Orphans of Raspay

[ndrosen]

I have a new Kindle, since there were problems with the old one, and I have downloaded and read “The Orphans of Raspay,” the latest of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona stories. It is well done, as one would expect, although perhaps not the author’s absolute best. Penric is captured by pirates, who, as he is a sorcerer partnered with a chaos demon, come to regret it. Being the nice guy he is, he doesn’t merely try to escape, and to unleash chaos on the pirates, but to rescue others as well, including the orphans of the title.

The novella has much less squick than a story of people being held prisoner by pirates might have had.