Horizon (The Sharing Knife, #4)

Feb 16, 2009 Kate Coombs rated it 5 of 5 stars

I figured out a long time ago that Lois McMaster Bujold is one of THOSE authors--basically, if she writes a book, it's good. Period. And the Sharing Knife books are no exception. McMaster Bujold's worlds feel real, and her characters matter. This series is a little slower paced than some of her science fiction, but they're still very rewarding reading.

Horizon is the fourth book in the Sharing Knife series, in which a farmer girl and a one-armed Lakewalker man meet while fighting a terrible monst...more

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Jun 25, 2009 Wealhtheow marked it as didn-t_finish

Shelves: fantasy

Fawn, Dag, and their never-ending beige adventure.

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Jun 23, 2012 Tatiana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was disappointed with this book, but possibly it's because I have this reaction to a lot of fantasy, that it's not made real enough to satisfy me. I had looked forward to understanding more of the whys of this world and its social setup. I want to know what malices are, and how they're related to Lakewalkers, and how they're both related to farmers, how it all came about on a planet which if it isn't Earth definitely has an uncanny resemblance to it in its fauna, flora, and even technology, di...more I was disappointed with this book, but possibly it's because I have this reaction to a lot of fantasy, that it's not made real enough to satisfy me. I had looked forward to understanding more of the whys of this world and its social setup. I want to know what malices are, and how they're related to Lakewalkers, and how they're both related to farmers, how it all came about on a planet which if it isn't Earth definitely has an uncanny resemblance to it in its fauna, flora, and even technology, diseases, tools, etc. Maybe I just don't get the assumptions of this genre or something. The story was fine. It came to a nice resolution. But the world was left completely unexplained, and that bugged me. I had thought it would all make a lot more sense in the end, I guess.

Fantasy I like: I absolutely love Tolkien. I love Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series. I love Octavia Butler's fantasy stuff, like that Vampire novel Fledgling, or the slavery one Kindred. It's fantasy but it makes sense.

Fantasy I enjoyed but thought was mediocre: All the dragonriders of Pern stuff by Anne McCaffery, the Liveship Traders series by Robin Hobb, this series.

Fantasy I've thought was really poor: Sherri Tepper, Animal Farm, any of those dystopia type warnings that are didactic in nature. In fact, I loathe didacticism in books that label themselves as stories.

I enjoy Bujold's Vorkosigan books, though they're pretty lightweight for the most part, so I thought I would like this too. I can't say it wasn't entertaining for the most part, but I found it ultimately unsatisfying.

An update because I reread this series recently, though I'm not sure why. I really enjoyed the relationship between Dag and Fawn this time through, and the way they treated each other. I liked how Dag took on and fostered these very annoying (in some cases) young people and helped them grow up well. I thought the building up of the group over time was really good, really meaty and true. I loved how real was the way their families treated them to start with, and how they built themselves a new family together that had a lot more respect and joy in it. So I added one star for that reason. (less)

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Mar 01, 2009 Allie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Quite an appropriate conclusion to the series and entirely in keeping with its self-proclaimed theme of education, understanding and compassion. Of course, this ending really isn't an ending at all, rather belonging to the Hope for the Future School of Stories that End with a New Beginning. All of which somehow required an epilogue akin to stopping in for a quick visit with your relatives, only to be forced to examine the family photo albums for hours on end. Because, contrary to personal belie...more

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Jan 02, 2013 bananananas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This series could have been so much better if it was less about the romance and more about...everything else.

The malices/mud-men/mages and all the back story with the Lakewalkers and their magic and whatnot was really compelling. The world was really interesting, and a lot was made of how dangerous the north is but we never get anything except for a vague reference to the character Dag's time spent up there. The whole story with how the Lakewalkers essentially need two deaths to be shaped into...more

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Mar 09, 2013 MB rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-urban-fantasy-paranormals, re-read-in-2011, re-read-in-2013

1st read: This book is wonderful and with a very satisfying ending too! I have so much enjoyed the "Sharing Knife" world--it is such an interesting fantasy 'take' on a alternate frontier America.

I especially enjoy how Lois McMaster Bujold portrays a strong marriage partnership with love, respect, and caring between two strong and multi-dimensional characters. One partner's weaknesses are counteracted by the other partner's strengths and vice versa. So that the couple is stronger together than ap...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Blodeuedd Finland rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasyromance

I know I know, I have been bored for 2 books now and still I read this one. I just wanted to know how it ended. But after having thought about this, it ended as boringly as it went on. Nothing happened at the end either.

Right this book then. Dag and Fawn talk --> they talk to other people --> they think about things ----> they are going north with a bunch of other people ---> more talking and thinking.
*falls asleep* Yes I actually fell asleep while reading.

Nothing happens, and when s...more

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Nov 09, 2012 ms bookjunkie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2010, to-reread, 2011, reread, favorites, 2012, comfort-read, romance, again-in-2012

For me, The Sharing Knife series is incredibly emotionally satisfying. Just that, by itself, is enough to gain it a place as a comfort read on my keeper shelves. But more, the adventure, the world building and all, felt fresh to me, and I could not at any point presume to guess what would happen next. That in itself is utterly refreshing. Alright, maybe the small things could be predicted, but the big picture was a blank slate to me, and gave me that feeling I had at thirteen when I discovered D...more

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Feb 15, 2009 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: bujold fans

Shelves: read-in-2009, fantasy

A satisfying conclusion? to the sharing knife series.

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Jan 17, 2012 Nicholas Whyte rated it 2 of 5 stars

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1872730...

The end of the four-volume Sharing Knife series, in which the romance / action plot, of mutual suspicions between two human cultures, equally threatened by an 'orrible supernatural menace, resolves in entirely satisfactory manner, with much character-building wisdom being imparted to the foolish younger relatives. But I found myself a bit dissatisfied with Bujold's use of the very rich background she has developed, for three reasons: first, the story got w...more

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Feb 16, 2009 Rosalyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. The Sharing Knife series has an interesting premise--in a world that the gods have apparently abandoned, the Lakewalkers (a group of people with semi-mystic abilities) maintain patrols to destroy malices, evil beings that grow by feeding off the life forces of all living things. Lakewalkers maintain a tenuous balance with farmers, who lack the Lakewalkers' abilities and tend to look askance at some of their cultural practices. Over the course of the series, however, a Lakewalk...more

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Feb 10, 2009 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: relationship-driven, non-earth, fantasy

So, I will endeavor to review the final book in a series without spoiling the other three.

Frankly, I'd hold up The Sharing Knife series as how to do a multi-book romance without plunging into unbelievable melodrama. The 'will they or won't they' is settled in the first book, leaving books 2-4 as a story of a young couple with a 'forbidden' relationship trying to carve a place in the world. Book 4 opens with Dag and Fawn in the south, where the problem of Lakewalkers and farmers is shown in high...more So, I will endeavor to review the final book in a series without spoiling the other three.

Frankly, I'd hold up The Sharing Knife series as how to do a multi-book romance without plunging into unbelievable melodrama. The 'will they or won't they' is settled in the first book, leaving books 2-4 as a story of a young couple with a 'forbidden' relationship trying to carve a place in the world. Book 4 opens with Dag and Fawn in the south, where the problem of Lakewalkers and farmers is shown in high relief. The south hasn't had a malice attack in living memory, so Lakewalkers are forced to interact somewhat, but even then they don't have a solution that satisfies Dag. Dag is able to find a teacher for what he wants to do, though, and then strikes up north to return to the part of the country he grew up.

I continue to like how things are set up. Fawn continues to be 'the smart one' in the relationship, something that Bujold never says but does a wonderful job of showing. A lot of times in 'normal'/'paranormal' relationship fiction I get the sense that the normal person is just a kind of placeholder, and Fawn is nothing like that.

The book also does a good job of showing Dag-as-mage, in that some of what he does is reinvented because he didn't have access to a teacher, and some of what he does is innovative. I also like the interaction between him and his teacher, Arkady.

The one problem I had with this book is that Bujold introduces a cast of characters for the trip north -- a group of settlers that Dag offers to help guide, another wagon that they help in the mountains, and a Lakewalker patrol led by Dag's niece. A lot happens with those -- one set of siblings are half-Lakewalker and the sister has both a decent amount of groundsense and a bad case of Caught-Between-Two-Worlds, both of which the party addresses. There's also a romance between Dag's niece and his teacher. A lot of these don't get as much time as I'd like, and some of the characters (the male settlers, for instance), blur together. It's possible I'll resolve this on a reread, but it was disenheartening in a series so good about character relationships.

Overall, I do recommend this series as one of my favorite fantasies and romance-oriented fiction. I'd recommend the series to anyone who wants to see 'forbidden romance' done right, without either character abandoning his or her home culture but instead trying to forge a new path. (less)

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Jan 07, 2013 Quincyk rated it 2 of 5 stars

Basically, I'll review all four books of the Sharing Knife series in this review.

I wanted to read some of Bujold's fantasy after reading her fantastic Vorkosigan series. Unfortunately I started with the Sharing Knife series.

Coming from the Vorkosigan saga's excellent expression of complex characters and clearly delineated political systems, this series was a disappointment.

It has her usual themes from the Vorkosigan series: culture clash, younger woman/older man relationship, women's roles in...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I'm not sure why I kept reading this series, since I didn't like it very much. A different series by this author (the Miles Vorkosigan series) is a funny, clever space opera with interesting characters and plots, and I had tremendous fun tearing through the whole series in a month. This series was a fantasy romance, emphasis on the romance, which would be fine if the characters were interesting. They're not, particularly. The heroine is a Mary Sue; spunky, loyal, clever, compassionate, and perfe...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Kater Cheek rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book of the series, and the conclusion. Really for truly the conclusion, which gets it big points in my ledger.

As a whole I think this series is well worth reading. While the worldbuilding wasn't vastly creative, it was different enough that it didn't bore me. Moreover, it seemed to hold together internally. I very much enjoyed the characters, and found them plausible.

One thing about this that I think is worth mentioning is that the pacing is not what you'd expect. This whole...more This is the fourth book of the series, and the conclusion. Really for truly the conclusion, which gets it big points in my ledger.

As a whole I think this series is well worth reading. While the worldbuilding wasn't vastly creative, it was different enough that it didn't bore me. Moreover, it seemed to hold together internally. I very much enjoyed the characters, and found them plausible.

One thing about this that I think is worth mentioning is that the pacing is not what you'd expect. This whole series goes back and forth deciding if it's a fantasy or a romance. Romance pacing sometimes has people going on for hundred of pages having minor squabbles, easily resolved, as they all get to know each other better. Romance novels that I've read are more about deepening relationships than overcoming external conflicts. This isn't my favorite, but I don't mind it now and again. Fantasy stakes tend to be higher, with action and death or at least threat of death. Not that either of these are better than the other, but if people go into a sushi restaurant, they don't want to be served pizza, even if it's good pizza.

The pacing of this novel kind of plodded along like a cozy seaside romance novel for most of the book. The characters have minor difficulties, but they seem to get over them without too much fuss. I kept wondering when we'd get to the main conflict, or if this was going to be the sort of novel where characters go from point A to point B and gather charming companions but don't encounter difficulty. I had just gotten my brain wrapped around the idea that this novel had romance-pacing and romance-stakes when suddenly the climax came out of nowhere.

I have mixed feelings about the pacing. On one hand, the rather stolid and plodding plot lulled me into a complacency that made the sudden tense action that much more explosive. On the other hand, I can see how this novel might lose readers who were expecting something a little more predictable. It almost lost me, and might have done so if I hadn't liked the characters so much.

I enjoyed this series very much, much more than I've enjoyed any fantasy series in recent memory. I liked the characters' interactions, and found the cultural conflict between the farmers and the Lakewalkers to be plausibly subtle and nuanced.(less)

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Mar 19, 2012 Kribu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, magic, romance, may-december

A compelling, enrapturing read until the very end and a fitting end to the series. I really did enjoy it a whole lot more than I expected to, given that this is straight fantasy, very heavy on the romance.

So why four stars and not five? A couple of things. Fawn, more than anything else - she was so unfailingly perfect that it got truly tiresome towards the end. A perfect little wifey, never jealous, never envious, saviour of the day more than once with her quick wits, always nice, always good,...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Jacey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, romance

The fourth Sharing Knife book in which Dag and Fawn and their new half-Farmer / half-Lakewalker extended family journey back up the river-trail towards Clearcreek and home. On the way Dag goes back to school, learning to use his newly awoken ‘maker’ talents of healing and ‘groundsetting’ (a kind of spirit healing) whilst continuing to try and bridge the cultural divide between Farmer and Lakewalker, leading by example. That gets him into more trouble with the stuffy Lakewalkers, who can’t quite...more

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Mar 08, 2012 heidi rated it 2 of 5 stars

First, let me say that I am a Bujold fangirl, but not an uncritical one. I like some of the things she's done much more than I like other things. That's ok. I don't demand that a writer cater to my needs universally, or be consistently excellent (although I'd like that, of course).

The first book in this series tore at my heart because of personal connection. The last one was... boring. I suspect that I would like this series a lot better if it were two books instead of four. I can't argue with t...more First, let me say that I am a Bujold fangirl, but not an uncritical one. I like some of the things she's done much more than I like other things. That's ok. I don't demand that a writer cater to my needs universally, or be consistently excellent (although I'd like that, of course).

The first book in this series tore at my heart because of personal connection. The last one was... boring. I suspect that I would like this series a lot better if it were two books instead of four. I can't argue with the theme of two conflicting groups uniting to the benefit of both, but I didn't find the characters very compelling.

In this book (but it's hard to talk about the books in the series individually), we see the plot threads all get neatly wrapped up. Happy endings and hope for everyone. Babies! Houses! Careers! I thought it was all very predictable, although I did kind of love the new healer character.

Huh. I think typing that made me figure out why Dag does nothing for me. He is not drawn as very joyous. And you'd think that maybe Aral isn't joyous, either, but there are glimpses and flashes of both his past and present where you can see that he has rejoiced in the past. I don't get that from Dag, although I think I should. His memories of his first wife are all poisoned, and his love for Fawn is more like he finds her...entertaining? Sparkly? Something. I think I am deeply bothered by the inequitable nature of their relationship. I think we are supposed to see that her ground makes her special, but mostly I find her a little like Nynaeve: stubborn, practical, deeply grounded in holding house, and perhaps not really exceptional? I don't know. I feel like I know a lot of women who are stubborn and practical and devoted. Perhaps the point is that she is a hero like any of us could be, but then she has this "specialness" which comes from nowhere other than the innate her-ness of her. Don't we all have that?

TLDR: I don't understand the fundamental romance or the characters therein, and therefore the other plot is what the book depends on for me, and it is not compelling or developed enough to carry four books on its own.

Read if: You've read the others and you'd like a sense of completion, you like the art of compromise, BABIES!

Skip if: You have stalled out anywhere in the series, you have squicks about miscarriage or infertility, you are just looking for more Miles(less)

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Mar 24, 2011 Marlee Pinsker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed the first three books of this series, as in falling into the book and not coming up for air. But, in this book I felt that the editor had just decided to take a break and the book was published without a proper review. So, yes, Bujold writes a good story. But a good editor would have eliminated the use of the adjective "little" to describe Dawn over and over again until she seemed like the incredible shrinking woman, and the use of the word "large" was a little too frequent for...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Scott Marlowe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Horizon is the fourth and final book of Bujold's Sharing Knife series. In it, we find our heroes, Dag and Fawn Bluefield, returning north with the intention of settling a place of their own. Dag, already a veteran Lakewalker patroller, has become more than that now: medicine-maker, groundsetter, husband, father/brother figure, and all-around leader to a small conclave of Lakewalkers and farmers. Dag wants for simple things, but his life is anything but simple. As he and Fawn and a myriad of othe...more Horizon is the fourth and final book of Bujold's Sharing Knife series. In it, we find our heroes, Dag and Fawn Bluefield, returning north with the intention of settling a place of their own. Dag, already a veteran Lakewalker patroller, has become more than that now: medicine-maker, groundsetter, husband, father/brother figure, and all-around leader to a small conclave of Lakewalkers and farmers. Dag wants for simple things, but his life is anything but simple. As he and Fawn and a myriad of others travel north, they come face-to-face with Dag's worst nightmare: a malice that has grown unchecked and become very powerful as a result.

The Sharing Knife is, by it's very definition, about sacrifice. Dag sacrifices his usual way of life as a Lakewalker. Fawn sacrifices the stability of the life of a farmer to be with him. Others cross paths with Lakewalkers and farmers alike throughout the series and oftentimes come away missing something. A sharing knife itself is a medium of sacrifice, for it is imbued with the 'death' of a Lakewalker individual, and is the only weapon that can slay a malice.

Horizon is very much a continuation (and conclusion) of the series. The story itself comes full circle in more ways than one as Dag and Fawn return north and, in inadvertent fashion, complete the quest most dear to Dag's heart: to seal the rift between farmer and Lakewalker and unite them against the common threat of malice. Perhaps the best thing about Horizon is the way in which this happens. I won't give anything away, but suffice to say Dag spends much of the first three books planting seeds which only spring forth in this final volume.

I've said this before, but it bears mentioning again: the four books read as one. The style, the flow of the various plotlines; one can easily imagine Bujold having written the series in one long, continuous sitting. The writing is consistently excellent, with characters true to form and dialog spot on. This is not an action-packed thriller, yet Bujold has an excellent sense of moving the story along. I never felt like she was spinning me in circles or going down a path that had no relevance to the overall story. It's just great storytelling.

I don't assign ratings to the books I review. If I did, though, I'd give Horizon and the overall Sharing Knife series 5 out of 5 stars. It really is an enjoyable read, with interesting characters, hints of suspense in all the right places, and a world that is believable and engaging. The 'magic system' is fresh and original, and not overdone in any sense. I'd recommend picking up a copy and giving it a read.

This review at http://www.scottmarlowe.com/post/Book...(less)

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Jun 22, 2010 Dlora rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, adventure-action

This is the fourth book in the Sharing Knife series and for your best enjoyment and understanding, it would be better to have read the other books. The motivation for the action, the background of the characters, the complexity of the fantasy elements all would be better understood by starting at the beginning of the series. However, you can read this book as a stand alone if you want too; it would just be better if you led up to it.

The overall setting of the series is described well on the cove...more This is the fourth book in the Sharing Knife series and for your best enjoyment and understanding, it would be better to have read the other books. The motivation for the action, the background of the characters, the complexity of the fantasy elements all would be better understood by starting at the beginning of the series. However, you can read this book as a stand alone if you want too; it would just be better if you led up to it.

The overall setting of the series is described well on the cover blurb: "A Lakewalker entrusted with protecting the populace from malices--terrifying remnants of ancient magic--Dag Redwing Hickory never expected to fall in low with Fawn Bluefield, the farmer girl he rescued. When they joined in marriage, defyng their kin, they bridged the perilous split between their peoples." That is basically the book's over-arcing theme: to try to resolve the differences between the magical Lakewalkers (think Indians) and the farmers (think early settlers) and by combining them, create a force that can combat the horrific malices that are growing more numerous, powerful, and destructive.

I was trying to decide why I like Bujold's books so much and The Sharing Knife series in particular. I enjoy the good solid romance and the scary, powerful action scenes. I resonate with the insightful ideas, lightened by touches of humor and grounded with good realism and family values. But most of all, I love the heroic, struggling characters who are trying to do right and help others at risk of themselves.

This excerpt between two characters who are trying to understand the central figure of the story might give you a feel for what I like in the author's use of words, ideas, heroic character: "When your husband first turned up at my gates," Arkady continued, "I took him for a simple man, if not a simpleton outright. Shabby, grubby, with that northern mumble that sounds like he has a mouth full of pebbles. . . ." "He's only word-stiff when he's feeling shy and uncertain," Fawn defended. "He can talk like a stump speaker when the mood gets on him. And he likes being clean as much as the next man. He just doesn't waste time pining for things he can't get right then. He's good at enduring." Arkaday tilted his free hand back and forth. "Dag . . . walks with a foot in each world. He straddles things. Outside and inside. Patroller and maker. North and south." He glanced at her. "Lakewalker and farmer. Knife maker and medicine man. He may be the least simple man I've ever met." Fawn had no argument with that. "It goes with his knack for mending things that are broken, I guess. Bowls. Bones. Hearts. Worlds, maybe. To fix things you first have to walk all around them, see them whole."(less)

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May 25, 2009 Korynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fifantasy

Whereas I thought at the end of the 3rd book,Fawn and Dag were going onward and outward, they merely turn around and go back, determined to push the barriers of their world, unable to turn their backs on possibility and responsibility. The book starts slow and Bujold has abandoned overt romance for the casual romance more familiar to her prior readers. There is an awful lot of discussion of the uses of magic and theories regarding its applications to the point that the first half is slow and rat...more

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May 01, 2009 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, 9, fantasy

As I’m sure I’ve said before, I’m a Lois McMaster Bujold fan-girl. I’ve read almost everything she’s written (I think the only things I haven’t read are The Spirit Ring and the book of essays, Dreamweaver’s Dilemma). I’ve read the first three books in her Sharing Knife series and it was always a foregone conclusion that I would be buying the last one when it came out, and in hardcover at that (ever since I kind of accidently bought Memory in hardcover, Bujold has been a hardcover author for me)....more

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Nov 19, 2012 Joe Martin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, library-books

If I gave out half star reviews, this would rate 3.5 stars. As a story, it's really a 4-star story. The overall flaws of the series bring it down to 3 stars though. Fawn is still way too wise for her years. Far too much of the story revolves around her insights and probing questions. She and Dag are far too comfortable a couple, for people who met just under a year ago, in a time of great personal and emotional trauma. It would seem likely that Fawn, at least, would need more time to heal and p...more

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Apr 07, 2011 Books-treasureortrash rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Book Review: 2 Treasure Boxes

This is a story about battles. A fight against evil creatures, predjudice and old concepts. Dag, the magic wielding Lakewalker and his young bride the Farmer-girl Fawn continue their story with plenty of adventures. They have found a new Lakewalker camp where Dag can learn to use his developing maker abilities, but it isn't long until Farmer versus Lakewalker troubles start to appear. Add into this story a new kind of Malice and you have an interesting tale. This boo...more Book Review: 2 Treasure Boxes

This is a story about battles. A fight against evil creatures, predjudice and old concepts. Dag, the magic wielding Lakewalker and his young bride the Farmer-girl Fawn continue their story with plenty of adventures. They have found a new Lakewalker camp where Dag can learn to use his developing maker abilities, but it isn't long until Farmer versus Lakewalker troubles start to appear. Add into this story a new kind of Malice and you have an interesting tale. This book takes place immediately following Passage.

Lois McMaster Bujold has written numerous Science Fiction and Fantasy books and series including The Vorkosigan Saga, The Chalion Universe Series and the The Sharing Knife Series. Horizon is the last book in The Sharing Knife Series which has a total of four books. These books fall into the Fantasy genre but can also be considered a Romance since it revolves around a love story. There is magic in this universe that is welded by the Lakewakers and it takes place in a society that is equivalent to ours in the early 19th century. It occurs after the fall of a greater society that was destroyed by the creation of evil creatures known as Malices. In this world the Lakewalkers serve by destroying these creatures as they continue to randomly pop up. The story is told in a third person narrative by the two main protagonists Dag, the Lakewalker and Fawn, the Farmer girl.

I liked the first two books in this series better than the last two books, but I am still glad I read them all as it is a satisfying tale. This book once again addresses the problems associated with predujice and shows the harm it can cause. Dag's journey and inner struggle are well written and believable. He is looking to the future and continually coming up with great solutions. All the characters are pretty well rounded and show good depth. We are introduced to some new characters and we learn more about Lakerwalker magic and makings. The story had a great build up to an exciting and frightening climax. The book shows that through co-operation and understanding people can overcome their dfifferences and learn to combine their strengths to the benefit of all.

I recommend this book, it is a good conclusion to an interesting and different fantasy series. If you enjoy reading a good, original fantasy story that revolves around a romance then you will enjoy this book. This is a stand alone book, but you will enjoy it more if you read the books in order as the story builds from book to book.

For more of my reviews go to: www.books-treasureortrash.com (less)

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Mar 02, 2010 Lighthearted rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, fantasy

Dag and Fawn continue their mission to bring Lakewalkers and farmers together. Dag also finds a Lakewalker Maker willing to train him. Predictably, Dag pushes the limits of his host Lakewalker camp and he and Fawn must travel onward in search of a home. Predictably, they also gather an assortment of characters to join their journey.

Dag and Fawn both annoy me a great deal in this installment. While I want their mission to succeed, I want it to seem less preachy and I want them to be less “perfect...more Dag and Fawn continue their mission to bring Lakewalkers and farmers together. Dag also finds a Lakewalker Maker willing to train him. Predictably, Dag pushes the limits of his host Lakewalker camp and he and Fawn must travel onward in search of a home. Predictably, they also gather an assortment of characters to join their journey.

Dag and Fawn both annoy me a great deal in this installment. While I want their mission to succeed, I want it to seem less preachy and I want them to be less “perfect”. Dag often expresses angst but it never feels true to me, particularly when he becomes more ambitious with his experiments. Although her intentions are admirable and she has likeable qualities, Fawn comes across as a preachy know-it-all—I want to like her but she annoys me to no end. I also want to see a real relationship between them—all that we see of Dag and Fawn is complete understanding all of the time—which is a nice concept but it does not feel real.

In addition to my annoyance with Dag and Fawn, the first half of the book was agonizingly slow—I understand that trying to overcome decades of prejudice is a slow process but it was also predictable, preachy and boring. It also dominated the story, leaving other facets largely unexplored. There’s the issue of whether it’s ever okay to place a persuasion on someone (which goes along with the Lakewalkers’ ability to read farmers’ grounds and determine if they are lying). The “protection” Dag has been working on continues the storyline but it still receives less attention in the story than it warrants, particularly as this is supposed to be the last volume of the series. I also really wanted to see more progress in the understanding of what Malices are and what causes them to appear. Finally, Bujold piqued our curiosity about this world’s ancient history and “people across the sea” but as of yet hasn’t taken that storyline any further.

I did enjoy the Arkady & Sumac storyline, all descriptions of Copperhead, and the Malice scenes. Overall, I rate the book as okay. Even though this is supposed to be the concluding volume of the series, I hope that Bujold revisits the series because there’s a lot of story left to tell; I just hope that the pace is quickened and there’s a bit more drama.(less)

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Jan 22, 2011 Sue Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

The fourth and final book in the Sharing Knife series continues with the adventures and trail blazing of the main characters of Fawn and her husband Dag. A controversial couple, they crossed the lines by falling in love and marrying, then combining their two different life styles and cultures. Then discovering they weren't part of one way or another, they started to spearhad a new way of life and thinking that will accomodate them both and teach others tolerance and acceptance. A modern day dile...more The fourth and final book in the Sharing Knife series continues with the adventures and trail blazing of the main characters of Fawn and her husband Dag. A controversial couple, they crossed the lines by falling in love and marrying, then combining their two different life styles and cultures. Then discovering they weren't part of one way or another, they started to spearhad a new way of life and thinking that will accomodate them both and teach others tolerance and acceptance. A modern day dilemma that's played out by many people these days and most of us have heard of.

Of course, this story is on a completely different world - space and time. Dag is from a culture that is closed and protective of their knowledge and their ways, from a people that are reluctant to change or accept it. His people fight an evil force that spawns itself in the form of an evil thing that preys on the life force of live creatures, human or animal. They hunt them and when they find them, they slay them. Fawn's background is from settlers - people who work hard on their lands and like to plant roots and prosper, but harbour superstitions and oft times no common sense. They don't have the sensitivity to the evil forces and as a result, often fall prey to it.

The characters are familiar and likable, but it's advised to be sure that you start at the beginning with this series just to be sure to get the jist of the ideas that the author is trying to portray. As Dag discovered his propensity for healing others, his wife is more sensitive to his need for proper training and guidance, she leads them to a man of her husband's culture that would be able to help. Getting over the usual awkwardness and denial of the mixed marriage, Dag starts training to use his talents for healing. Inevitably, the desire to do what's right as opposed to what's easy takes over and after Dag helps 'the farmers' he is banned from the group. So the story continues as they decide to carry on back up to the North country to settle down. Along the trip they seem to gather an odd variety of people of both cultures and ultimately end of tackling a 'malice' and defeating it as a team. Not easy fought but won with quick thinking (by his wife - again), they carry on to settle with her brother and his new wifes land and family.

Thankfully, Lois McMaster Bujold did include an epilogue. There were quite afew loose ends with all the characters and what was happening with them and to just end it when they rode up the driveway would have been unfortunate. So you do get a bit of a better closure of Dag and Fawn, but it still somehow doesn't feel done. But then, neither did Harry Potter. All in all, not a bad series. (less)

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Sep 11, 2009 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Considering that I didn’t read this series continuously (one of quirks…I have to take serial editions), I still managed to finish all four books fairly quickly…less than a month I believe. The story is really good. I don’t often read fantasy books because, like sci-fi, a lot of the concepts go over my head when I want a quick read. In “The Sharing Knife” series, Bujold does a great job of explaining the new concepts and doing it in a way that is both understandable and entertaining.

“The Sharing...more Considering that I didn’t read this series continuously (one of quirks…I have to take serial editions), I still managed to finish all four books fairly quickly…less than a month I believe. The story is really good. I don’t often read fantasy books because, like sci-fi, a lot of the concepts go over my head when I want a quick read. In “The Sharing Knife” series, Bujold does a great job of explaining the new concepts and doing it in a way that is both understandable and entertaining.

“The Sharing Knife” saga is set in a world where farmers and Lakewalkers co-exist with little to no understanding of each other. Lakewalkers are a haughty breed of beings who pride themselves on finding monsters known as malices and killing them with Sharing knives. These knives are made from thighbones of their deceased and primed with the blood of a dying Lakewalker who makes their life sacrifice into the knife for use in killing the malices. When not called as a patroller, a Lakewalker may also be called as a maker or a healer, and all Lakewalkers work with groundsense, an aura like part of anything that only they can see.

Farmers fall into the category of anyone who isn’t a Lakewalker, and the prejudices between the two are many. Lakewalkers see Farmers as ignorant and useless, while Farmers have the notion that Lakewalkers are graverobbers and death-eaters.

“Beguiliment (Book1) begins with Fawn Bluefield, a young Farmer girl, running away from home after a local boy gets her pregnant then refuses to take responsibility. On the way, she is saved by Dag, a Lakewalker patrolling the area for malices. They are thrown together even further when the malice “ground-rips” her unborn child. In the process, Fawn somehow primes a Sharing Knife in a way not done before in Lakewalker culture. The two fall in love, and the book ends with a visit to Fawn’s family and their marriage, both traditional and string bound as the Lakewalkers do.

“ Legacy “ (Book 2) sends them to Dag’s Lakewalker camp to introduce his new bride and reassure them that he’s okay (having got separated from the rest of the patrollers in the first book). The marriage is frowned upon by the haughty camp with the exception of a few Lakewalkers who offer Fawn their hospitality and friendship. When Dag goes on patrol again to help hunt down a particularly nasty malice, he is pulled into a groundlock after trying to save others who’ve already been locked by the malice. Fawn goes to him against other Lakewalker wishes and saves him before he and the others who’ve been locked are made sacrifices to unprimed Sharing Knives. This leg of the journey and part of the story ends with the camp divided on whether to allow Dag and Fawn to stay or to banish them from camp. Taking matters into his own hands, Dag voluntarily leaves, hoping that by traveling and seeing more of the world he can find a way to bring Farmers and Lakewalkers together to both understand each other better and to have a better chance at fighting malices.

“ Passage ” (Book 3) takes Dag and Fawn on a river trip where Dag is given the chance to experiment with the new healer and maker powers he’s been exhibiting and to talk to others, generally Farmers, on the ways of Lakewalkers, hoping to give them a better understanding of the culture and of malices. Bujold introduces several new and enjoyable characters in this book (there were several introduced in the second book as well, but I didn’t find them very enjoyable), including Remo and Barr, two young patrollers who leave their camp after breaking a Sharing Knife; Boss Berry, the boat captain they ride aboard with who has gone in search of her father and her fiancé; Whit, Fawn’s brother who realizes that his home holds no future for him and so sets out with his sister and her husband to see what the world has to offer; and a group of minor characters including a renegade Lakewalker (not so minor in the plot, but only in the book for a short time).

“Horizon” (Book 4) brings Dag and Fawn and their group at several crossroads. Fawn looks for a teacher so that Dag can learn how to do “ground work” (healing), his ultimate goal being able to offer services to Farmers and teach other Lakewalker healers to do the same. At a new camp, Dag goes under the tutelage of Arkady, an older healer with many of the same skills Dag has found himself with on the journey. On a trip back north with a mixed party, they come across a strange and advanced malice, and it’s Fawn and her brother who prove that Farmers are just as capable at malice slaying.

This summary only scratches the surface of what this whole story offers and how the characters develop. Bujold writes intricately without hanging out the “I’m writing intricately” sign. This is my first venture into this author’s work, and I would definitely like to read more of her in the near future.
(less)

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Aug 31, 2010 lynne naranek rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Having labored my way through books 1-3 and assuming the tale stopped there, I was surprised to find out recently that The Sharing Knife series went on to #4.

I think if you made your way through the previous books, this one has a bit of a payoff / is a slightly more satisfying read, because Fawn and Dag are now trying to start a new type of interaction and cooperation between farmers and lakewalkers.

Thankfully the stilted lovemaking scenes didn't make it to this book. As such this read as an a...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Hester rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, minnesota-writers, american-writers, women-s-issues, novels

I have mixed feelings about this series. I HATED the first book; it struck me as an annoying romance. I trust the author, though, so I read the rest of the series and was happily surprised to see how it dealt with so many different issues.

Like the Vorkosigan series, the Sharing Knife series contains elements of Midwestern history and culture in her new world. The series is about reconciling cultures and about how the domestic interacts with the extraordinary. It is about the dynamics of power; h...more

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title link	preview: Horizon
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Horizon (The Sharing Knife #4)

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