Well, we have arrived in the final month of the year, so it’s time to read as much as I can! Sorry, poor joke. I should, of course, be planning for the festive season, but the state of Lovely Husband’s and my health means that Christmas and New Year will be, I hope, enjoyable but low effort. We will try our best to cook lovely food, etc. My chronic cough stops me from going in the kitchen when cooking is taking place. Luckily, LH and Younger Son are great cooks and Elder Son does the prep and clearing up very well.

Oh, and I will get time to read!

Right, back to the point of this post: what I have read since last Wednesday’s post…

Regular visitors to these weekly posts may remember that I am a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold. I love both her science fiction and fantasy writing. Recently, I decided to try another of her series: The Sharing Knife. The first book is called Beguilement and here is the blurb (very short indeed, although I did try to find a better one)…

“In this romantic fantasy novel, runaway farm girl Fawn meets Dag, a Lakewalker, a patroller who is a kind of sorcerer/soldier. Fawn’s own confidence blossoms as she travels with Dag, helping to combat evil “malices” that blight the countryside and also fight the strange and sinister “mud men.””

Well, I have very mixed feelings about this book as I wrote on Goodreads…

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, what can I say about this book? I am such a fan of LMB’s writing, but this was such a disappointment. Some aspects of the plot were good, mainly the first half. I mean killing monsters is usually pretty exciting stuff. However, the story then became a rather pedestrian romance with aspects of “will her family accept him?” (I expect “will his people accept her?” is the plot of the next book in the series).

But, the elephant in the room is the huge age difference between our two lovers. I mean, IMHO, ten years is acceptable, twenty is dodgy, but anything beyond that is a mixture of ridiculous, awful and possibly abusive. This spoiled the whole tale for me.

One other thing: what possessed LMB to name her hero “Dag”?

View all my reviews

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Now, the question is: “do I read any more books in this series just in case it gets better?”. Anyway, if you know of any better books written by Bujold, please let me know in the comments. I am already reading the Vorkosigan Saga and her World of the Five Gods.

I am presently reading a totally different genre and will write about that book next week. Until then, enjoy your reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne 

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