Wednesday, June 19, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol 1: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold




The Sharing Knife is the third major series by SciFi/Fantasy giant, Lois McMaster Bujold, and probably her least renowned (after her "Vorkosigan Saga" and "World of the Five Gods" series).  The series is in fact a fantasy romance series - and I mean full-on romance: whereas other books in Bujold's series have had romance as a major plot element (see A Civil Campaign or Ivan Vorpatril's Alliance, which are arguably SciFi RomComs), the central plot questions of this series, at least this first book, are about the Romance of the main characters, with the fantasy elements providing the background.  And as a big fan of pretty much all of Bujold's works so far, as well as a reader who has come to enjoy romance plots more than I ever thought i would, I had high expectations for this series.

Beguilement, the first volume in The Sharing Knife, met those expectations pretty damn well for the most part.  The book contains the typical excellent and witty dialogue present in every Bujold novel, excellent characters, and a really well done setting to go along with a romance that works really well.  And while the book is in fact merely the first half of an original draft that was then split in two due to length-concerns, it ends on a highly satisfying note.  In short, despite the slight shift in genre, this book continues Bujold's winning trend and I can't wait to get to the next book in the series later this month.

Note:  As per usual with Bujold's works, I read this book as an audiobook.  The audiobook reader is a different one than the one for Bujold's Penric or Vorkosigan works, but the reader is still very good, and I can definitely recommend the series in this format (and it's how I plan to read the sequel too).

--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
Fawn Bluefield is running away from home, on the road to the town of Glass Forge.   With an unwanted pregnancy at the age of 20, and knowing no one ahead, Fawn is a young woman without a path.

Dag Redwing Hickory is a Lakewalker, a strange people with a magical groundsense, giving him the ability to sense people and things invisible to the naked eye, as well as some other minor magical abilities.  Lakewalkers are considered strange at best by other townsfolk, who they refer to as "farmers," and at worst are considered users of dark magic.  As a patroller, Dag has spent the last 20 years with his people hunting evil magical creatures known as "Malice"s, which if left unchecked will warp the minds of men and terrorize innocent people.

When Fawn gets caught by bandits under the influence of a Malice, she finds her course and Dag's intersecting by chance....and the end result of their collision is the forming of a magical bond between them - a kind never seen before.  But as the two spend more and more time together, they begin to form something more.....a bond of a more mundane, but no less powerful nature.  And yet Lakewalkers and Farmers do not mix, and both Fawn and Dag's own people will have major objections if the two try to make their relationship anything more.....
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As I mentioned above, the Sharing Knife is a romance story first, fantasy adventure - if that - second.  The first third of this book follows Dag and Fawn in a fantasy conflict against evil, resulting in the two coming together, and then the final two thirds of the book are dedicated to their growing relationship, as both struggle with the impossibilities of their relationship from the start....and then the issues such a relationship would have for their respective families - particularly Fawn's (the issues of Dag's family are saved for the next book).  The story alternates between Fawn and Dag's points of view, with each character generally getting some time from their point of view in each chapter.

And those points of view are excellent, and lead to some really fantastic romantic and sometimes comedic moments.  Fawn is a young woman (she insists she's 20, her family says 18) who grew up in a family which may have loved her, but never valued her - leading her to try and find a way to grow up on her own....and to make some bad mistakes as a result without any guidance.  She's very naive, especially in the ideas of love and pleasure, which leads to some moments where things have to be explained to her which cracked me up, but never gets annoying with her naivete or her earnestness.  Meanwhile Dag has the experience Fawn lacks (he's over 50), but his traumatic past and his sense of duty constantly puts him on edge about the idea of going on with the relationship.  And once he decides he wants the relationship, his own lack of knowledge of how Farmers do things causes some more problems, especially with his love-driven blindness.

The result is some excellent romantic tension, first between the two protagonists and then between the protagonists and their respective families, as they attempt to find a way to make things work.  Again, Bujold is excellent with her plotting and dialogue, although some of the family dialogue got so awkward to make me uncomfortable - which is my problem, not the dialogue's haha, I just find those awkward moments hard to take.  The fantasy setting provides plenty of magical moments - both in terms of actual magic and romantic magic - and leaves plenty of room for the romance to take over (and yes there's a sex scene, which is nicely done).

I wish I had more words to say about this, but it's apparent once again that Bujold is a master of her craft, even when taking a slightly different tack on the genre.  If you like romance and fantasy, you'll enjoy this.  If you like just romance, you'll probably also enjoy this.  It's definitely recommended.
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