Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

Publisher - Spectrum Literary Agency

Published - Out Now

Price - £2.49 kindle eBook

On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric's life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him.

Partnerships are quite important in fantasy. The history of the genre loves a good team up - Frodo is nowhere without Sam; Grey Mousers need their Fafhrd and more recently Locke Lamora would be lost with out Jean. We like contrasting personalities trying to work together and sometimes getting in each other’s way. Lois McMaster Bujold has created many memorable characters and a new unusual and interesting partnership begins in Penric’s Demon with two personalities working out their relationship in the same body.

Penric is a young noble with little real ambition for an impoverished estate and currently the main use for him is to be married in an alliance with another family. On his way to meet his future wife he finds a small group with an old woman in some kind of distress. After a few cryptic words she dies and Penric collapses and awakens under guard with lots of concerned faces around him. Penric was a witness to a powerful sorceress dying and it appears the Demon that gives her her powers may now be in him. Penric finds himself now a concern to others that his Demon may be about to break free and yet the entity called Desdomona may also appear to be keen to keep Penric alive against hidden dangers.

There is a lot to be said for a story that delivers exactly what you want from it. In some ways the action side plot of the book is the weakest element although it really only appears in the last third of the story. The villain is a tad obvious and the danger is not that dangerous. But by then you don’t care. As often with Bujold the world and characters more than make up for plotlines we may have seen before. Also the story hints that a lot more intersting things may be coming in the future. This for me feels almost like a pilot episode of a new series introducing the set-up and the main characters to come. For some reason Knight Rider also rings bells with me!

This story takes place in the Bujold’s World of The Five Gods but it is not required you have read any others (though highly recommended!) All you need to know is one of the Gods is known as The Bastard (and how can you not read a novella now you know that) and He is linked to Disasters but also is the God that demons serve. They go out in the world and have owners and the two can have immense magical powers or get corrupted and the demon must be removed. Already a pretty interesting idea to play with and this story explain that set-up and the powers to come - fire magic; speed and the ability to read anything in any language. As Desdemona explains she is an amalgamation of the Demon and the dozen previous owners.

Penric is a man without any real aims. He has a dry sense of humour and expression of befuddlement but he is kind; the key feature of the character which I always find refreshing in a main lead. He is the innocent and proxy for the reader finding out about the world and its a world where ancient libraries may or may not have spies and spymasters. An air of politics and just possibly Divine Intervention. You’re not bored and with added dangers of exorcists and anecdotes about previous owners this all makes it an engaging read. My quibble is the Demon’s power are convenient for taking on the problems so while the relationship of Penric and Demon is great the adventure in this start tot he series is mild - hence Knight Rider kept coming to mind!

I had fun for a few hours reading this light but skilful tale and knowing what Bujold can do with a world and characters I’m invested enough in this pairing to see what happens next now that the set-up is explained. As I know there many novels out there to read the signs are encouraging. if you need a fun read give this a go!