Penric and Desdemona

Author: Lois McMaster Bujold 

Set in the fabulous fantasy world of Five Gods, the series follow the life and adventure of a Sorcerer name Penric and his Demon Desdemona.  Expanding the world created with The Curse of Challion. 

I really enjoyed the expansion and get to know more about the intricacies of how the daily life works and the limitation of Gods, being one of the mottos: no hands but ours. And that between Gods, they “lend” hand to each other, time and time again, we can see that Penric doesn’t only do deeds for Bastard, his chosen God, but he receives some indirect directions from Father, Mother, Daughter and Son.

Starting from Penric’s Demon, we grow together with the protagonist, how he “acquires” his demon, save her and they establish a friendship that wasn’t done before.

From Penric's short novels series, my co-favorite is: The Orphans of Raspay and The Assassin of Thasalon.

The Anti-Ransom: "Thirty Thousand Silver Royals... That's what they're paying us to not leave you here"

For Five Gods, the first time I read this sentence, had me laughing hysterically for 10 minutes. Second time, another ten minutes.

Bastard using Pen as answer of prayer is sooooo amusing (not for Pen of course), but that just how Gods work, isn't it?

Second favorite passage: Mother negotiating for Jedula Corva is just endearing. And certainly, Bastard did his best, sent Pen, and 3 additional messages to Orbas.

I just love these 2 short stories 🤍

 

Knot of Shadows

The hardest one of all Penric's short novels.

It just broke my heart what happened with Kyems and Agno.

Kyems because we can encounter such tragedy in real life, framed with crime not committed just because the other person is a scumbag.

Agno, is pure tragedy. Barely a boy...

And Penric knowing how the family will react, not gratitude for his hard work but blaming him not being there sooner 😞

Interesting that the death magic can work only on desperate ppl, the one that if not that way, they would self-sundered.