Darksight Dare
Lois McMaster Bujold
Not all Pen and Des
Darksight Dare is the sixteenth novel/novella in Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and Desdemona series. It's a long novella or a very short novel. Also, it's a little different from most stories in the series.
Usually what I enjoy about a Pen & Des story is being inside the mind shared by Pen & Des. Their banter is always fun.
There's some of that in Darksight Dare, but most of our time is spent inside other minds. A hedge sorcerer is dying. In the five-gods world a sorcerer is a person who bears a demon. Most of the sorcerers we have met previously were under the care of the temple hierarchy, particularly that part of it devoted to the Bastard. For one thing, the clerics of the Bastard know how to handle and live safely with a demon. Pen & Des are obviously the experts. A hedge sorcerer is a sorcerer who has managed to remain unknown to the temple. It's a dangerous thing to be, and this one, Iva, is dying. She hasn't much time left, so there is an urgent need to find a new host for her demon to jump to when Iva dies.
The other main point of view is cavalry captain Cinar Camurat, who was recently blinded. Pen's brother-in-law General Arisaydia sends Cin to Penric, remembering how Pen healed him after his own blinding.
Thus Pen has two problems to solve. It's time for creative solutions.
I enjoyed this. The new points of view -- Cin and demon Iva, were a welcome innovation.