The Prisoner of Limnos

Penric and Desdemona (Publication order) #6

by Lois McMaster Bujold

In this sequel novella to “Mira’s Last Dance”, Temple sorcerer Penric and the widow Nikys have reached safety in the duchy of Orbas when a secret letter from a friend brings frightening news: Nikys’s mother has been taken hostage by her brother’s enemies at the Cedonian imperial court, and confined in a precarious island sanctuary.

Their own romance still unresolved, Nikys, Penric, and of course Desdemona must infiltrate the hostile country once more, finding along the way that family relationships can be as unexpectedly challenging as any rescue scheme

Genres: Fantasy, Novella, Fiction, Audiobook, Romance, Magic, Adventure

138 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2017

About the author

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children.

Her fantasy from HarperCollins includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife tetralogy; her science fiction from Baen Books features the perennially bestselling Vorkosigan Saga. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.

Questions regarding foreign rights, film/tv subrights, and other business matters should be directed to Spectrum Literary Agency, spectrumliteraryagency.com

A listing of her awards and nominations may be seen here:

http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...

A listing of her interviews is here:

http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Auth...

An older fan-run site devoted to her work, The Bujold Nexus, is here:

http://www.dendarii.com/

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know how I feel about Bujold by now, right? It's nice to get some resolution to the love story (which, to be fair, we all knew where it was going). The story itself was...fun albeit Milesian. And Milesian is not a criticism because I love Miles deeply and forever (even if I would murder him if I had to live with him).
There is an interesting thing I want to write about Miles versus Penric as models of...an overinhabited mind, let us say. And as people who are constantly in over their heads and getting themselves out with a truly extraordinary and unexpected skillset.
But later. For now, I'm much more interested in Bujold's recent focus on...for lack of a better term, polyamory.
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is the most explicit in terms of working out how the arrangement would go, but I counted three different triads in this novella, each of which was negotiated in a different way. (I would like some confirmation that Nikys and Adelis's mothers were lovers--representation is good, after all--but that might require a POV shift and I think the subtext is there, but I also think that we don't really have the models for homosocial bonding in polygyny, but whatever.) So Tanar/Sura/Adelis as a future possibility and Penric/Nikys/Desdemona at the close of the book. And none of these triads are love triangles in the traditional sense of choice; they are all left somewhat open-ended with the presumption that resolution is negotiation and not choice. Which I find fascinating, though I'm not quite sure where it goes from here. There's a kind of "Beta colony's attitudes towards sex are more codified and in the open than usual, but human beings have been figuring this kind of thing out for a very long time" feel to it, but I'm trying to figure out what these four models--Aral/Oliver/Cordelia as the fourth--are saying.

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series so much and I will really miss it when it is done.

In this episode Penric and Nikys make a hazardous journey to rescue Nikys's mother from capture, Pen gets another unwished-for chance to impersonate a woman, Desdemona of course has a lot to say, and Nikys begins to wonder if she should accept Pen to be her husband. It is all so beautifully described and totally entertaining.

Since this is the sixth book in the series the characters are really like friends although Desdemona develops in each book as we meet more of her parts. Several new characters popped up in this story too, notably Tanar and Bosha, both of whom it would be nice to meet again.

Another excellent story in this easy to read series. Five stars.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am kinda surprised by this novella. Penric's in love! LOOOVEEE. And he goes to great, adventuresome lengths to help his love.

You know, scaling the highest religious order castle, perform death-defying stunts, rust door locks, blow up seagulls, and dress up as a woman.

You know, the normal stuff that women ask of us men.

:) I had fun! So is this a romance? I do believe it is. The fantasy bits are cool, but they only serve the romance. :)

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

During his assignations with danger and with assorted demons, Learned Penric of the Bastard’s Order has managed to acquire a girlfriend. As we most of us have learned by now, this brings along a different kind of trouble.
In a previous episode, Penric and his companions, general Adelis and his widowed sister Nykis, have escaped from the imperial forces of Cedonia and have taken refuge in the smaller dukedom of Orbas. Here Penric hopes to return to his bookworm habits and to convince Nykis to marry him [and his companion demon Desdemona]

Unfortunately, Cedonian enemies have kidnapped Nykis’ mother and locked her up in the proverbial impregnable tower: the clifftop monastery on the island of Limnos. Penric and Nykis set out on a rescue mission, with some unexpected aid from a palace eunuch and more surprising appearances from relatives of Nikys.

>>><<<>>><<<

By this moment in the series, the sixth in the timeline I believe, the return to familiar characters and to the pseudo-Renascentist setting has become a sort of comfort food for the fantasy reader who wants to have a good time and more than a few laughs, while taking under consideration the various ethical questions of dealing with a creature of chaos.
The same familiarity also allows us to dive right into the middle of the action and to enjoy the ride and the still amusing cross-dressing of the manly hero – Penric in a dress has become a sort of running joke from one episode to the next.

I’m not entirely sure if I would have appreciated the stories so much if they were to be put together in a single volume and read in one sitting. For now, I prefer this novella structure that allows me to slip one book in between reading other, heavier tomes, like a secret and well-deserved dessert that is reserved for a job well done.

[Book Gannet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much though I enjoyed Mira’s Last Dance, I will admit to being slightly disappointed in Nikys at the end. This disappointment carried through to the beginning of this book, because of the way she’s using Penric. She knows she’s doing it, she even feels slightly guilty about it, but she does it anyway. Of course, Penric is an adult with a two hundred year old demon looking after him, so he’s hardly defenseless, but still, I was not wholly in charity with Nikys at the start of this book.

Thankfully, that didn’t matter too much because once again, LMB has delivered a fast-paced adventure tale with farcical twists, fascinating characters and plenty of Pen and Des moments to keep everything going in unexpected directions. My feelings towards Nikys even improved, thanks to the good sense of everyone else around her helping her to make her mind up.

I loved getting to know some new characters – more of Nikys’ family, the rather intriguing Tanar and the brilliant Bosha, of whom I truly hope to see more some day – and really enjoyed everything to do with the island sanctuary/fortress – especially Nikys’ moment by the fountain.

In short, it’s another great addition to the Pen and Des stories and a further wonderful exploration of the World of the Five Gods. I can’t wait to read what happens with them all next.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice sequel to "Mira's Last Dance," but suffers a bit from having basically the same plot -- see the publisher's preview. But, hey, it's a Bujold, so the characters are wonderful, the writing is first-rate, and there's a heart-warming ending. So I enjoyed it, and if you've liked previous Pen & Des outings, you will too. Recommended.

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 5 out of 5]

3rd read: Even better now. I need more Bosha please.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely. Read in an afternoon. Adventure, relationships, cool magic.

Fave bit: How Nikys made rescuing her mother an offering to the Daughter of Spring. And her other brother's appearance.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part of a series and towards the end. I definitely recommend reading at least Mira's Last Dance before this one and by preference all the rest of them, too.

Well, it's a decent wrap, though I'm still bummed with how Nykis and Penric turned out. The adventure of this one was mildly interesting and I enjoyed what little interaction we got between Pen and Nykis. But as is usual for me in this series, the real draw was Des and Penric. That relationship remains as stellar as it ever was.

It's probably only fair if I go into my problem with the romantic relationship so here goes. Spoiler tagged because I'll pull in details that play out throughout this tale. Pen and Nykis spend little time together in this story, and none of it alone. Yes, it was gratifying that when she had a problem that was both huge and dear to her heart, the first person she went to was Pen. But that's about the only good sign we get. The rest of the story is spent traveling, rescuing, and then split up and seeking to reunite. So the relationship itself underwent zero development. What little development we get is having Nykis's mother spend lots of time talking Nykis through her doubts and pulling out Pen's good points. Which, yay prospective mother-in-law? To me, it felt like Nykis had to be talked into taking on Pen by her mother. Because she couldn't work out her feelings on her own? Or work through the complexities of the relationship without help? That bodes ill for the future, I think. The best part of that was that her mother had experience in a multi-faceted relationship from being an acknowledged concubine so she had some interesting insight for Nykis regarding Des. Still, the whole thing felt disappointingly removed because Pen had already made his choice and Nykis needed hand-holding to make hers. Not my favorite way to run a romance.

So I'm disappointed with the one aspect but the rest of what I find engaging remained strong. Call it 3½ stars but I'm a romantic and was disappointed enough that I'm rounding that down.

A note about Chaste: No sex scenes. No sex. They're kind of traveling and rescuing and all that jazz so not really the time or place for any of the mushy stuff.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Fun to have Pen back and I'm sure his new extended family will provide some future adventures!

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars for this sequel to Mira's Last Dance.
S0.Much.Fun. This gives a nice answer to one of the long story arcs of the series.
The author is so obviously having fun with Penric and crew. I am expecting more to come. Please!!

ETA: We meet several new characters in this one--Nikys' mother (the prisoner of the title), another of Nikys' brothers (this one builds bridges), and a eunuch secretary who defies all stereotypes. All are major players in the story; I would not be surprised if Bujold manages to work some (or all) of them into another Penric story.

ETA June 8, 2020
I bought the hardback edition earlier this year
and finally got around to re-reading it. I am upping my rating to 5 stars. There is so much to savor; I remembered the bare bones of the story but had forgotten many of the grace notes. Very much a comfort-read this time around.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this was one of the less enthralling volumes in the Penric series. Can't put my finger on it. I guess it's because there doesn't seem to be much going on in The Prisoner of Limnos. Not terrible though by any means, and if you started from book one and made it this far, book six shouldn't disappoint you very much, I wouldn't imagine.

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of novellas just keeps getting better.
Bujold combines brilliantly the ‘adventure’ side with the characters’ development, the first’s role being of enabling the latter, and entertain of course. And what a cast! So relatable.
Also, I love how ‘kindness’ is such an elemental part of Penric. That jumped at me for the very first story and I am pleased that he has kept this :O)

[katayoun Masoodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

love penric, desdemona and nikys.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bujold had so much fun putting Penric in drag and in prison in the previous books, so she decided to do it again! Another fun installment of this series, with some character development that I did not expect.

[Roslyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This instalment of the Penric novellas resolved very, very satisfactorily (those who have been reading the series can probably guess what I'm referring to). Whatever I've written about the other novellas applies here, in spades - apart from the very first, I'd say this is the one I've enjoyed the most so far.

[Suzannah Rowntree]

Penric meets a lot of potential in-laws while breaking a political prisoner out of an island convent. Heisty fun, and a touching resolution to the very restrained and subtle romance that's been brewing for several books, but there's a very subtle thing that has me holding my nose: the book has Nikys overcoming her objections to marrying a man who has fourteen ladies living in his head within a context that reminds her that sometimes polyamory happens and one shouldn't be too concerned about it. First off, I don't think one needed to make this romance about polyamory, but LMB seems to like it, so that's what she's done. I can respect that for whatever reason some people do find polyamory appealing, but I don't - indeed I don't think it's ever a good thing, although I do support women making the best of cultural situations they can't change. It's possible to read this book as Nikys making the best of a less than ideal situation in this way. However, one of the stipulations she does make of Desdemona is that Des give her and Penric at least the illusion of privacy in the marriage bed, and Des says something flippant about oh sure, though of course you'll grow out of that. Which is fairly creepy, considering how Des made use of Penric in a situation of very questionable consent in MIRA'S LAST DANCE. I couldn't see why Nikys would be happy to marry someone under the influence of an entity with a proven disrespect for consent who has also said up front that she expects Nikys not to need her one stated boundary. It feels like LMB is so keen on making this about polyamory that she forgets to make it first of all about consent, and that's a problem for me on several different levels.

All this in a book that also contains some breathtakingly insightful and beautiful writing about faith, religion, and the divine. That's the trade-off you get with LMB.

[lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

super enjoyable way to wrap up this trilogy-within-a-series. finally bringing the whole Arisaydia family together was so satisfying, especially the unexpected Ikos! i also found myself fascinated by Surakos Bosha and Lady Tanar. sorry to Adelis (who I really do love) but i’m highkey rooting for them instead of him with Tanar. and i appreciated that this volume was emotional redemption for the concept of Penric dressing up as (/letting himself be possessed by) one of the women Des was. last, and not least but MOST of all: PEN AND NIKYS. pen and nikys. good good awesome great fantastic thank you so much Ms. McMaster Bujold.

[L'encre de la magie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐
J'ai adoooooré ce retour dans le Monde des 5 Dieux auprès de Penric et Desdemona. C'était totalement ce qu'il me fallait pour ne pas tomber dans une panne de lecture après le tome 2 de Kritika H Rao 🥹🫶.
J'ai adoré la dynamique de cette short story ainsi que toutes les questions que se posent aussi bien Penric que Nikys. J'ai hâte de voir ce que la suite des aventures va nous offrir ✨

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the books in this series are awesome entertainment. Really enjoyed the stories and narration.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uh, konačno pročitah. Daleko od toga da je novela loša - LMB ne može ništa loše da napiše nakon ovoliko godina pregalaštva - ali levantski mizanscen naprosto mi nije zanimljiv, a i čitava ova eskapada oko spasavanja potencijalne tašte ostavlja utisak blagog filera i vrlo je daleko od "Diplomatskog imuniteta". Obaška, Penrikova love interest odveć me podseća na Majlsovu (spojler) suprugu, tako da mi sve to dodatno smrducka na autoplagijat.

Živa je šteta što je LMB izgleda postala uncool, pa se raznorazni šepure po ataru koji je ona u velikoj meri raskrčila kao poslovični petlovi na bunjištu (ovde smo ubacili omanji omaž), dok ona piše novelice obima romana za kioske, ali tako je kako je. "Zatvorenica Limnosa" svakako nije gubljenje vremena, naročito za one kojima su se prve novele dopale. Uostalom, ništa što je ova višestruka dobitnica najvažnijih žanrovskih nagrada, uz to iz vremena kada su nešto vredele, nikako nije gubljenje vremena.

4*

[thefourthvine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am realizing on this read/reread of this series that the reason I stopped reading it before is that Bujold wants to tell a different story than the one I want to read. In the early books, it seemed like her interests in this story might align at least somewhat with mine (and with every reread I get hopeful, because I do not learn), but after the last three closely-linked novellas (Penric's Mission, Mira's Last Dance, The Prisoner of Limnos), it is really evident that that isn't the case.

And, look. People write what they want to write, and I get that, and Bujold at this point is very clear about her intentions for this series. She's going to take an amazing world and setup and some amazing characters and stay in the shallow end, never getting her hair wet, and that is fine! We all need to be cozy and safe sometimes, and if Bujold is choosing to do that through her fiction, well, more power to her. It's just getting less fun for me seeing these amazing materials assembled and then mostly ignored in favor of a very unexplored poly-v-ish relationship between two characters who are fairly interesting separately but somehow incredibly dull together, plus a demon who is always interesting but rarely on the page. (Like. That relationship itself should be incredibly interesting! But Bujold wants it to be as conventional as possible, and that sucks all the life out of it for me.)

But, again, Bujold isn't doing anything wrong here. She's a writing what she wants to write. If she's choosing to float on the surface of an ocean with fascinating depths, well, that's what she's doing, and that's fine. I just don't find it all that interesting. I think in the future I will keep any reading in this series for when I'm very sick or distressed, and then I won't spend my time thinking about what could have been. (Or maybe I will, a little. How can you set up this entire situation and then not explore the queerness at least a bit? I will never understand that. But I won't do it so much that it gets between me and the page.)

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have it 4 stars because Bujold, and couldn’t - quite - bring myself to give it only 3. But really, not as strong as most of her Miles books, or the actual Chalion novels. I think it’s a combination of the novella format not really having enough (or at least as much) depth, and the continued deus ex machina. It’s the anti-GRRM effect, in that at no point is there really any suspense whether things will turn out ok.

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favourite one.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com.

[Di Maitland · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*s I’ve fallen back in love. Not that I’d really fallen out of love, with Mira’s Last Dance, only that I had concerns about the romantic storyline and now those concerns are assuaged.

Set shortly after Mira’s Last Dance, Nikys receives a letter to say that her mother, Irene, has been taken prisoner at the Mother’s Temple on the island of Limnos. And so Nikys and her handy sorcerer head off to save her, helped on their way my Nikys’ old friend Tanar, and Tanar’s loyal secretary, Bosha.

All in all, it’s a pretty relaxed, low tension rescue. It was enjoyable, of course, with the odd chaos-letting for added humour. Far more interesting to me, though, were the insights into, and negotiations around, Penric and Nikys.

Penric loves Desdemona, but he’s also starting to realise that, in a way, he is her. Honestly, the more I try to sort out in my head where Penric, the demon, and the ten different personalities start and stop, the more cross eyed I go, so Bastard knows how Penric manages it.

It wasn’t until Bujold showed us the comparison between Bosha and Tanar, and Irene and Florina and the General, that I began to see that it really isn’t as simple as just Penric and Nikys; Des’ presence can’t just be sweeped under the carpet for convenience’s sake. The result is more of a polyamorous affair, that requires honest, adult conversation - the kind that are usually (and, I’m starting to realise, sadly) replaced by insta-love/lust in novels. Life isn’t easy, hard choices have to be made, compromises agreed, and that takes bravery and maturity which is its own kind of sexy.

I think that, with the adventure line and the buddy romance, this might be one of my favourite P&D books yet. I hope we see more of Tanar, Bosha and even Ikos in the next books because they were fun and really quite intriguing. Better get reading to find out.

[Dave Packard · Rating 4 out of 5]

And back to the Penric’s Mission trilogy! This one with a little shaman magic mixed in. I have liked each of the books and look forward to the next one!

[Sctechsorceress · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about “The Prisoner of Limnos”? It's the sixth novella in the Penric and Desdemona series, and follows right after “Mira's Last Dance”. We follow up on what happened to Penric and Nikys after their arrival in the duchy of Orbas. Penric's superiors want him to come back to their temple. Penric doesn't want to go... at least not yet.

It's hard not to say too much about the plot. This is, after all, a novella. But it's a good story. It's got all the adventure, and daring and even some romance. These pieces of a story are put together with Lois McMaster Bujold's usual skill. I have loved all of her novels, but I think that it is these shorter works that really show off her talent. In the confines of a novella, she still manages to grab the reader's interest, and carry it right up to a very satisfying ending.

If you have enjoyed any of this author's books, you really do need to read all of the Penric and Desdemona novellas.

[Zan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blandest of the Penric novellas so far, which is unfortunate given how cute and sweet it ends - but up until then, and the clear reason Bujold wanted to write it, we just get a meandering introduction to a host new completely new characters, all of which do very little. There's a supposed heist-type plot that's the focus of the story, but it all goes off so quickly and smoothly it's annoying... The ideas here were great, but don't amount to much. A nice little read as usual from Bujold, but not worth a recommendation unless you're already deep into her works.

[Antti Värtö · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final Penric & Desdemona novella has a similar feel as Mission: short time after the events of Mira's Last Dance, Penric once again has to engage in a sensitive and covert mission. This time it's to rescue the eponymous prisoner, Nycos' mother.

The romantic tomes of Mira's Last Dance are present as well, so the book reads as a natural continuation of the previous novellas.

Nothing really new, simply another pleasant novella in a pleasant series.