Recent Reading: Penric and the Bandit

Okay, Penric and the Bandit was a charming addition to the Penric novellas, decidedly better than several of the more recent novellas.

Let me see, what are all of the Penric novellas? Okay, they are, in order:

Penric’s Demon

Penric and the Shamen

Penric’s Fox

Masquerade in Lodi

Penric’s Mission

Mira’s Last Dance

The Prisoner of Limnos

The Orphans of Raspay

The Physicians of Vilnoc

The Assassins of Thassalon

Knot of Shadows

Demon Daughter

And now this latest one, Penric and the Bandit.

They vary a lot in quality. If I were sorting them out, let me see …

Penric’s Demon, Penric and the Shamen, Penric’s Mission, Mira’s Last Dance, The Prisoner of Limnos, The Orphans of Raspay, The Assassin of Thessalon –> These are all really good. There may be some quibbles, but they’re all excellent.

Penric’s Fox is okay. I would put Penric and the Bandit at about this level. It’s fine. I liked it. It hit certain tropes I like a lot. It’s simple and straightforward.

Masquerade in Lodi suffers from a SCREAMINGLY OBVIOUS bad guy. Knot of Shadows did not really work for me. For some reason, I’m not sure why, neither did Demon Daughter. The Physicians of Vilnoc was frankly boring. It was a grinding slog of continual sorcerous healing and exhaustion, without nearly enough of lively Desdemona.

So, given I wasn’t all that keen on the most recent couple, I was happy with Penric and the Bandit. Especially because, as I say, it hit tropes I like a lot. It was simple, but a simple redemption plotline works for me. I think Bujold could have done a bit more with it — I mostly mean, I know what I would have brought out more if I’d been writing it. But I liked it.

Also, I was feeling fairly crappy the day I realized this novella was out, so I was happy to take a day off and just read a Penric novella and not even look at my laptop.

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