-
The story concludes but life goes on Jan 29, 2009 (40 of 41 found this helpful)
First off, this is the second half of the second story in a two story, four book series. So no, don't start here. The book does not (and is not intended to) act as a standalone novel. So from now on I'll assume the reader of this review has read the other three books.
I loved this whole extended story. And I'm glad to say, the final book does not disappoint. It neither wraps up all the problems of the whole world nor leaves a bunch of messy unfinished business. It continues the story of characters we've come to know and love, and it introduces still more of them (not always loveable). It also completes the "there and back again" story of Fawn and Dag's trip to the sea.
The main message of the book seems to be that when you can't see a way to solve your problems from where you are standing, sometimes it helps to stand in a different place. That's true geographically, and also metaphorically. Dag, who has been patroller and maker, healer and killer, Lakewalker with a Farmer wife, as well as boatman and camp dweller, ends up finally having a diverse enough viewpoint to start seeing the answers. But he can't do it alone.
The marriage of Fawn and Dag had been a shocking breach of the wall between Lakewalker and Farmer societies, up north. But in the south, where malices are few and Farmers are many, it seems the interactions between Farmer and Lakewalker are much more common. Dag rightly realizes that he is seeing the future of the north in the current south, and they haven't solved any of the problems he had spotted brewing back home. But at least the problems were more visible to other people, and that leads to a bit more support from them. The key break comes when he and Fawn are accepted (provisionally) into a Lakewalker camp so that he can apprentice with an expert maker.
But that doesn't continue forever, and eventually Dag ends up shepherding a mixed bag of Farmer and Lakewalker pilgrims up the "Tripoint Trace", the road/trail that runs from the south back to the north. Just as the rivers are thinly disguised versions of the Mississippi and Ohio, the trail is a version of the famous Natchez Trace.
Along the way they must solve problems both domestic and magical, as Dag continues on his quest to find some way to protect Farmers from malices. At the same time he continues to try and figure out how Lakewalkers can live with Farmers without either becoming their gods or their demons.
And then, as you knew would happen from the time Dag made the sharing knife in the last book, they encounter a malice. But the malice is running from something else. What could force a malice to flee?
In a conclusion featuring bravery and treachery, wisdom and ignorance, plus well-honed skill and lots of luck, they find out. And then we see that the end of the story does not mean the end of all stories, just the beginning of others.
(That's not to imply there is any sort of cliffhanger ending. I would doubt there will be any direct sequels to these novels. My suspicion is that Bujold has now told the tale she wanted to tell.)
-
Worth the Wait Jan 31, 2009 (24 of 25 found this helpful)
The story of Farmer girl Fawn and Lakewalker Dag has been building through three books to this fourth, as the two of them continue their efforts to find a place in the world where they can live and have the family they want while also finding a way to deal with the crisis they see coming between their peoples and the ancient menace that threatens the whole world. This is not a stand-alone book; for those new to the series the preceding book Passage is a prerequisite at the minimum.
Warning - possible spoilers ahead.
The first two books, Beguilement and Legacy are much more focused on the relationship between Dag and Fawn. How they met, how they fell in love, and just what the two very different worlds they come from are like. Farmers and Lakewalkers do NOT ever marry each other - or so their two respective societies would have it.
Lakewalkers are set apart by their groundsense, an inherited ability to perceive the world in a different way that allows them to work what seems magic to Farmer eyes and fight an ancient foe. The enemy is Malices which emerge at random from the land and threaten to use their vastly more powerful groundsense to drain ground from the world until it all crumbles. Only Lakewalkers can resist the mind-enslaving, ground-ripping power of Malices. Farmers are little more than fodder for Malices - yet they fear and distrust the powers of their only protection, the Lakewalkers who ceaselessly patrol looking for the threat. Only Lakewalkers can kill Malices with their sharing knives, made from the bones of their own dead and primed by the death of a Lakewalker as his or her final gift in the centuries long war against their deadly foes.
Dag Redwing is a nearly burned out Lakewalker patroller more than ready to die, seeking only to take down as many Malices as he can with the years he has left. Having lost his first Lakewalker wife and his left hand to a truly terrible Malice years ago, he is totally unprepared for what happens when he meets the young Farmer girl Fawn Bluefield fleeing her own personal disaster. Caught up in a Malice outbreak, the two them together take down the Malice - he supplies the Sharing Knife, hers is the hand that uses it to teach the Malice how to die. As the two of them seek to survive the aftermath, they fall in love.
From there the story continues as Dag and Fawn first deal with her family, and then with his in the first two books. Both begin to grow and change as neither could have imagined before meeting each other, shaped both by the love they have for each other and the events they face. Fawn is becoming much more than the naive Farmer girl as her hungry mind is opened to a much wider world. Dag becomes reborn as her enthusiasm reopens his eyes to a world he had become numb to. The two of them begin to see that the old ways of Farmer and Lakewalker are no longer adequate to cope with a changing world. By the end of the second book, Dag is ready to move on from being a patroller as his groundsense begins to change and develop; Fawn has become much more confident in herself and more experienced - but is still hungry to see more of the world. Together the two of them embark on an epic journey down the great rivers of the land to the sea.
This journey is the third book, Passage. Dag and Fawn embark on a flatboat for a weeks long trip to the sea. Along the way they begin to accumulate their own 'tribe' - Fawn's younger brother who has someone inserted himself in their trip, a couple of young Lakewalker patrollers fleeing their own personal mess, the young boatboss Berry Clearcreek and her crew seeking a missing father and fiance. Working as crew on the flatboat, Fawn and Dag begin to try to find a new way between Farmers and Lakwalkers; educating both sides about each other, breaking through the misunderstandings. Dag's groundsense powers are growing and changing as he fumbles his way to becoming a me
-
Good conclusion to the series Jan 28, 2009 (18 of 19 found this helpful)
Horizon does a good job in wrapping up the "Sharing Knife" series. Readers should definitely not start with this volume - at minimum, you should read "Passage" first.
I found the Passage/Horizon pair a much more compelling read than Beguilement/Legacy. The first two books of the series are mainly focused on Dag and Fawn's relationship with each other, while the second pair is more how they interact with the world (and try to change it).
By necessity there are a few places where "Horizon" drags with exposition while the characters fill in the backstory of the other books, but there is also a great action sequence I hadn't anticipated - I thought that LMB had already explored all the possible types of encounters with the "malices" but I was wrong.
All the plot ends from Passages are wrapped up, in a way that is believable. While I prefer LMB's Vorkosigan and Chalion series, I still enjoyed Dag and Fawn's adventures and will still happily ready anything LMB's wants to write.
-
Treating Farmers Feb 27, 2009 (4 of 4 found this helpful)
Horizon (2009) is the fourth fantasy novel in the Sharing Knife series, following Passage. In the previous volume, Fawn and Dag fought river bandits and freed the surviving captives. Berry found Alder -- her finance -- among the pirates. Dag killed Crane, the leader of the outlaws. Then they finally reached the mouth of the Grey River where it met the sea.
Dag has discovered that he is a maker, capable of using the Lakewalker talent to influence external objects. He has often healed other Lakewalkers on patrol. Then he healed Hod when Cooperhead broke the boy's knee. He has even found a way to avoid beguilement, where a treated farmer becomes obsessed with a Lakewalker healer.
In this novel, Berry beachs the flatboat in Drowntown. Whit and Berry have decided to get married, so everybody starts preparing for the wedding. Fawn goes shopping for the wedding feast, taking Remo to help carry the groceries.
Fawn and Remo encounter two Lakewalker women from New Moon Cutoff camp. They are selling culled horses, but take time to talk to a fellow Lakewalker. Fawn is a bit of a puzzle to the girls, but they answer her questions about medicine makers. They mention several, but claim that Arkady Waterbirch is the best in their camp. Fawn has already heard praise of Arkady from other Lakewalkers in various camps.
Later, the whole party climbs the stairs to Uptown where the town clerk has his office. The clerk starts preparing the marriage documents for the couple. Everything is going well until Berry states that she has a house and property in Clearcreek. Dag has to apply a little persuasion to get the clerk to defer that problem and get on with the wedding.
After the ceremony, all return to the flatboat for supper and cake. They are not only celebrating the wedding, but also Fawn's birthday. Gifts are presented to the newly weds and to Fawn.
A few days later, the group departs Drowntown and heads upstream. Berry, Whit, Bo, Hod and Hawthorn are going to Clearcreek in a keelboat. Dag, Fawn, Remo and Barr are riding to New Moon camp. They agree to write each other and to meet in Clearcreek.
In this story, Dag is planning on learning more about medicine making. He talks about his experiences with Arkady and is impressed with the knowledge he displays. Dag decides to stay on at New Moon camp as an apprentice. Remo and Barr join a local patrol and scan the area for Malices (although none have been found for a long while).
Dag is soon involved in his new learning. However, Fawn has little to do. She has thoroughly cleaned the tent -- actually an open-faced cabin -- more than once and is bored. Dag talks Arkady and the other medicine makers into allowing Fawn to help him. After all, he will eventually need someone to compensate for his missing hand.
When a local youth comes looking for a healer, Dag and Fawn go with him to treat his nephew for lockjaw. The camp council disapproves of this use of his maker talents. But Arkady sides with Dag and eventually joins them at the farm. When they leave for Clearcreek, Arkady goes with them.
This tale involves Dag, Fawn, Arkady and others in the practice of medicine making with farmers as their patients. Dag's discoveries allow such treatment without the dangers of beguilement. But most Lakewalkers medicine makers have learned to avoid such practices and are not willing to change.
The story also confronts Dag and Fawn with the most dangerous Malice yet. They and their friends are exposed to great danger. Even the farmers get involved in the fighting.
This appears to be the last novel in the series. However, the series has concluded before, yet other volumes later appeared. Maybe more sequels will be forthcoming. Read and enjoy!
Highly recommended for Bujold fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of
-
Fine ending to an entertaining series Feb 8, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)
Bujold writes two types of novels, fine examples of their genre and masterpieces of their genre. This is an example of the former rather than the latter, but that shouldn't dissuade her fans, and fans of the series who have read the first three books, Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, Book 1), Legacy (The Sharing Knife, Book 2) and The Sharing Knife (Passage, Book 3).
In this novel we move closer to a joining of the gulf between Farmer and Lakewalker culture, as Dag and Fawn try to find a place for both of them.