Penric's Demon

[sawyl]

Next on the Hugos list, Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric's Demon. An independent story set in the same world as The Curse of Chalion, which Bujold in her afterword describes as the World of the Five Gods to mark its expansion beyond that of the earlier books.

Travelling into town for a rite of passage, Penric encounters a priestess on the road. The old woman has been struck ill and Penric offers his assistance, only to be struck unconscious by a bright light and a babble of voices. He awakes to find himself in the local priest's house, he engagement broke, and his family refusing to come within arms reach of him. After recounting his confused memories to Learned Lurenz, Pen finds himself dispatched to the town of Martensbridge where he is to seek guidance from the temple the priestess was travelling to.

Along the road, Pen realises the truth of his situation when the demon that has passed to him from the old priestess starts using his own voice to talk to him. Not having the years of training most priests have when they accept a demon and become a sorcerer, Penric's demon takes it upon herself to explain to him the nature of her being and ways of magic. Pen turns out to be quick study and he and his demon, whom he names Desdemona, enter into something like a cautious friendship.

Most of the rest of the book is a fun little story about Pen's backwoods naivety and his subsequent narrow escape. But the core of the story is an interesting piece about friendship and growing knowledge and the confounding of expectations. As might be expected from Lois McMaster Bujold, it's an extremely accomplished and charming piece.