Booklog 52/2019: Lois McMaster Bujold: The Orphans of Raspay – a Penric and Desdemona Novella

[jacey]

Any and all Bujold books are buy on sight, but I almost missed this one as it seemed to come out without much fanfare, which is a pity because it's an excellent addition to the list of Penric novellas, set in Bujold's world of the Five Gods, though before Curse of Chalion (still my favourite book!). Following the events in The Prisoner of Limnos, Penric and his resident demon, Desdemona, are now married to Nickys, but in this outing are on their own. They've been sent on some mission (it's not important) but they never get there because the ship they are on is captured by pirates. Pen is thrown into the pirate ship's hold where he meets two more captives, young sisters, Lencia and Seuka Corva, who are trying to find their father. Being the thoroughly honourable chap that he is, he immediately takes responsibility for them and we follow their trials and tribulations as pirate hostages and Pen's ill-fated attempts to escape the pirate island. This is one time when being a temple divine with a demon at his beck and call isn't going to help him because sailors are superstitious. He needs a ship to escape, but they would rather throw him overboard than take him to safety. Unfortunately his plan to pose as a mild-mannered scribe quickly falls apart when he has to use Desdemona's talents to survive and protect the children..

I read this in one gulp. Bujold is one of my favourite writers and Penric is an excellent character, especially with Desdemona chipping in with demonic wisdom. Highly recommended.