Royce's Random Thoughts

In this direct sequel to "Penric's MIssion", Sorcerer Divine of the Bastard's order Penric kin Jurald is still on the road with General Arisaydia and the general's sister Nikys, continuing their journey to the safety of the Duke of Orbas' court, after escaping from Cedonian agents who wanted to complete the job of betrayal that had led Arisydia's blinding and Pen subsequent healing of his wounds.

A stopover in a town more than a little reminiscent of Shakespeare's Verona leads to Penric borrowing the skills, and the fashion sense, of one of the ten women his demon Desdemona holds in her memories, in order to give himself and his two charges a good disguise for their end run to the border...

Review: This story, while still tense, is considerably more lighthearted than the fraught circumstances of "Penric's Mission." The Shakespearean reference to Romeo and Juliet early on might hint it's a tragedy in the making, but the circumstances of romance and gender confusion owe more to "As You Like It" and "Twelfth Night". Penric and Nikys' mutual attraction continues, and also continues to be unresolved alas, leaving the story at a bit of cliffhanger at the end despite safety finally being found.

Overall though it's a good read, with Bujold's usual fine touch with characters, dialog and plot, all serving each other in mutual support, much like Desdemona, Penric, and Nikys' support of each other.

Recommended

Summary: Penric, Sorcerer of the Bastard, though only tangentially of the Bastard’s Order, has been in possession of his demon, Desdemona, for eleven years since the events of this series’ first novella, “Penric’s Demon”. Older, wiser, and wanting to be well away from his old post at Martensbridge, his new duty as a courier turns out not to be all that it could, seeing as it lands him in an oubliette as soon as he arrives distant, sunny Cedonia.

( Cut for very minor spoilers )

I have come to praise, Bujold, not to bury her.

Okay, almost every sci-fi fan loves Lois McMaster Bujold, but with a publishing history going back thirty years there's going to be some clunkers even in her bibliography. And I'll admit some of her books just didn't grab me. In publishing order, not order of annoyance, here are the ones that you'd have to pay me to re-read at this point (and I'm no James Nicoll, so it's unlikely to happen).


1. Shards of Honor: Yeah, this is the entry point to the Vorkosiverse. Yes, this introduces Aral and Cordelia. Yes, it's a good character study. But Lois's famous skill at tight plotting has yet to develop. The initial trek of Aral and Cordelia from the burned out remains of her survey camp back to his regaining his command is enjoyable, but then it switches to an episodic series of events as Cordelia becomes a hero, falls from grace, and then flees to Barrayar, Further, Beta Colony is portrayed as a questionably democratic dystopia, with Soviet style psychotherapy, in sharp contrast to it's distant idealized portrayal in later books.

2. The Warriors Apprentice: Again, this is probably a controversial choice, given it's Miles' introduction to the series. But again the plotting is crap, Miles is notably unsympathetic as his Wacky Scheme snowballs into torture/murder and he lies his way into command, and Bothari is killed abruptly and without much lead up.

3. Ethan of Athos: Actually there isn't that much wrong with this book, but it's problematical in the series given the 25-year old time bomb of Ethan introducing the telepath gene to Athos' population, and Barrayar also gaining it for study. Niether of which have really been followed up since, in a series well known for distantly placed Chekhov's Guns. Also the Cetas are notably underdeveloped compared to later in the series. I could read it again if I wanted to without much pain. I just don't want to.

4. Mirror Dance: Or more accurately, the first third of Mirror Dance. It's not that it isn't well written, it's just too painful watch as Mark self-destructs, Miles dies, and there's the squicky bit with Mark and the female clone. I usually skip ahead to Mark starting on his eating disorder and go from there.

5. Komarr: Again, nothing actually bad here, but the painfully rendered relationship between Tien and Ekaterine is too difficult to re-read, especially given it's there mostly to establish that Tien needs to die.

Hmm, if Tien hadn't died, and Ekaterine had just divorced the bastard, A Civil Campaign would have been a very different book.

6. Diplomatic Immunity: After the comic heights of ACC, this is a severe letdown. If it had been done from both Miles and Ekaterine's points of view it might have been better, especially in the rushed denouement, but it wasn't, so we have an ending where Stuff Happens that has to be explained to Miles in a painful infodump.

7. Cryoburn: Ugh. There would have been a fasciniating book here if Aral had died earlier, and Miles, Ekaterine and Cordelia had to deal with the immediate fallout. Instead we get a shock ending after following Miles in a bog standard, not terribly interesting sci-fi plot. Probably the low point of the series so far.

8. The Hallowed Hunt: If this had been a standalone novel from a different author it might have been a minor classic. But as it was it, it was the third book in the Five Gods universe, which abandoned the characters from Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls for a nearly completely different setting, and a pair of leads who honestly don't have much chemistry together.

Comments? Commiserations? Brickbats?

Read the sample chapters online, but I'm going to avoid the e-arc for now. I prefer to read my Bujold in dead tree format the first time through.

( Thoughts and Spoilers behind the cut text )

I’m not buying it.

( spoilers ahoy! )

For avanti_90: “A contest for mad architects”

Note: Yeah I said no fanfic requests. I reserve the right to be inconsistent.

* * *

Third Annual Dono Vorrutyer Memorial Architecture Competition

“Aral, are you all right?” Cordelia asked with concern. Her husband the Lord Regent was standing in front of the model apartment building, one of two dozen on display in the University of Vorbarr Sultana's commencement hall, his head cocked at a sharp angle as he followed the spiral from the base of the building to the... she thought it might be a vertical launch tower at the top, but it was hard to tell.

“I think I've looked at too many of these,” he admitted. “This one almost makes sense.”

“I thought the art museum design with all the plumbing mounted outside was rather clever,” she noted.

“But not practical for maintenance purposes. The whole point behind Vorrutyer's designs was that while they might have been insane to an outsider's perspective, they actually hung together and worked.”

“Yes, but how many other stadiums since the Roman Coliseum can be flooded for underwater combat competitions?”

“True, dear Captain." Aral looked around. "We should find Miles and Bothari and head back to the palace.”

“Oh, let them stay a while. Miles might be inspired.”

“So I fear...”

And I just hit two magic words.

Sonic mapping.

Oh, Ivan. You've never been as dumb as you desperately wanted to be, and Miles isn't the only one in the family capable of panic induced acts of brilliance.

I'm not finished yet, and I've managed to avoid the discussion spoilers on the Bujold listserve, but so far this book, while not in the rarified heights of Mirror Dance or A Civil Campaign, is a vast improvement over Diplomatic Immunity and Cryoburn.