Penric's Fox Hardcover – February 28, 2018

It was fun to be back with Penric and his demon Desdemona. This book picks up after Penric and the Shaman. The Shaman Inglis and Locator Oswyl are still with Penric as they are called to investigate the murder of a sorceress. The world and its five god structure of the Mother, father, Daughter, Son and Bastard is creative and well built. It has been refreshing to read multiple series set in the same fantasy world. They are set at different times and with different sets of characters, but the reader is not completely starting from scratch. The world, its politics, and its religious orders are very well-defined, but you will learn about it best if you begin with The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. (You won’t be unhappy- it is a terrific series.) Although the Penric and Desdemona books are not a part of that series, you will understand more about the world and in particular the five gods and religious orders that play a significant role in the political and sacred powers that are also big factors in this story if you have read those books. Penric’s investigation is concerned first with the fate of the sorceress’s demon and second with the murder of the mortal sorceress. The story is smartly plotted and cleverly told. The integration of Inglis and the other shamans into the story is a real plus. They are likable and their magic adds interest. There are light moments as with the earlier books in this Penric series. My only complaint is that the books in this series have been short (really a novella) so everything seems to begin and end quickly with no room for multiple threads of plot. Still, Penric and his demon Desdemona remain engaging and interesting. The writing is fluent and the pacing is good.

Lois McMaster Bujold's "Penric and Desdemona" series of novellas represents the kind of fantasy I most enjoy: "small" adventures rather than yet another Grand Quest To Save The World(tm). A mostly ordinary person caught in unusual circumstances faces a problem - now, how does he solve it?In this series, the main characters are Penric, a minor noble who shares his mind-space with a demon that is itself host to the personalities of all the beings it "co-habited" before. It's name is "Desdemona." To learn to deal with his condition, Penric became a sorcerer-priest of "The Bastard," one of the five gods of Bujold's setting. Together, Penric and Desdemona's adventures (so far), involve solving murder mysteries in a fantasy medieval setting. In that, they are a fantasy version of the well-known detective team trope.The fifth book in the series, but third in the setting's internal chronology, "Penric's Fox" wasn't as satisfying, but still enjoyable. The actual mystery itself wasn't hard to figure out, the clues being rather "on the nose." It felt almost as if the purpose was less the mystery than to see familiar characters develop a bit and to set the stage for later stories.Still the writing is good, the characters enjoyable, the twist on the murder clever, and the setting interesting. Recommended for fantasy fans looking for a good, quick read.

In the sequel to Penric and the Shaman, Penric and Desdemona team up with Inglis and Oswyl to figure out why a sorceress has been struck down in the depths of the woods and by whom. Penric and the others must find a fox that has escaped with the sorceress’s demon before woodsmen slaughter it in an ill-timed campaign to clear the woods of foxes.Why would someone dare to kill a sorceress knowing her demon would try to jump to someone nearby? Or was there canniness to the fatal arrow that forced the demon to enter a lower beast? Bujold carves a path through her constructed world, meshing magic, demons, and the murder of a well-regarded woman in this newest Penric mystery.The Penric novellas are less manic than Bujold’s other series. They’re often a seemingly bucolic ramble through whatever wilderness of human intrigue Bujold is mapping for us. That said, the world-building is rich, the characters complex, and the magic and mysteries fascinating. As usual, Bujold reveals much about the human condition, with all its strengths and frailties, while keeping us entertained and focused on her sleight of hand.My only con for this book is that Bujold keeps convincing me to pay for these novellas, which are rather small installments, compared to her Vorkosigan novels. I suppose the blame is on me for my addiction, but I would dearly love to see all the Penric novels in an omnibus or two for newcomers to the series.

It was so nice to be able to see more of the shaman's world. Each shaman having a different animal to merge with, which makes it so unique. In the previous part, the shamans were a bit blur to me, but this novel gives them more clarity and justice.In this adventure, a sorceress was murdered, and her demon is nowhere in sight. And while Locator is searching for a murderer, Penric and shamans are looking for a fox, who maybe has a demon inside. And the fox is pregnant. So with all these demon-moving-to-another-body rules, it felt nice to get more familiar with sorcerer's learnings and beliefs. Before this series, I read about the five gods as very frightening beings. Stories about Penric and Desdemona are melting those fears away.I don't think there will ever be time for me to stop admiring Bujold's writings.

I make no secret of my love for this author, the World of the Five Gods in particular, and this delightful series in which new installments keep popping up without much warning like the best of happy bubbles. If you’re new to this series, this is a direct sequel to Penric and the Shaman and takes place almost a decade before Penric’s Mission. So if you like to read in chronological order then the series currently goes:#1 Penric’s Demon#2 Penric and the Shaman#3 Penric’s Fox#4 Penric’s Mission#5 Mira’s Last DanceBut thanks to that long gap between 3 and 4, this is unlikely to be definitive.Regardless of that, this will work best if you have read Penric and the Shaman, simply because we get to revisit some old friends as Penric and his chaos demon stumble (or are more likely sent) into a new adventure. Once again it’s murder, but this time it’s a sorcerer like Penric – which means there’s a lost demon in the mix.I love this world and I adore Penric and Desdemona, so it’s always a treat getting to learn more about them. With them still relatively new in their life together, there’s still much for them both to learn about their abilities and powers, but I love how good a team they make. Penric seems full of boundless compassion for everything he encounters – human, animal, demon – while Desdemona’s wit and protectiveness helps balance out his slightly too caring side with a ruthless vicious streak. These two bring me so much joy.The plot itself this time around is perhaps a little too straightforward, with many clues standing out quite starkly and a few lucky coincidences here and there. However, I really enjoyed seeing more shamans and learning a bit more about their craft. It was also great to see more of Oswyl, Inglis and the Princess-Archdivine. There’s nothing too complicated or surprising here, but it still makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read.If you’re an old fan of LMB or the Five Gods, you’ll probably have bought this already. If you’re new and it all sounds rather intriguing, do yourself a favour and start with Penric’s Demon. You don’t have to read in order to enjoy this series, but there’s a lot more to savour that way. Here’s hoping another surprise tale will pop up before too long.

The fight sequence near the end of this brought to mind the equivalent one near the end of "The Sharing Knife: Passage". The author is splitting the Lakewalkers' abilities between the shamans and the sorcerors of this world. The significance of "ground", to the Lakewalkers, emerges split between shamans and sorcerors here.A little disconcerting to find a third story inserted between the first two and the [former] third and forth. And - like "Passage" this is the third in a series. Should not really be surprised - she's done this at novel level - inserted "Cetaganda" into the Vorkosigan series in order to explain a throwaway remark in "Memory".Before writing this, I re-read "Penric's Mission" and so see more clearly why this most-recent of the Penric novellas has had to be written.... it all calls into question why the theologians of the [300 years later] "Paladin of Souls" did not know all the points that Bujold is creating in this series of novellas.A problem with writing the sort of series in which she excels?... and I still REALLY hate the publication of Kindle-only books instead of paper ones that don't need electric power to read; and MOST ESPECIALLY when there are POOF-READING errors embedded in them.

A delightful little book. I've enjoyed all the Penric stories and this one is no exception. The biggest appeal for me is the reliability of the background. Bujold never cheats. Demons in her world exist according to a fixed set of rules. Knowing those rules, I was able to work out the motive of the murderer a little before Penric did (I had the advantage over him of assuming the book's title was significant). I also arrived at the identity of the murderer by the same logic as Penric.The characters, as always, are well-drawn. I think my only slight disappointment is that there was slightly less of Desdemona in this book than in some of the other ones. That is possibly because the addition of several shamanic characters (which did lead to several very interesting conversations about the similarities and differences between shamans and sorcerers) left less space for each individual character.

As with the Vorkosigan series, the writing order is not the same as the narrative order. This story slots neatly after Penric and the Shaman, and amplifies and extends the tale of Penric, Inglis and Oswyl. It also opens up the debate about how the powers of a sorcerer are similar to, yet utterly different from, those of a shaman. It's also a police procedural in the world of five gods, and a darn good read, like everything else from this author. Can be read standalone, although if you have read any of the five god's stories before, again this adds a bit more to the picture. Highly recommended.

The observant among you may have noticed that this latest addition to the Penric and Desdemona series does not follow on from the last book. However, it really didn’t make all that much difference to my enjoyment as there were no spoilers in the subsequent stories to compromise my reading experience.Penric is inhabited by an old and very powerful chaos demon, Desdemona, who can provide him with supernatural powers and regularly needs feeding with the souls of dead creatures. Penric normally obliges by ridding any dwelling where he resides of fleas, lice, mice and rats. So he is shocked when he comes across the body of a fellow sorceress alone in the woods. The question then has to be – what has happened to her demon? In addition to tracking down a clearly dangerous and inventive murderer, Penric needs to discover what has happened to a traumatised demon who may be hitching a ride on a woodland animal.Bujold is very good at packing a lot of story into a relatively short read. While I appreciate and draw on previous knowledge of the character, I believe that if anyone reads this book as a standalone, they won’t find themselves floundering. An extra twist to this tale is that Penric has the assistance of a couple of shape-shifting shamans who know the woods well. It was interesting to see how these differently talented characters fitted into this established world and worked alongside Penric.As ever, the pacing of the story is well judged as the tension rises. This isn’t a classic whodunnit as we have a fair idea who the culprit may be well before the end. But the manner in which the denouement occurs and the story wrapped up is skilfully handled. This is another well-written, thoroughly enjoyable addition to this quality series and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys first-class fantasy with a difference.9/10