Penric's Demon
The World of the Five Gods universe: The Penric and Desdemona series, Book 1
Lois McMaster Bujold
Spectrum Literary Agency
Fiction, Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: In a world of many kingdoms and five gods, the young Lord Penric rides to an arranged marriage with something less than his full enthusiasm. It's not that he hates the girl to which he's matched, daughter of a wealthy cheese merchant. It's just that he'd hoped for more from his life: more learning, more travel, more adventure. But the household coffers are too empty to indulge such dreams, so off he rides... until he chances upon a dying old woman and her distraught companions. Not just a woman - a sorceress, possessed of an old and powerful demon... one that chooses Penric, of all people, as its new host after her passing! Saddled with a capricious spirit he does not want and powers he cannot control, Penric - his betrothal naturally nullified, his family mortified - is swept off to distant Martensbridge, where disciples of the Bastard god (lord of chaos and demons) will decide the fate of both man and demon... assuming either survive a city of lies and treachery.
REVIEW: I suppose it's just me. I keep hearing wonderful, glowing praise of Bujold and her works. I keep wanting to see that. But this is the second swing and miss, and I'm starting to suspect she just isn't an author I'm ever going to click with.
The world itself, though part of her larger Five Gods milieu, is supposed to be the start of a stand-alone series, yet I kept feeling that I was two steps behind, especially when the story and characters keep pausing to cram in history and worldbuilding details, as if to make sure I understood that this little adventure was just one corner of a Vast and Wide World with Deep History and Intricate Theology and Other Fantastic Things. What I saw felt... generic, I suppose. The average pseudo-medieval European fantasy world, with lords and priests and mages and traders and horses and castles and all the usual trappings. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it all felt a bit been-there, done-that, especially with so many recent works drawing on other places and cultures for their influences. The characters... again, there was nothing inherently wrong with them, and they served the story decently, but I never felt any real spark of connection or particular interest. Penric's a naive bumbler plunged in way over his head with a demon as old and powerful and prone to minor trickery as Desdemona (yet who inexplicably sits back and lets Penric bumble them both into serious trouble), and other characters are generally flat, their schemes obvious, the problems and solutions too conveniently plot-shaped to really evoke much sense of peril. The ending, naturally, sets up the next stage of adventure for the wayward lord and clever demon, and left me still feeling like I was waiting for... something. A moment of true immersion. A flash of connection. A hook to drag me in and make me fumble the Kindle in my haste to download the second installment, or the first book of the Five Gods realm, or... just something. But it was never there.
This isn't a bad story, by any means. It hits its marks, and things happen, and it establishes a decent enough setting. I was just hoping to finally see the wonderful, brilliant things I keep hearing about this author. Once more, I must conclude that it is, indeed, just me who can't see them.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Green Rider (Kristen Britain) - My Review
Beguilement (Lois McMaster Bujold) - My Review
Fanuilh (Daniel Hood) - My Review
No comments:
Post a Comment