The Assassins of Thasalon

A Penric & Desdemona Novella in the World of the Five Gods

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

An unholy attack upon his brother-in-law, General Arisaydia, pitches sorcerer Learned Penric and his Temple demon, Desdemona, headlong into the snake pit of Cedonian imperial politics. But they will not travel alone. The mission from his god brings Penric some of his strangest new allies yet and the return of some of his most valued old ones.

This novel-length story takes place two years after the events of The Physicians of Vilnoc.

©2021 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Penric and Desdemona at their finest!

This is Penric and Desdemona at their finest! Now for the first time Bujold released a full sized novel! The book starts out with a bang, a failed assassination attempt. Since the target had been Penric brother-in-law and a Demon was involved Penric and Desdemona really couldn't help but get involved! Especially after their God, the God of Chaos, gives the command! Of course there's plenty of political intrigue too. It wouldn't be a Penric novel without that!
The nice thing about a novel length book is that it gives Lois Mcmaster Bujold room to stretch! And because they went back to Thasalon, a place they had to escape from earlier in the stories timeline. That gave Bujold the opportunity to reunight Penric and Desdemona with a few characters and tie-up some story threads nicely!
The audiobook, at least a Lois Mcmaster Bujold audiobook wouldn't be complete without Grover Gardner's wonderful narration!

Another Winner

The Penric & Desdemona tales are all wonderful -- to have a novel length story narrated by Grover Gardner is beyond wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

love it!!!

LMB is a master wordsmith, and I'm lucky I found her, even if it took a while

Another great story

Nice to see Penric and Desdomona. story full of interesting and unexpected haracters and growing family.

Wonderful addition to a cherished series

For lovers of Penric and Desdemona, this newest installment doesn’t disappoint. With her signature wisdom, humor, and insight Bujold unspools this delightful tale with all our beloved favorite characters, as well as a few interesting new ones. Grover Gardner, as usual, creates his magic, bringing warmth, depth and exactly the right balance of heartfelt pleasure and poignancy. Altogether satisfying and enjoyable!

love it

everything she writes is gold. I have loved all her books. they are all just so good.

Fun story

It has been several years since I read books from this series but after a bit, I remembered Pen and Desdemona. I am a huge fan of Lois McMaster Bujold. She writes outstanding characters and intrigue and the Vorkosigan Saga was something very special. I miss Miles and members of his family like long-lost friends. The narration by Grover Gardner was as always outstanding. This is a fun little story, worth the credit and worth reading.

Bujold never fails to entertain!

Political intrigue with interesting backdrop of fantasy theology and magic. The temple demon lore is interesting. So far my favourite of the Penric novels, but doesn't quite hold a candle to Bujold's epic Vorkosigan Saga. I so wish there could be more of them.

Another excellent addition to the series!

I've loved every entry in this series. The writing is excellent, the reader is perfect.

I definitely wouldn't recommend this to someone as the first title in the series to listen to - while it isn't a direct continuation of previous stories, you really would benefit from knowing the characters from other stories before getting to this one. But it is a complete adventure in itself, and the author does make sure new readers would catch up if they did read/listen to this one first.

It's also one of those stories where it's all about the journey and not about the destination. Anyone hoping to have it end in some completely unforeseen and unexpected way is likely to be disappointed. But oh, the path to getting there! Enough plot twists and surprise detours, and some wonderful new characters who turn out to be "not what you first expected" as well as the surprising and fun returns of some previous characters (both significant to the plot and not), make the whole thing a joy. And while it all wraps up satisfyingly, it also opens up a lot of new potential for future adventures.

And like all the others in this series (and most of her other writing), Bujold injects a lot of delightful humor into it, without any of it being forced or unearned. And she makes it look easy.

If you liked any of the previous entries in this series, I'd be surprised if you didn't love this one. If you've tried any of the others and didn't care for them, well, you'll feel the same way about this one.

One of the things I absolutely love about this series is the extremely clever way that Bujold manages to subvert the extremely common "our hero, the magician, somehow manages to know every possible magic spell for every possible situation, and just waves their hands and it all comes easily" trope. The combination of a relatively inexperienced hero - though by this time in his life, Penric certainly has earned his expertise - and having a dozen other "voices in his head" with 200 collective years of experience (though Desdemona also has her own quirks and failings), make it all work in a unique, refreshing, and ultimately satisfying way.

Another home run from Bujold. And from the reader, Grover Gardner, who never disappoints.

excellemt addition to the penric and desdemona bks

really good medical mystery with lots of appearances with series favorites, including a stellar cameo by the white god himself.