The Adventure of the Demonic Ox - Lois McMaster Bujold

The Adventure of the Demonic Ox

By Lois McMaster Bujold

  • Release Date: 2025-07-11
  • Genre: Fantasy
Score: 5
5
From 7 Ratings

Description

When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings. What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching. The internal chronological order of the Penric & Desdemona tales is presently: “Penric’s Demon” “Penric and the Shaman” “Penric’s Fox” “Masquerade in Lodi” “Penric’s Mission” “Mira’s Last Dance” “The Prisoner of Limnos” “The Orphans of Raspay” “The Physicians of Vilnoc” The Assassins of Thasalon “Knot of Shadows” “Demon Daughter” "Penric and the Bandit" "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox" “A superb craftsman and stylist, Ms. Bujold is well on her way to becoming one of the great voices of speculative fiction.”   - Rave Reviews “Bujold has a gift.”   - Chicago Sun Times “Best-selling author Bujold follows her Hugo-nominated “Penric and the Shaman” (2017) with another adventure featuring the sorcerer Penric and his resident 200-year-old chaos demon, Desdemona. ... Series fans will be delighted with this tale, which begs for continuation.” - Booklist on “Penric's Mission” "Bujold follows 'Penric's Demon' with another brief tale set in her World of the Five Gods, this time combining supernatural sleuthing with finely drawn characters and a panoply of emotions... This is a wonderful expansion of her World of the Five Gods." - Publisher's Weekly *Starred Review* on "Penric and the Shaman" "Series fans and fantasy readers who seek well-drawn characters will love this tale." - Publisher's Weekly on "Mira's Last Dance" "Bujold's delightful latest tale of Penric ... is another winner in Bujold's already strong series." - Publisher's Weekly *Starred Review* on "The Prisoner of Limnos"

Reviews

  • Satisfying and Inspiring

    5
    By Bujold Fan
    Satisfying, full of surprise, suspense, joy and hope. It inspires the imagination to so many possibilities for the futures of all these well-rounded, engaging characters. Loved it. Highly recommend it for all, if you are old enough to read well you are old enough to enjoy this story. It has a density, like Des, universality, and brevity, that would make it great for book clubs also. Bujold has an unparalleled talent for making characters deeply real and giving readers a window to glimpse into their vibrant lives knowing there is so much more to experience in time whether it is ever directly seen in a story or not. Each glimpse is a treasure that makes the reader experience and character’s lives ever richer. You can’t help but come away feeling you have learned something of worth for your time and hungry to read it all again and again. There is always something more to see, a new connection to make between character experiences and the reader’s own ever changing lives and viewpoints. I’m looking forward to delving into all the ideas and complexities at my next book club meeting.