overcome after all. The only downfall of a story like this is that there isn't a ton to be said. I love Bujold. I'm so glad she's continuing to publish novellas. I wish there we...

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...

Unlike the other stories so far in the Penric series, which take place years apart, this one is a direct sequel to the previous one. It picks up hours after Penric, Nikys, and Adelis narrowly escaped their pursuers and follows the rest of their journey to safety in Orbas. They stop briefly in a brothel to recover and get their bearings, where Penric gets the idea to disguise himself as a wealthy, semi-retired courtesan, with the aid of one of Desdemona's previous hosts. This disguise, of course, leads to shenanigans and makes for a fun farce. It also complicates the developing relationship between Penric and Nikys. What had been a slow-burn, seemingly inevitable romance between the two is thrown off. This being a Bujold story, I was expecting a happy ending. I was pleasantly surprised to discover something much more ambiguous. It was refreshing to get a story from her that wasn't all wide-eyed optimism and love-conquers-all. I love those stories, of course. The great comfor...

Bujold's Penric  series, her "retirement project" has been a nice way to continue to get new fiction from her, even though she's not planning to write any more books. Instead she's been releasing this series of novellas as e-books. And as much as I prefer physical books, the electronic format isn't so bad for these shorter installments, which I can often read in one or two sessions. The third installment jumps forward in time. Penric and Desdemona have been together for over a decade now, and they have a seamless partnership, with a deep knowledge of and respect for each other. It also throws the reader right into the action, with Penric getting kidnapped and thrown into a dungeon in the first chapter. Structurally, this story is a lot like Cryoburn, with kidnappers, shady governments, and shaky partnerships. Adding to the comparison is the fact that Penric is acting more and more like Miles with each passing story. This can probably be chalked up to the c...

This was a lovely, quick read that probed deeply into questions of responsibility and free will. I've come to expect nothing less from Bujold. The first Penric story managed to make demon possession into an almost cuddly coming of age tale. So it's no surprise that she manages to do the same thing with a grisly murder. The story shifts between three points of view: Penric (and his demon), a murderer on the run from authorities, and the man hunting the murderer. The fun comes in the fact that they're all incredibly sympathetic. Even the murderer. Bujold hasn't written a pure villain since Falling Free , so I should have expected that there would be more to the story than met the eye. I also love the world that Bujold set this story in, and I'm always glad for a chance to return to it. The Curse of Chalion  is how I found her in the first place, so this setting has a special place in my heart. The world is a little disparate. Other than the gods, it's hard to ...

I was beyond excited when Bujold announced recently that she was releasing another story in the same universe as  The Curse of Chalion . I was even more excited when that book showed up sooner than I could have hoped for. Of course, this ended up being because it was released only as an eBook, which dampened my excitement somewhat. As much as it makes sense to release electronic copies of stories with no physical counterpart, especially for short stories and novellas, I still prefer the physical book. But it gave me an opportunity to check out the new Kindle app on my tablet, which actually has a few features that I like. Notably the "timer" that told me how long it would take to finish a chapter (or in this case the whole story). I also liked being able to change the background color - sepia was easier on my eyes in the late evening. The story itself was fun. Penric is so innocent and good-hearted (the classic third son) that you can't help but root for him. He's p...