Wednesday, July 6, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold

 




Disclaimer: This Review is based in part upon an eARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a review.  I give my word this did not affect the tone of this review.

The Assassins of Thasalon is the first full length novel of Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric & Desdemona series, which has otherwise featured only novellas set in her World of the Five Gods.  The series features goodhearted studious sorcerer Penric and his demon Desdemona as they get into various adventures - often unwillingly (as Pen would rather spend time with his studies and in later works, with the woman he loves and marries) - and gets into conflict due to events that implicate the gods.  At their best, the series is incredibly entertaining in its dialogue and characters, and occasionally poignant as the characters get into new and interestingly different situations.  At their worst, they can kind of feel like Bujold is just going through the motions, and just kind of feel like more of the same.  

Thankfully, The Assassins of Thasalon uses its greater length to tell an actually interesting story, featuring one of the better Penric subplots from prior works - Penric the mentor - and adding in Penric the Secret Agent (always fun), some really excellent side characters both old and new, as well as a plot that takes some surprising swerves.  It's still not a series that is ever really hitting a "must read" kind of level, but this is it at its best: comforting, entertaining, and filled with characters that make you want to read a little more.  

Note: I read this in part via e-ARC and in part in audiobook via my Hoopla Library.  The audiobook reader is as always the great Glover Gardner, who does an excellent job with this series, so I definitely recommend it in that format if you're looking to continue the series in audio.  
--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------------
Two years after he helped stop a plague from gripping the military camps of Vilnoc, Penric has settled in, along with his wife Nikys, their young daughter Rina, his mother-in-law Idrene, and of course his demon Desdemona.  But when his brother-in-law Adelis asks him to accompany him to hear out a plan to re-involve him in Cedonian politics he faces something he'd almost never seen before - a blasphemous attempt to use a demon for murder.  

Soon Penric, a Saint of the Bastard, and the strangest assassin one might ever see, will find themselves heading on a covert mission into the heart of Cedonia - Thasalon - in order to take on a dangerous minister and his pet blasphemous sorcerer on a mission for the White God.  But the God's charge only promises success in stopping the blasphemy...it doesn't promise that the mortals involved will make it out alive in the process......
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Penric stories tend to be either midquels or sequels, and this is a sequel, taking place after all the other stories, now that Penric is established and settled down, with people he cares about to come home to.  But that's not enough to carry a story (as The Orphans of Raspay can attest), and the Penric stories that work usually contain really fun dialogue between Pen and Des, great and interesting new characters, some new powers or demonic tricks from Des, or some combination of these things.  

The Assassins of Thasalon thankfully has all of these things.  We have some really fun new characters in sorceress Alixtra and saint Iroki to go along with pre-existing characters Lady Tanar and her loyal retainer - the poisoner eunuch Bosha.  We have Des making witty comments to Pes about the whole plot, and the plot putting Penric in some really fun situations which force him to adapt and think quickly on their feet to try and put things right.  And this book does a great job bringing back old concepts and plot elements in ways that feel natural - so for example, how is Penric gonna handle imprisoning a sorcerer?  Well, he has that experience from being imprisoned once himself.  How is he going to deal with a covert mission?  Well he has that experience himself. 

And so these callbacks feel like learned experiences and come up naturally, and still help fulfill a plot that is new enough to keep things interesting - as we finally get to see the one who once blinded Adelis and tried to assassinate him numerous times get his just desserts.  Interestingly, while opening parts of this book seem predictable (of course Alixtra is gonna wind up on the adventure with Pen rather than be dealt with early), the final acts of this book take some very surprising turns, such that certain seemingly-hard conflicts turn out to be easy to resolve, only to be replaced by different and equally interesting ones.  And of course the influence of the Bastard, the White God, is readily felt in some really interesting ways, like the best books in Penric's Five Gods World. 

I don't really have much more to say - this is another entertaining Penric installment, and that's about all there is to say.  This is not the end of the series - there's one more novella after this one so far - but like Physicians of Vilnoc, this very much could be and it would be an immensely satisfying one incidentally.  So if you've enjoyed the Penric series, particularly the parts set after Penric's Mission, this will be well worth your time and worth picking up if you just want something solid and enjoyable to take up some time.  

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