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Masquerade in Lodi: A Penric & Desdemona Novella in the World of the Five Gods (The Penric & Desdemona Series) (Penric & Desdemona) Audio CD – Unabridged, February 23, 2021

by Lois McMaster Bujold (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,088 ratings
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MP3 CD Format<\/b><\/p>

Bastard\x26#8217;s Eve is a night of celebration for most residents in the canal city of Lodi\x26#8212;but not for sorcerer Learned Penric and his Temple demon Desdemona, who find themselves caught up in the affairs of a shiplost madman, a dangerous ascendant demon, and a very unexpected saint of the fifth god.<\/p>

This novella falls between \x26#8220;Penric\x26#8217;s Fox\x26#8221; and \x26#8220;Penric\x26#8217;s Mission\x26#8221; in the internal chronology of the Penric \x26amp; Desdemona tales.<\/p>

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  1. Part of series
    Penric & Desdemona
  2. Print length
    1 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Blackstone Publishing
  5. Publication date
    February 23, 2021
  6. ISBN-10
    1665048921
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1665048927
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bujold couldn't characterize badly if threatened with a firing squad."

-- "Booklist on Paladin of Souls"

"Delightful...Another winner in Bujold's already strong series."

-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Prisoner of Limnos"

About the Author

Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most honored writers in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. In 2019 she was named a Damon Knight Grand Master by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, one of science fictions highest honors. She has won seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award for her significant contribution to science fiction. Hugo awards for Best Series were received by the Vorkosigan Saga in 2017, and the World of the Five Gods in 2018.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (February 23, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Audio CD ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1665048921
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1665048927
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.2 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,088 ratings

About the author

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Lois McMaster Bujold

Lois McMaster Bujold

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

A science fiction legend, Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most highly regarded speculative fiction writers of all time. She has won three Nebula Awards and six Hugo Awards, four for best novel, which matches Robert A. Heinlein's record. Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan saga is a massively popular science fiction mainstay. The mother of two, Ms. Bujold lives in Minneapolis.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
3,088 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Esther Schindler
5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, this is as good as the others in the series. Penric and Desdemona are great.
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
The real world is so wearing, nowadays, and I have little patience for new worlds. Recently to took to rereading all the Bujold stories as "comfort-food reading." Just about every character is a nice person, and even the "bad guys" are simply trying to solve an understandable problem.

So I was particularly happy to read about this new novella -- and I read it straight through. It is exactly as wonderful as you expect it to be.

The timeline is before "Penric's Mission" where he takes off for Cedonia, so the love story hasn't entered into the tale yet. Rather, Penric is on duty in the port town of Lodi on the eve of the Bastard's festival (and if you can resist singing Creedence Clearwater Revival's Lodi, you are a stronger person than I). Penric is called on to deal with a passenger-gone-overboard who picked up a demon and went a bit mad, and ... well, it takes off from there. As such Bujold tales do. The page-turning of "and THEN what happened?" is bound to keep you up past your bedtime... or at least that was the (happy) case for me.

I would not recommend that you start with this story; begin at the start of the Penric series. It takes place in the fantasy universe that began in The Curse of Chalion, but you don't need to read all those novels. Penric's own story is fine. (I promise you that you'll end up reading 'em all, though. You've been warned.)

In other words: If you have been reading the other books in the series, I hereby reassure you that this story is as good as the rest. If you haven't... well, I envy you. Because you have a wonderful set of stories to read, and you get to discover them for the first time.
16 people found this helpful
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Amazons Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A fine Pencil romp
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2023
Verified Purchase
Penric and Desdemona are in fine form as they spend Bastard's Day Eve in Lodi hunting for a demon inhabiting a young man, and in the meantime foiling a murderer and a thief. Add in an impish young Saint, and matters get as chaotic as as a chaos demon can make them. A great read.
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Diane D. (genre fiction biblioholic)
4.0 out of 5 stars A fine stand-alone adventure for Penric & Desdemona, + introducing the Blessed Chio
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
This installment (set back before "Penric's Mission") is mainly a foot-wearying hunt throughout a Venice-like city, enlivened by the typical amusing, touching, and/or thought-provoking banter between Pen & Des, plus the contributions of an appealing new character I won't say too much of here; let Chio come as a surprise to you as much as to Penric.
As a reader of whodunit mystery fiction second only to fantasy, I did see one revelation coming, unlike Penric. Des also chided him "Try to keep up" at a couple other moments of cluelessness, e.g., re. what young person was apparently interested in what other young person.
As usual there is great character development, a real sense of place, and some highlight-worthy lines.
Honestly, I recommend LMB to every acquaintance who expresses an iota of interest in fantasy fiction (or sci-fi). I'm not sure you'd truly appreciate, e.g., Des's full nature/backstory, if you start here, but it does have a complete problem-to-solution story arc. If you haven't already tried Ms. Bujold, start somewhere: space opera/military/planetary SF, high fantasy, romantic fantasy, ... just pick your flavor!
2 people found this helpful
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OtakuLoki
5.0 out of 5 stars It's Festival Time for Penric and Des!
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2020
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Another excellent addition to the collection of stories about Penric and Desdemona.

This story takes place before the events of Penric's Mission and all the stories that follow from that.

As always Bujold seems to a decent job of setting the timing for the story for readers familiar with Pen and Des very deftly. I'm less certain that this story would work as an introduction to either those characters, or the World of the Five Gods. This is not something I feel is a flaw to the story, simply a warning for anyone who wants to start this series this is not the best entry point.

Without wanting to go into too much depth, the story introduces a couple of new to us characters and offers another glimpse of the lives of Saints of the Five Gods. This time, the saint in question is the Bastard's saint in Lodi, whose mandate is to remove elementals and dangerous demons from the world. Naturally, this makes the saint complex company for Pen and Des when circumstances force them together to try to hunt down a sea-tossed and demon-ridden man who is desperate to find safety.

To make matters more complex, because of the demon's history, it has been deeply scarred and driven into madness. So, time is of the essence for Pen and Des to find the demon to deliver it to the saint before it can cause any uncanny harm to the people of Lodi.

I found the new characters entertaining, the writing enjoyable, and the scenario well presented.

I recommend the story highly to anyone familiar with the Pen & Des stories.
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Elorin
5.0 out of 5 stars Masked search for a demon
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
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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.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars More Work for Penric
Reviewed in Canada on February 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
It was a pleasure to find this new novella one day while looking through kindle. I love Penric and Desdemona and will be happy to read many more such stories. We met new people and heard more of the lives of the saints. Please write more!
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Avazeri
5.0 out of 5 stars Agréable
Reviewed in France on December 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
J'aime beaucoup le perso nage de penric, sa sensibilité et la gentillesse qu'il porte aux autres. C'est un bonheur de le redecouvrir.
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Mina
5.0 out of 5 stars Pen and Desdemona in a new setting
Reviewed in Germany on December 24, 2021
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Note: one could read the novellas of this series in any order, but to get the most out of it, I recommend to read them in the right sequence.

Review
So Penric had to get himself a new position and he is now working for the archdivine of Lodi, a city resembling Venice, with lots of canals, boats and the sea and merchants the predominant tradespeople. The story how Pen came to be here is only revealed over the course of the story and it’s a sad episode that made my heart go out to Penric.
But the task he and Desdesmona have to resolve is again full of riddles, a few twists (that I see coming, but I still liked them) and a hopeful ending. They have to find an ascendant demon on the loose during a huge city holiday and meet an interesting Blessed Saint. I liked it a lot and as always, meeting Penric and Desdemona feels a bit like meeting old friends.
One person found this helpful
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Aleika M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous
Reviewed in India on December 2, 2020
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Another beautiful and touching novella of the adventures, physical and spiritual, of Penric and Desdemona. I hope there will be many more!
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Randal
5.0 out of 5 stars Penric again
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2020
Verified Purchase
Though it's the ninth book, this is a Penric story that is fourth in the chronological sequence, between Penric's Fox and Penric's Mission. For those who have never read any of the Penric novellas, Pen hosts a chaos demon, Desdemona, who 'lives' inside him and has powers that Pen can call on. It's a symbiotic relationship which has gained him the position of temple sorcerer, and he's now in Lodi, a city with many canals. Penric is almost thirty, and has not yet met the love of his life. He's relatively recently left Martensbridge where he discovered that being a full time healer was not for him. In Lodi he's called upon to see what's really wrong with a shiplost madman, and discovers the young man has been possessed by a dangerously mad demon, Unlike Pen's demon this one has gained control of the young man and is too disturbed to be tames. It must be expelled, and for that Penric needs the help of a saint. It's Bastard's Eve, carnival time in Lodi, so when the young man and his demon run wild into the city, Pen and Des have a problem.
One person found this helpful
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