Wetdryvac reviewed The sharing knife. by Lois McMaster Bujold
Review of 'The sharing knife.' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
An excellent read.
electronic resource
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2009 by HarperCollins.
Horizon
4 stars
(28 reviews)
In a world where malices — remnants of ancient magic — can erupt with life-destroying power, only soldier-sorcerer Lakewalkers have mastered the ability to kill them. But Lakewalkers keep their uncanny secrets — and themselves — from the farmers they protect, so when patroller Dag Redwing Hickory rescued farmer girl Fawn Bluefield, neither expected to fall in love, join their lives in marriage, or defy both their kin to seek new solutions to the perilous split between their peoples.As Dag's maker abilities have grown, so has his concern about who — or what — he is becoming. At the end of a great river journey, Dag is offered an apprenticeship to a master groundsetter in a southern Lakewalker camp. But as his understanding of his powers deepens, so does his frustration with the camp's rigid mores with respect to farmers. At last, he and Fawn decide to travel a very …
In a world where malices — remnants of ancient magic — can erupt with life-destroying power, only soldier-sorcerer Lakewalkers have mastered the ability to kill them. But Lakewalkers keep their uncanny secrets — and themselves — from the farmers they protect, so when patroller Dag Redwing Hickory rescued farmer girl Fawn Bluefield, neither expected to fall in love, join their lives in marriage, or defy both their kin to seek new solutions to the perilous split between their peoples.As Dag's maker abilities have grown, so has his concern about who — or what — he is becoming. At the end of a great river journey, Dag is offered an apprenticeship to a master groundsetter in a southern Lakewalker camp. But as his understanding of his powers deepens, so does his frustration with the camp's rigid mores with respect to farmers. At last, he and Fawn decide to travel a very different road — and find that along it, their disparate but hopeful company increases.Fawn and Dag see that their world is changing, and the traditional Lakewalker practices cannot hold every malice at bay forever. Yet for all the customs that the couple has challenged thus far, they will soon be confronted by a crisis exceeding their worst imaginings, one that threatens their Lakewalker and farmer followers alike. Now the pair must answer in earnest the question they've grappled with since they killed their first malice together: When the old traditions fail disastrously, can their untried new ways stand against their world's deadliest foe?
laprunminta reviewed The sharing knife. by Lois McMaster Bujold (Sharing knife -- v.4)
Review of 'The sharing knife.' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
It's not a bad book, but not Bujold's best. I felt like hardly anything new happened in the last three books of the series, and I'm afraid I never really understood the character Fawn. It's almost as if Bujold was using the series as daily warmups - you could tell she had fun writing it, but you ask yourself, why am I reading this? Still, if you're looking to entertain yourself, you could do a lot worse.
daNanner reviewed The sharing knife. by Lois McMaster Bujold (Sharing knife -- v.4)
Review of 'The sharing knife.' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I love that Bujold's books are character driven. I have no problem going between the adventures of Fawn and Dag and those of Miles Vorkosigan.
I read the other three books in this series years ago and waited for book four. And then it took me two years after it was published! It is well worth the wait.
I do suggest you read all of the books in order. If you don't, you can read this as a stand-alone since Bujold does an excellent job of exposition as you go through the story. You'll want to read the earlier books to get all the details and backstory.
It's hard to believe that the entire series takes place over the course of one year. Fawn and Dag are still out to change the world and make relations between Lakewalkers and farmers cordial, if not loving and symbiotic. They have a chance …
I love that Bujold's books are character driven. I have no problem going between the adventures of Fawn and Dag and those of Miles Vorkosigan.
I read the other three books in this series years ago and waited for book four. And then it took me two years after it was published! It is well worth the wait.
I do suggest you read all of the books in order. If you don't, you can read this as a stand-alone since Bujold does an excellent job of exposition as you go through the story. You'll want to read the earlier books to get all the details and backstory.
It's hard to believe that the entire series takes place over the course of one year. Fawn and Dag are still out to change the world and make relations between Lakewalkers and farmers cordial, if not loving and symbiotic. They have a chance to join a Lakewalker camp, but Dag, being his hard-headed self with a little cajoling from Fawn, breaks the rules and they lose their chance. By the time that happens though, they have made some headway against the prejudice against farmers, so some of the campers feel the loss when Dag and Fawn are exiled.
They have many adventures along the trail north back to Clearcreek, gaining new friends, facing a malice, and you will never guess who kills it this time! No, not Fawn, but when I read what the farmers did to her in the aftermath I had a distinct sense of "deja read" - I'd read that passage before.
The story does have a happy ending after all, making for a very satisfying read.
betty reviewed The sharing knife. by Lois McMaster Bujold
Review of 'The sharing knife.' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I keep on reading Bujold's Sharing Knife books, because I keep on expecting Bujold to suddenly stop sucking and go back to being awesome.
This is not the book in which she does that, and yet...
To be honest, the problem with these books is not that they're bad, but rather that they're by Bujold, and they're not very good. I described them to Karen H. as a good book to take along on a long bus ride if you wanted to get your knitting done. However, I think if you took this book on a long bus ride, your knitting would not get done. This is not precisely high praise, and yet I did find this entry in the series more compelling than the previous two.
It has all the problems of its predecessors, of course: Fawn remains too wise for her years, and the action in the book …
I keep on reading Bujold's Sharing Knife books, because I keep on expecting Bujold to suddenly stop sucking and go back to being awesome.
This is not the book in which she does that, and yet...
To be honest, the problem with these books is not that they're bad, but rather that they're by Bujold, and they're not very good. I described them to Karen H. as a good book to take along on a long bus ride if you wanted to get your knitting done. However, I think if you took this book on a long bus ride, your knitting would not get done. This is not precisely high praise, and yet I did find this entry in the series more compelling than the previous two.
It has all the problems of its predecessors, of course: Fawn remains too wise for her years, and the action in the book sort of drags. But, in this one, I think Bujold has finally gotten to the part of the story she was looking forward to, and it does actually become interesting in a purely "what happens next?" sort of way.
I'm not saying anyone should go out and read the first two to get to this one, it's certainly not worth it, but if you've read the first two and were wondering if you ought to inflict this one on yourselves, I would cautiously recommend it. It may make you feel that the effort in reading the first two was not entirely wasted.
