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A review by jesshale
The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold
4.0
A slightly uneven addition to the series. I found the second half quite strong, with political intrigue and the protagonists being proactive with a side of whodunit, plus a satisfying denouement to the story. I also enjoyed going back to Lady Tanar and Bosha.
Unfortunately, the first part of the story dragged. There was a lot of urgent-travel-between-countries-in-disguise, which brought to mind Penric’s Mission, Mira’s Last Dance, AND The Prisoner of Limnos. There was also a lot of explaining how demons work, which seems redundant ten stories in. I was also a tad confused by what seemed to be a heavy emphasis on Penric’s anxiety about the mission being his last or that he was leaving home for the last time when... it wasn’t. On the contrary, it was a perfectly uneventful homecoming that was almost an anticlimax after the satisfaction of how the main plot wound up.
Unfortunately, the first part of the story dragged. There was a lot of urgent-travel-between-countries-in-disguise, which brought to mind Penric’s Mission, Mira’s Last Dance, AND The Prisoner of Limnos. There was also a lot of explaining how demons work, which seems redundant ten stories in. I was also a tad confused by what seemed to be a heavy emphasis on Penric’s anxiety about the mission being his last or that he was leaving home for the last time when... it wasn’t. On the contrary, it was a perfectly uneventful homecoming that was almost an anticlimax after the satisfaction of how the main plot wound up.