Darksight Dare

novellas-short-stories series-ongoing

4.5/5
Буджолд находит демонам все новые применения 🤣
Очень рада каждому появлению святого Ироки, он у меня один из любимых персонажей в серии.

Olga Godim

Author 12 books85 followers

Loved this novella. There are no villains in this story, just a complex situation with no simple outcome for any of the characters. But as always, Penric rises to the challenge and applies his original thinking to discover a unique solution to the knotty problem. The logic of the plot is impeccable, the characters' actions inevitable according to their varied personalities, and the narrative superb. It is #16 in the series, but unlike many other series, this one keeps developing and changing, as the author delves deeper into her world and her hero.

fantasy-scifi

Marlene

3,523 reviews246 followers

0reviewed 1fantasy 2novella

In a recent (mis)adventure, Penric managed to get himself gored by a demonic ox. These things happen when you are a Learned Divine of the Fifth God, the Lord Bastard, the master of all disasters out of season. Penric seems to be one of his most favored – or possibly one of his favorite playthings. When the deity you serve is the God of Chaos, the Lord of both chance and mischance, his godly favor often demonstrates the reasons why “may you live in interesting times” is every bit as much of a curse as it is a blessing.

In the World of the Five Gods, demons are not “demons” the way that we think of them. Demons are spirits with an independent existence – and soul – but no body. They achieve sentience by receiving some divine spark – or something like that – and then moving up the evolutionary chain from body to body, from insect to animal to human, gaining skills, experience and maturity as they go.

It’s not body-snatching. It’s not usually possession. It’s sharing. It’s partnership. Penric ought to know as he shares his body with the demon Desdemona, who represents the collective experience of the twelve demon-riders who came before him. All of them female which gives him an entirely new perspective on pretty much everything – and has for the past 25 years. Ever since he first agreed to host Desdemona in Penric’s Demon.

But it’s Penric’s whole adult life, a much different life than the one he originally imagined for himself.

This 16th story in the Hugo Award winning series is about another young man, this time a former cavalry officer, in considerably more desperate straits than Penric was, looking for a cure for his blindness and finding a life that he never imagined for himself, just as Penric once did.

Cinar Camurat was blinded by an enemy while he was a prisoner of war. His life, as he knew it, is over. And, quite likely, his life, period. Once he runs out of hope, he’ll put himself out of his misery – and it’s obvious to everyone around him that he’s hanging on by his fingernails.

Penric, OTOH, has a problem much like the one he walked into himself all those years ago. A hedge-witch (an unsanctioned sorcerer) is dying of cancer. Her demon is untrained and doesn’t know how to throw off the chaos she generates safely so as not to let it build up in her rider. But her demon is partially trained, and the temple always needs more demons for waiting candidates.

Not that any of those candidates can reach Penric in time, just as he was the only person available to take his demon when Desdemona’s previous rider died – of old age – on a remote path.

Cinar needs a future. The demon needs a rider. There is no time left for either of them. Unless they choose to walk their future path together, a road not seen, and seldom taken. But hopefully the right one for them both.

If the Lord Bastard takes them under his care, and gives them times that are just interesting enough.

Escape Rating A-: This series is always fun. And it’s always fun to see how Penric and his family are doing and just how misadventurous his current adventure turns out to be. Meaning that I picked this up the moment I saw it existed and dove into it with a grateful sigh.

One of the things I love about this series, and about the World of the Five Gods in which it is set, is that the whole religion/theology angle is well-thought out, actually works, and doesn’t make the reader think of any current real world analogies.

Not that Penric doesn’t have faith in his god and his god’s actions, but that Penric has met his god and spoken with him and knows for certain that his god’s acts – and the acts of the other gods – are real and have real, obvious and obviously directly attributable effects on their real world.

Penric and his god are also very well matched, in that the Lord Bastard is a chaos avatar, and so is Penric. And it seems as if that characteristic is a real part of Penric’s personality and not something imposed by his god. Not that the Lord Bastard isn’t a die-hard enabler of such behavior, but the behavior was already there. Penric just has more scope for it as a Temple Sorcerer than he did as the second son of a local landowner when he was just starting out.

The story, as so many of Penric’s stories are, is a story about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. A story about leaping and hoping the net will appear. Of taking a chance and knowing it will make something happen – even if that something is less than ideal. Penric is all about pushing the envelope and seeing what happens when he sees what’s outside the corner.

In this case the story is also a reminder of both Penric’s own origin story AND his predisposition to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

It was also fun to have another story that centered around Penric’s work as a Temple Sorcerer rather than on his family. There have been a few of those close together – although not the most recent book, Testimony of Mute Things, and it’s nice to have the balance back.

Both of those things being said, that means that the story has a familiar feel to it, as Penric has seen and done similar things and had similar adventures. Which is why this is an A- book instead of higher.

What makes this entry in the series a bit different is wrapped as tightly around Cinar as the badges around his eyes. It’s his situation that carries the heartbreak, and he’s at the end of his psychological rope and isn’t sure whether it’s worth hanging on. So even though Penric’s solution is dependent on this world’s magic, Cinar’s feelings and responses to his situation feel universal.

That Penric’s solution to Cinar’s problems is going to create a whole lot of change and chaos for his own life and his own God’s Order is just par for Penric’s, and the Lord Bastard’s, course.

If you’re already one of Penric and Desdemona’s many fans, this is a fun entry in the series. If this epic in scope but not epically long fantasy series sounds like it just MIGHT be your jam, start at the beginning with Penric’s Demon and prepare yourself for a terrific reading binge.

I’ll be over here, looking forward to the next book in the series, whenever it may appear!

Originally published at Reading Reality

Yev

745 reviews32 followers

May 7, 2026

Four months have passed when Penric is called upon to inspect a dying woman who has a demon. She's on the right side of the cover. The left side is a blind man who is to inherit the demon, an experiment that Penric is quite excited about. 75% or so of the narrative is the man coming to terms with the changes that come with inheriting the demon, including a substitute of sorts for the vision he lost. This is one of the entries where Bujold explores some aspect of the world she's created in detail. The story is told from the perspectives of Penric, the blind man, and for the first time, a demon other than Desdemona.

I enjoy reading these quite a bit as they've maintained a great balance between daily life and something of note happening. That being said, I definitely prefer progressing into the future rather than taking a detour into the past as the previous entry did. I don't really have much to say. The joy is mostly simply from reading them, not so much what they're specifically about. Though, I may prefer Penric's settled days to his adventurous ones. Here's to many more to come.

Lorelei

423 reviews3 followers

May 4, 2026

I’m so glad LMB seems to enjoy spending time with Pen and Des as much as the rest of us.

Of course, as the series goes on, Penric is becoming less the protagonist of the stories and more the…fulcrum? Strange attractor? As a character, he’s quite settled by now. He has his family, scholarly fame, a growing flock of sorcerer apprentices to train and spread his approach to magic and demon-keeping. I don’t want to see his life blown up, and there are only so many magical puzzles he can solve without Bujold inflicting Orbas with an unfair plague of death magic, corrupted demons or literal plagues.

So instead, we get stories about Pen’s influence on others, which are also excellent. This one might be my favorite yet. We get a demon as a viewpoint character for the first time, and it’s so good.

Also Pen out here inventing whole new categories of Temple-sanctioned sorcerer because he just can’t help himself.

Mitchell Friedman

6,013 reviews232 followers

May 6, 2026

Slurp. I did hold off for days from reading this, which showed remarkable control. Formulaic - but what a formula. And in the end we had some directionality. And really this fit into the chronology without a whole lot of gap. Is this high art? no. But super enjoyable. And I'm so looking forward to re-reading this whole series perhaps more than once. And again perhaps this is a series for an older person, but I am an older person.

bc-tu-friends ebook fantasy

David H.

2,563 reviews28 followers

April 25, 2026

Another cozyish entry into Penric and Desdemona's lives, though a large part of the books is from another character. I think in one sense, it's good to keep doing things to change up each episode to keep it fresh. That said, as much as I enjoy spending time in this world, the repetition of how sorcery and demons work is starting to get to me, as it's harder to be patient with new characters needing Penric to lecture them every time. That said, I'm very curious about the implications of the ending Bujold gave us here. Fascinating.

bingo fantasy

Candy Moore

59 reviews

April 25, 2026

A Different Point of View

This was interesting because Penric and Desdemona were not the main characters. We got to see through new characters' eyes, well, in a way. It was a good story.

Angela Knight

55 reviews7 followers

May 3, 2026

I do love Pen and Des

I don’t have many writer goddesses, but Lois McMaster Bujold is at the top of the list. I love the Vor books, but when life gets stressful, I enjoy the Penric and Desdemona books. The adventures are fun, as this one was, but also verging on cozy, if one can call a book with demons cozy. I highly recommend!

Liz

1,908 reviews51 followers

In my brain, the subtitle for the second half (or so) of this series is Penric’s Rabbinate (which obviously reveals my biases but still).
Penric gets a problem that is both pastoral and practical and he has to figure out what his god wants him to do.
And then how to do it.
It’s very fun.

Margaret

725 reviews21 followers

May 2, 2026

In Darksight Dare, Penric & Desdemona have two emergencies presented to them almost at once.

First, there is a young man come to fetch Learned Penric because his aunt (who turns out to be a secret hedge sorcerer) is dying.

Second, Penric's brother-in-law General Adelis has sent a blinded calvary captain to Penric in hopes that he, like Adelis, could recover his sight. Both were blinded after being captured by enemies. (At least blinded is better than dead, after all.) Fortunately for Adelis, Penric WAS able to restore his sight, but it was an arduous process AND Penric had access to Adelis shortly after the incident happened.

This is the first time in the Penric & Desdemona series where we have met a hedge sorcerer. These are people who have demons, but who were never trained by the Temple and, in fact, stayed as far away from Temples as they could. (Yes, they are QUITE aware that the Temple has the power to destroy their demons, so they give Temples a wide berth.)

The Temples don't pursue the hedge sorcerers because they are usually harmless and, in fact, can be wise women dispensing herbs, etc. to cure minor ills, etc. Temples prefer that THEIR demons are passed from Learned divines to approved / trained Temple candidates. (Penric acquired his during a roadway accident but went for Temple training shortly thereafter.)

We also have not seen that much of military men. Pen's general brother-in-law provided letters of introduction for his wounded cavalryman just in case Penric could help him.

So, we are seeing new people in Penric & Desdemona's world. That is, people from other walks of life than we had seen before.

Anyway, as always, the new Pen & Des novella is a fine adventure, well-told indeed!

adventure demons fantasy

A.M.

Author 7 books56 followers

May 3, 2026

A hedge witch from a tiny village has a demon she inherited from an older woman, but knowing nothing of shedding chaos, it has made her so ill she’s dying of cancer. Winces.

Her sister sends to the city for the Learned Penric who brings them back to the temple so that the demon can be saved. There is no hope for the woman, but she will live on in the demon the way Desdemona has many ‘selves’, so she can get a vote in all this.

Meanwhile, Penric’s brother in law, has sent a blinded cavalry captain to him in the hope that he can restore his sight, but it’s been months…

But perhaps there is a solution that will suit both demon and man? it is rare to place a female demon in a male host, but they are pushed for time.

I kept trying to read this with a migraine - lip wobble - had to put it down and wait until the next morning to try again.

terrified they will be eaten by the saint they RUN AWAY … oh bless, neither of them can see properly, so he stole the Bastard’s glowing WHITE temple horse - and rides right past the saint they think will eat them, who promptly, turns around and rides with them. Oops

Penric comes up with a new plan to rescue hedge-witches and their demons - training them up into other areas where they already have expertise; like Cin with horses. This is a problem that literally NOT ANOTHER soul has ever thought about being an issue… Penric, you are amazing.

The brothers plan to hang around - the sighted one as a diplomat… and Cin as a sorcerer in training so they will pop up in Penric’s ever expanding family.

hugs them all

5 stars

e-books i-own kindle

Jonathan Palfrey

685 reviews22 followers

Although I suppose you could read this as a standalone novella, I don’t recommend it. The story stands alone, but the scenario and most of the characters have been developed and explained in previous stories. These stories make most sense when read in chronological order—which is mostly but not always the order of publication.

This particular story is a good one; it’s also one of the longer stories in the series. I wondered about giving it 5 stars; but it seems to me that it falls a little short of the best of the series, so I’ll give it 4 for now.

Penric is a good-natured and naturally cheerful fellow, but the most interesting thing about him is his resident demon Desdemona, which he acquired in the first story of the series. In general, each story explores a new and different aspect of demonology: how demons behave, and what you can do with a demon.

This story introduces a new demon (so it’s not primarily about Desdemona) and finds a new way in which it can make itself useful. It also introduces a few new characters, while maintaining the regular characters.

Unusually, each chapter brings a change of protagonist, so we get the situation from various different viewpoints.

Comparing this with the other stories in the series, I’d say that the plot is relatively simple, the character interest is moderate, the demonology is interesting, and the aftertaste is good. I enjoyed reading it; I reread all of these stories and will enjoy rereading this one.

Julie

346 reviews29 followers

Read

May 3, 2026

I’d say this was in the top third of the Penric books. Not the very best, but certainly enjoyable. Any book in which we get to see Blessed Iroki is gonna jump up several spots in the ranking for me – I love him so much. I liked the new characters, and as always I liked the references to previous Penric stories. There were some moments toward the end that were downright hilarious, and I thought the ending tied things up nicely. (Though, is it just me, or does Penric seem to be acquiring quite the collection of sorcerers, none of whom have gotten their demons through “traditional” means.) All that said, I thought there were some odd pacing issues. At about the halfway point, I legitimately couldn’t figure out what else there was to do in the story – it seemed like everything had been wrapped up, and Bujold had to spend a while setting up the conflict for the back half of the book. Also, there were several scenes that I found fairly boring (just people talking to each other in a “getting to know you” kind of way) that probably could have been left out. Still, another enjoyable Penric romp.

scifi-fantasy

aimee

217 reviews

April 24, 2026

The way that I rushed to the Kobo store when I saw Ms McMaster Bujold's post announcing a new book....per usual I was not disappointed.

As we rejoin Penric and Desdemona they have been together for twenty five years! Penric is still physically recovering from his encounter with the demonic ox the previous summer.

I enjoyed the new character of Cin and all those associated with him, and the chapters from his perspective were welcome. Nothing about the way the story unfolds will surprise you, but you don't really read these stories to be surprised. I liked that this one was less a mystery and more, how will the characters deal with the circumstances they are faced with.

I happily and eagerly await the next installment.

Alexandra

591 reviews126 followers

May 4, 2026

Demons, humans, saints and horses

I’ve said it before, in my other reviews, these characters are family. Meeting them again is simply wonderful.

A young villager comes to Learned Penric (and Desdemona, of course) with a delicate demon-related issue. A young man comes to Penric hoping that medical magic will help him. These stories will intertwine. For the characters, it will be emotional and confusing. They will make bad decisions and bad judgements, but they will get it right at some point.

I loved that Blessed Iroki made an appearance here, since he is my favourite saint in fiction!

I can’t believe Pen & Des and all the others have sixteen books to live in now. Isn’t it wonderful?
These books are good for the soul.

fantasy

igorama

157 reviews4 followers

April 24, 2026

A very cozy novella about another demon acquisition. It seems to set the stage for Paladin of Souls which is chronologically much later. I feel like there are enough potential threads in this that it could have been a full novel like The Assassins of Thasalon. The dilemma of meeting the saint never gets easier and I feel like that's a trap. If demons are terrified of the saints to the point of being completely irrational then it's always going to be a major obstacle in developing the human/demon attachment. The god has proven benevolence on many occasions so maybe demons shouldn't freak out if they haven't done anything wrong.

Icywolf

171 reviews1 follower

As always, too short ... and then so long a time till the next tale! Still I always look forward to another snippet with Penric and Desdemona.

For readers new to this special pair, I recommend consulting Ms Bujold's reading order recommendations and join Penric and his demon's very first meeting (Penric's Demon) - this tale is deep into his later life and references may spoil some aspects of the earlier adventures.

fantasy

Denise Little

19 reviews

A demon's look from the inside....

Penric and Desdemona have a new set of problems to take under their wings. A young Celedonian captain blinded in the wars, and an old hedge wizardess racked by tumors, wash up on his doorstep in the same day. Penric isn't sure if this is divine guidance or just desperate measures, but he throws it at the feet of his God, and prays for deliverance. And of course chaos ensues.

Paula

139 reviews32 followers

Another Penric Episode

Like most of Bujold's work, *Darksight Dare* has fascinating world building details that often reflect our reality, and touches of intensity and humour that make the characters of her fictional universes real and relatable. Although I somewhat anticipated the plot, there were interesting twists and detail. Altogether worth buying-- and now I may have to re-read at least this series until another book is published.

Carol Vohs

16 reviews1 follower

May 1, 2026

Another (Almost Disastrous) Adventure for Penric

I can't help it ... when Lois releases a new Penric story, I have to pause whatever great book I'm reading and gobble hers down. Sort of like pausing a delicious dinner, to gobble a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie. I wish I could say I was sorry ... but I can't honestly do it. All I can honestly say is that I hope there are many more Penric stories to come.

Karen Bauer

119 reviews

May 8, 2026

I really enjoyed this one

I was charmed by both the familiar and the new characters. As an energy healer myself, I particularly enjoyed having the experience of seeing the world through eyes that see the energies that make up ourselves and everything in our world, the colors of soul.

The depth of the perceptions that make up the captain’s new sight were beautiful and satisfying.

Looking forward to the continuation of the story!

Kara

Author 29 books96 followers

Bujold covers ground well trod by this point in the series, of all a new "rider" of a demon has to learn when coming into possession of one. Here, however, she flips the POV and we see what the demon thinks of moving from one human to another. Its a fascinating new twist and I loved every minute of it! Highly recommend for anyone who has already read the rest of the series.

fantasy

Carol Dominguez

8 reviews

Great series from a master writer

Lois McMaster Bujold always writes amazing stories and this is just as enjoyable as any. I always wonder how she is going to work out the knotty puzzle she has contrived. They always end much too soon. I guess my only complaint would be that they are never long enough. This is a great read!

James

7 reviews

fantasy fiction read-2026

It’s always a joy when another story in this series comes out. If you’re familiar with the series, you should have a good idea of what to expect (although this one experiments more with perspective, which I thought worked very well). If you’re not already familiar, I highly recommend reading the stories in order of publication, starting with Penric’s Demon.

~♥*Marianna*♥~

905 reviews56 followers

Want to Read