novella | Book Girl & Little Bear

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox by Lois McMaster Bujold

This is a Penric and Desdemona fantasy novella. The first novella is Penric’s Demon, the most recent title is Penric and the Bandit.

Penric goes on an adventure with his children who are 8, 9, and 12, and are starting to think about their futures. Wyn is spending the summer as an errand boy with an engineer uncle, who’s rebuilding a nearby bridge. Wyn comes home with an incredible story about a white ox, who may have a demon. Penric travels back to the work site with Wynn, Rina, and his adopted daughter Otta while Penric’s wife Nikys and her mother Idrene stay behind, for a very good reason. Rina, 12, knows that she doesn’t want to teach small children. She is already talented at weaving and being a scribe, but is looking for a more exciting career. Otta has a lot of schooling ahead of her, as does her companion Atto. Wynn might want to be an engineer, too.

Penric is a scholar, a sorcerer, and a physician. Desdemona is his demon. There is quite the adventure with the possessed ox, even turning a bit scary, but with a lovey, cozy ending. Some humor and memorable characters make these fantasy novellas a treat to read.

Brenda

Penric and the Bandit by Lois McMaster Bujold

In this fun fantasy/adventure novella, Penric kin Jurald is on vacation, searching for an abandoned temple where there might be hidden treasure. Horse thief Roz decides to tag along with Penric to get a share of the treasure, if any. He is trying to escape from his former gang of thieves. Thievery is fine with Roz, but he doesn’t have a stomach for violence.

When Roz’s gang catches up, Penric turns out to be a tougher mark than expected, as he is a sorcerer with a demon, and also a religious scholar. The temple is extremely hard to reach and Roz has plenty of time to consider what his priorities are during a long standoff. Everyone but Penric and his demon Desdemona are disappointed with the treasure, when it’s uncovered.

I enjoyed the journey and how Penric did his best to get out of a very tricky situation. The Penric and Desdemona novellas begins with Penric’s Demon, which is also in a collection called Penric’s Progress.

Brenda