Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

We Didn’t Start the Fire; She Did, Actually.

Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold

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So it turned out I’ve been asleep for a bit, because I hadn’t realized that Lois McMaster Bujold had released some more Penric and Desdemona novellas. So some catching up was in order. And a good thing too, because the next review I had previously planned is a bit of a doozy, and it may take me a little while to complete Demon Daughter is the kind of title that made me think that this particular Penric and Desdemona novella was going to be very […]

The five purposes of prayer were taught to be service, supplication, gratitude, divination, and atonement, and it was gratitude Penric chose now.

Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold

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I’ve enjoyed the Penric and Desdemona series enormously over the past 3 weeks. I will circle back around and review the installments I have not yet reviewed in the new year. I raced through the last 6 and they certainly deserve a reread. I think my favorite thing about the series is that it is in many ways an investigative procedural – Pen and Des investigate things and get in and out of situations without there being an over-arching antagonist or a need to save […]

Finally visiting the World of the 5 Gods

Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Bothari43 has been singing the praises of Lois McMaster Bujold for some time and she, and a couple of other people, have given me various Bujold books, which I have not read. I don’t know why. I believe Bothari43 when she tells me I will like the books, but some part of me, I don’t know, hates joy? I become overwhelmed with anxiety that I will fail people by not loving the books as much as they do? Anyway, I finally bit the bullet, sort […]

Who the Heck is Mira?

Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

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First of all, this is the fourth book in Ms. Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series. I was bewildered by the format. It’s a small book, barely 150 pages, 8 chapters, and written in very large type. I wondered if it was a YA novel, but when I read the cover, I saw it was “a fantasy novella.” Why she didn’t consolidate the six stories into two normal-sized novels, I don’t know. Possibly because each story is separate and independent. Whatever the format, this is typical […]

A Plague — and a Madman in a Masquerade

Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold

Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Blink and you miss ‘em… Lois McMaster Bujold has released two Penric and Desdemona novellas in the past year when I wasn’t paying attention. I don’t know how these releases keep on passing me by, I really don’t. Usually, these novellas are mostly light-hearted fun, but the first one, The Physicians of Vilnoc, might be a little uncomfortably timely, as it revolves around a plague. Looking at the publication dates, I don’t think Bujold did this on purpose, as she would have started writing this […]

Don’t Promote Your Troubles Beyond Your Rank

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Continuing the adventures of Penric, the demon hosting priest of Lois McMaster Bujold’s World of the Five Gods, we have two more novellas: Penric’s Mission and Mira’s Last Dance. These are two very closely related stories, so much so that if felt more like reading on novel then reading two novellas. I enjoy these little stories quite a bit, so realizing that I had two unread stories to read was a treat. In Penric’s Mission, Penric is sent to spy on some duke from some […]



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