The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (Book #16)

I got a surprise long weekend today, since Annabel's daycare is closed due to too many of the staff calling in sick to run the center. Once Annabel is down for her nap I mean to be productive--get some writing done, maybe some housework. But I used my unexpected gift of time this morning to finish reading The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (Lois McMaster Bujold, 2006). It's a story painted on a smaller canvas and at a more leisurely pace than is typical of Bujold's work. More than anything else it reminded me of Sharon Shinn's recent YA fantasies. It has a similar rural farm country setting, with the magic of the fantasy setting everyday and practical, though with a bit more action and peril. Also, it's as much romance as fantasy, being the story of a young farmer girl (culture not that different from what ours was a few centuries ago) who falls in with a Lakewalker man (nomadic, matrilineal, and possessed of magic enabling them to fight the "malices"--the magical evil of the world). They end the story in love, but there are unanswered questions about an accidental magical link forged between them in battle with a malice, and I have a feeling their troubles are just beginning. I'll be looking forward to the next installment, due out this summer.