The Spirit Ring | ||||||||
Lois McMaster Bujold | ||||||||
Baen Books, 347 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Peter D. Tillman
Lois McMaster Bujold has written that the engineer-hero
of Falling Free was explicitly modeled after her father. And The Spirit Ring is her only female
coming-of-age novel. None of this will get in the way of your enjoyment of the
book. By the way, it's Lois McMaster Bujold at her storytelling best, a fine and stirring yarn indeed.
We're in the smokehouse at a rural inn:
"Pico was right," Thur observed after a moment's stunned silence. "Your
wife does smoke the most unusual hams."
Catti glanced up after him. "Oh, that," he said in disgust. "...He's a refugee
from Montefoglia who didn't quite make it. Penniless, it turned out -- after
the bill was run up."
"Do you often do this to guests who don't pay?" asked Thur in a fascinated
voice. "I'll tell Pico to settle our bill promptly..."
For me, Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most interesting and consistently successful
SF authors currently active. I've now read all her novels (save the newest) and have been
happily rereading her oldest -- all of which stand up nicely and seem likely to remain
readable indefinitely.
Pete Tillman has been reading SF for better than 40 years now. He
reviews SF -- and other books -- for Usenet,
"Under the Covers",
Infinity-Plus,
Dark Planet,
and SF Site. He's a mineral exploration geologist
based in Arizona. More of his reviews are posted at
www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman .
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