Tag Archives: Lois McMaster Bujold

The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Synopsis:
In a magical version of Renaissance Italy, the daughter of a sculptor/mage finds herself embroiled in a deadly political dispute as she struggles to free her father’s soul, which a wicked lord wants to imprison in a magic ring.

Review:
Lois McMaster Bujold crafts a suspenseful tale of intrigue, sorcery, and politics that really satisfied me. The Spirit Ring is grounded in the kinds of real squabblings that mark territorial disputes, and the magic serves that story, rather than being the sole purpose of the story. It’s also a love story, and quite an unconventionally romantic one. I definitely prefer McMaster’s fantasy to her scifi, and this is now one of my favorites of hers.

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The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Synopsis:
After flunking the physical portion of his battle school exams, Miles Vorkosigan heads off looking for glory and winds up the admiral of a fleet of mercenaries, making it look like he’s about to declare war on the emperor.

Review:
I am a huge fan of Lois McMaster Bujold’s fantasy, and many people have recommended the Vorkosigan saga to me. I figured I’d start with The Warrior’s Apprentice, since it’s the one that started it all, if not first chronologically.

Space opera is pretty low on my list of preferred genres, and I was worried that The Warrior’s Apprentice would contain too much nerdy humor. While the book wasn’t free from some pretty cringe-worthy moments, the fast-paced story and enjoyable characters more than made up for it. I liked that Bujold wasn’t afraid to take Miles to some dark places–despite the overabundance of such annoying wrylys as “blandly” and “sardonically.” Her writing has been so strong in the other books I’ve read that I was surprised to find such a dependence on adverbs here.

I also appreciated that she didn’t give us a straight coming of age story; rather, she got Miles out of school pretty quickly and then shoved him into a very complex real life situation. The plotting was super inventive.

I’m glad I know what Miles is all about, but I’m not going to keep going in the series. I just don’t really have the taste for space opera.

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The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Synopsis:
Infected with the spirit of a wolf, an otherwise ordinary man finds himself at the center of a kingmaking conspiracy that requires him to become a shaman or lose his soul forever.

Review:
The Hallowed Hunt is Lois McMaster Bujold’s third novel set in a world ruled by five capricious and demanding gods. As in the other two books, Bujold melds epic fantasy with a forensic plot and more than a trace of magery for an utterly suspenseful and compelling read. This one also has a superb love story. As usual the characters are deftly drawn and the prose lovely.

This was the first book I read on my new Kindle. I love it love it love it!

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Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold (The Sharing Knife, Book 4)

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Synopsis:
As Dag hones and refines his groundsetting skills, his farmer wife Fawn aches for a home of her own, and when they are forced to travel across malice-infested territories, their marriage is tested and their lives in jeopardy.

Review:
While I completely admire and love Bujold’s worldbuilding, character skills, and prose stylings, I was underwhelmed by the conclusion of this series. Possession has a ruminative tone that was disappointing after the epic promise of the first books, and I felt like the malice threat ended up being underdeveloped and underplayed. However, I do think highly of this series and the books are headed off to my BFF, rather than the thrift store. I think I might appreciate the series more if I could talk with someone about them.

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Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold (The Sharing Knife, Book 3)

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Synopsis:
Having awakened new, untold powers, Lakewalker Dag and his farmer wife Fawn embark down a river journey that will bring them into contact with dangers both human and not.

Review:
So far, Passage has been the least successful of the books in this series. While I enjoyed the texture and the details, I did feel like I was just treading water until the big conclusion. I do continue to be impressed by Bujold’s command of dialogue and characterization, and I like where the story is going.

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Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold (The Sharing Knife, Book 2)

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Synopsis:
Wedded against custom, magical Lakewalker Dag and his farmer bride Fawn return to Dag’s family home, where they face rejection and ostracism, but when Dag is called out on patrol to battle the most fearsome malice he’s ever seen, they learn that their bond is more than just one of love and may change the world they know.

Review:
If Legacy weren’t such a strong book I totally would’ve put it down the second my copy of Mockingjay showed up, but Lois McMaster Bujold is such a good storyteller that not even the fate of Katniss Everdeen could tear me away.

I really loved the prosaic details about camp life, and watching Fawn learn a new culture. The Lakewalker society is very well detailed. The love story deepens in a wonderful way, and Bujold gives tantalizing hints about the story’s mythology that I hope will be expanded upon on Book Three.

But I can wait no longer, so Fawn and Dag will have to wait! Am hoping I can exercise a modicum of restraint and not stay up all night reading Mockingjay. But if I do, I’m doubly hoping that my newborn stays asleep so I can finish it!

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold (The Sharing Knife Book 1)

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Synopsis:
A farm girl inadvertently helps a fierce Lakewalker defeat an evil malice, and irrevocably ties her destiny to his.

Review:
Beguilement is the first installment of a four-book series about Lakewalkers, who are gifted with a kind of magical second sight that allows them to fight evil creatures that steal the life forces of people and animals. Fawn is a farm girl who dreams of a better life, but circumstances have trapped her. When she meets Dag, a Clint Eastwood-esque Lakewalker, she ends up in a fight for her life and that of the whole world. She and Dag embark on a trip to figure out what they’re meant to do with their entwined fates, and fall in love along the way.

There was a lot more romance in Beguilement than I’m used to seeing in fantasy novels, but I was completely swept away by the story. It wasn’t cheesy or overdone, and the mythology really worked, too. Looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Lois McMaster Bujold on Genre

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Thanks, Shari, to this link to a speech given by Lois McMaster Bujold. A tantalizing excerpt:

In fact, if romances are fantasies of love, and mysteries are fantasies of justice, I would now describe much SF as fantasies of political agency. All three genres also may embody themes of personal psychological empowerment, of course, though often very different in the details, as contrasted by the way the heroines “win” in romances, the way detectives “win” in mysteries, and the way, say, young male characters “win” in adventure tales. But now that I’ve noticed the politics in SF, they seem to be everywhere, like packs of little yapping dogs trying to savage your ankles. Not universally, thank heavens — there are wonderful lyrical books such as The Last Unicorn or other idiosyncratic tales that escape the trend. But certainly in the majority of books, to give the characters significance in the readers’ eyes means to give them political actions, with “military” read here as a sub-set of political.

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