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Lois McMaster Bujold World of the Five Gods


Wilbur

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The former thread on these books is closed 

 

Since LMB is still writing them, here is a short reminder that they are excellent books and novellas, and that she published the seventh Penric novella this year, The Orphans of Raspay.  The novella is short and sweet and everything you might like in a Penric story, although I did miss the supporting characters who usually inhabit her works.  The author seems to be exploring the idea of a benevolent providence in these books, and it would be nice if the real world also worked that way.  

Sadly, this one seems to only be available in ebook format on the thrice-cursed Amazon Kindle Reader.  This means you pay Amazon four bucks to sit in front of your screen and read the book - you cannot download it and take it with you.  I hope that LMB is collecting some good coin from this method of publishing, but damnation is it annoying.  Grover Gardner doesn't seem to have read the audiobook yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Raspay-Penric-Desdemona-novella-ebook/dp/B07VFPQ711

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I read it back when it came out and I thought it was another entertaining story in the series. I wonder how long it will be until her next work? The novellas (in various settings) have been coming out fairly regularly so we might be due another one soon.

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  • 1 month later...
7 hours ago, Triskele said:

Wasn't sure where the best place to ask this would be, but I'm interested in checking this series out.  

Is there a general rule of thumb or recommendation for the order to read for someone starting it today now that so many prequels have been released?  Or should I start with CoC and PoS and then go back to the prequels?  thanks in advance

I definitely recommend reading in publication order i.e. COC, then POS, then HH, then the Penric novellas. In theory you can read the novels in any order since there's very little continuity of story, but it definitely aids understanding of the world and themes to read in publication order.

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I second the idea of publication order, although the enjoyment of the latter books and novellas is not necessarily dependent upon prior knowledge of the earlier stories.

There are a few references which add to the reader's understanding in the latter books.

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20 hours ago, Triskele said:

Wasn't sure where the best place to ask this would be, but I'm interested in checking this series out.  

Is there a general rule of thumb or recommendation for the order to read for someone starting it today now that so many prequels have been released?  Or should I start with CoC and PoS and then go back to the prequels?  thanks in advance

The Penric novellas are set centuries before CoC and PoS and feature different characters (other than the Gods) so the order doesn't really matter, but I think starting with CoC makes sense.

I suppose there could be a debate about the best order for the Penric novellas since if I remember correctly the publication order is different to chronological order (although it might just be the Penric's Fox story), but again I don't think it really matters.

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