Penric & Desdemona- One of my Favorite Novellas Series

 I will start off by helping those not into the literary world as much as I or many other readers with the official description of the Novella.  I myself spent many decades not knowing, throwing everything into the Novel/Short Story duology. A novella ranges between 10K to 50K words, or roughly 100 to 199 pages, just long enough to sink your teeth into and finish in a weekend. 

     Which brings me to the Penric and Desdemona Series.  The world this novella is set in is the same as Lois McMaster Bujold's World of the Five Gods Trilogy, which starts with The Curse of Chalion. The good news is you can read the Penic stories without reading the novel series. In the now 12 novellas stories, the world is explained as needed to flesh out the story.  

    From the get-go I fell in love with main character, who in Penric's Demon ,  the reader will met a young man not too happy with his life prospects.  Then a happenstance changes everything for Penric. There is a bit of the very reliable "Fish out of Water" trope in the first novella but is the succeeding novellas each one employs a different plot device to add to the reading enjoyment. 

Here is the Penric and Desdemona in order, 12 so far: 

“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” 

    All are priced at the $3.99 price point, which for a novella is the sweet spot of price point.  Nothing gets my blood boiling then the $11.99 price point for a novella. 

     The latest story in the series, Demon Daughter is as delicious story as they come. One that tugs on the heartstrings and makes the reader feeling better for the rest of the week, if not the month, after reading it.