Passage
The Sharing Knife, Vol 3
Lois McMaster Bujold

Harper Voyager
October 2011/ISBN: 9780061375354
Epic Fantasy
Amazon

Reviewed by P. L. Blair

Passage Apt Successor in Bujold Series

The key here is to find something about Passage that I haven't already said in my review of Beguilement, the first book in Bujold's Sharing Knife series.

Because the two books share so many wonderful characteristics. As with Beguilement, I was drawn into Passage from the start, lulled from the mindset of reviewer to that of reader in the space of only a few words.

Passage is the third book in the Sharing Knife series. Somehow, I missed getting hold of Legacy, book 2. Although I want to read Legacy, skipping over it this time gave me a chance to see whether Bujold provides enough details in the third book to keep the reader from being lost or confused.

Believe me - she does. I will read Legacy, but in the meantime, Passage supplies all the details that a reader will need for enjoyment.

And reading Bujold is enjoyment · pure pleasure. There is lyrical beauty in her words. Consider:

·His lips were cold as clay, but his eyes were bright as fire. Clay and fire makes a kiln, Fawn thought woozily. What new thing are we shaping here?·

Passage continues the story of Fawn Bluefield, a farmer girl, and Dag, the Lakewalker patroller,\ who's now her husband. They struggle to find a new place for themselves in a world where farmers and Lakewalkers do not marry each other. A world in which each of them discovers new, unsuspected talents ·

In Bujold's world, as I explained in my review of Beguilement, humanity seems to take two roles: the farmers, who tend their fields and crops or conduct their business in small towns, and the Lakewalkers, nomadic soldier-sorcerers, who protect the world from creatures they call "malices" (known to the farmers as "blight bogles").

The malices are immortal entities that draw life from the land itself, enslaving humans and animals and are able to turn animals into human-appearing creatures the Lakewalkers know as "mud-men."

You won't find wizards, elves, dragons or any other of the conventional trappings of fantasy in Bujold's world, but this is a world of magic nonetheless.

Like her first book - and, presumably her second - this third book grips the reader and will not let go. I read this book in the afternoons. I read it at night. I read it at breakfast, lunch and dinner and every minute in between when I had free time.

It's that compelling.

I do have book 4 in the series. It's waiting for me now.

I can hardly wait to get started.

Reviews of other titles in the series

Beguilement, No 1  [review]
Legacy, No 2
Passage, No 3
Horizon, No 4  [review]

Reviewer's Note: Adult themes