“The gods do not act for our ends, but for Theirs. Presumably, the god has some interesting future in mind for you-for you two. This is not a blessing. Good luck. You’ll need it.”

Two book reviews in a week! Or, I guess since in this post I’ll be talking about two novellas, it’s three book reviews in one week. Haven’t done that in a while – not since earlier this year when I reviewed the first three books in the Ascendance Series.

Anyway, I read the first two novellas in the Penric and Desdemona series a couple weeks ago. And I enjoyed them both a fair amount. It took this long to do this review because I wanted to catch up on my other books reviews on books I Read before these two, and then I couldn’t decide if I wanted to either make this one or two reviews. Obviously, I chose to do the former.

But yeah, let’s get onto the review proper!

Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

My Review

“You looked a god in the eyes and bore witness for me, by which alone I am preserved.” She took a deep breath, through his mouth. “You looked a god in the eyes. And spoke for me. There is nothing in my power that I will ever refuse you, after that.”

My favorite thing about novellas in general is that they tend to be faster paced than full novels usually are. They’re shorter and therefore have fewer pages to get to the point, and I appreciate that. I tend to enjoy books that are fast-paced is all.

And Penric’s Demon is no exception to this – it’s pace is relatively quick and enjoyable. My favorite thing about this particular novella is the characters, however. Or, at least the two main ones (and another one who isn’t, but we’ll get to her). Penric is our protagonist here, and he’s a lovable ball of awkwardness that I enjoyed following. Desdemona is the demon that he accidentally acquires and is also a fantastic character. I felt that their growing bond and frequent banter was the strongest aspect of this book, and it was definitely my favorite thing about the novella.

I also really liked Ruchia, the old woman who dies at the very beginning of the book. (It’s not a spoiler because it happens less than ten pages in and is in the plot summary.) We don’t get to know her at all well before she passes away, but the stories that are told about her after the fact made me love her and wish we could have seen a little more of her before her death. But I understand why that’s not possible – she is the inciting incident, after all.

The plot and world building were both interesting, especially to someone who hadn’t been exposed to Bujold’s other works before this one. I know that the Penric and Desdemona series of novellas take place in a world the author has previously written in, and are spin-offs, but I had no trouble understanding anything. Bujold explains how her world works in a clear and concise way, and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not having read any other books in the World of the Five Gods. And I thought it was a solid little book.

So yeah, that’s what I thought of the first novella. Now, let’s move onto the next one!

Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold

My Review

“Your head seems very, uh, crowded,” Oswyl offered at last, into the rather blighted silence that followed this.

“Very,” said Penric. He brightened. “But at least I never lack for tales.”

I found that I enjoyed Penric and the Shaman a little less than Penric’s Demon. Don’t get me wrong – it was still a good book! – I just preferred the first one.

Penric and Desdemona and their bond was the strongest part of book one, and I feel that it was the same way in this one. But this novella featured two additional point-of-views instead of just Penric’s like in its predecessor, so there ended up being far less of the two of them, which was disappointing. But I did like what the new character POVs – Oswyl and Inglis – added to the narrative and it was really interesting seeing Penric and Desdemona from the outside, so I didn’t hate it or anything.

There’s also a pretty decent time skip between the two books, but I didn’t mind it, even though it skipped Penric’s training arc. This also has the added bonus of us seeing how Penric grew into himself, and how he and his demon have finally synchronized as a team.

I also really enjoyed seeing more of this world. As I mentioned above, this is my first experience with this setting. I liked it during the first novella and I’m glad I got to observe more of it.

Penric, propped up on one elbow, studied him thoughtfully. He finally said, “A bit of free theological advice. Do not deny the gods. And they will not deny you.” As Oswyl stared at him, he went on, “Dangerous habit, mind you. Once you start to let Them in through that first crack, They’re worse than mice.”

So yeah, that’s what I thought about the first two novellas of the Penric and Desdemona series. They were both pretty good, even if I did enjoy one a little more than the other, and I definitely recommend it even if you havent read anything in the World of the Five Gods before. I think there’s a pretty decent chance I might come back to it someday, too. For now though, I’m gonna try to get back at my TBR.

And as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

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