Penric and Desdemona are called to identify a raving man fished out of the sea. The madman escapes and they team up with Blessed Chio to hunt him down on the eve of Bastard's day. ( )

Hurray for comfort reading!

Imagine that you've just come home after a long and cold walk in a winter forest. You put the kettle on, you make tea, you sit down in your favourite armchair by the fireplace, you open that favourite book you've read many times before... This is the feeling I get when reading Penric and Desdemona novellas. I know there is going to be magic, adventures, a bit of mystery, some danger and quite a few laughs. Oh, and don't forget one of the most likeable main characters ever created...

When is the next one coming, by the way? ;-) ( )

A Penric and Desdemona book set after they leave the Weald, driven to take service in Lodi after the Princess-Archdivine death.

A demon has possessed a young man, and, frightened of Desdemona, escapes before Penric can find a saint to send the demon back to its maker, The Bastard. The story takes place over the evening and night before a festival dedicated to The Bastard, and mostly consists of Penric chasing all over town, trying to find the young man as well as a saint and a murderer. ( )

This Penric novella is set earlier in his timeline so if the reader isn’t caught up with all of them it is fine. Penric has stopped being a physician and is now just working on his book and occasionally as a temple sorcerer. The city of Lodi has a huge festival for the Bastard god, the god that Penric represents. What starts out as consulting a shipwreck victim that has a demon inside causes Penric to meet the local saint to help cast out the demon. But the victim has escaped the temple and Penric needs to hunt him down with only the saint for help during the festival night. A great story and very enjoyable without having to have read all the other ones. ( )

I didn’t feel any great urgency to read this flashback Penric and Desdemona novella as it is set before Penric’s Mission, which means important people in Pen’s life won’t make an appearance nor will there be any significant personal developments. But nevertheless it is a satisfying mystery involving a couple of interesting side characters. ( )