Passage (The Sharing Knife, Book 3) | Lois Mcmaster Bujold

Passage (The Sharing Knife, Book 3) | Lois Mcmaster Bujold | Bujold Takes The Sharing Knife Series to a New Level

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Passage (The Shari...

	Passage (The Sharing Knife, Book 3) Lois Mcmaster Bujold Eos, 2008 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Water and Ground

This is the third book in the Sharing Knife series; if you haven't read the first two, you should start with those. And for those who were put off-balance by the structure of the first book, this installment, like the second book has a much more classic arc, with the big conflict near the end.

Dag and Fawn are on the move--running away from kin that couldn't accept them, and seeking a new way for Farmer and Lakewalker to live together in peace.

Their journey brings them new and unlikely partners as they board a riverboat to travel all the way down to the sea--the distant border of the world they know.

But all is not well on the river. Even as they explore the boundaries of Lakewalker "magic" and teach new Lakewalkers and Farmers the first simple steps of trust, boats vanish without a trace and their crews are destroyed by a growing menace. Farmer and Lakewalker will have to take responsibility for their own and for each other, working together to overcome a force that neither could resolve alone.

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Bujold Takes The Sharing Knife Series to a New Level

I didn't write a review of the first two books in Bujold's The Sharing Knife series. I'm not sure why, but I don't review every book I read. I liked the first two books in this series but didn't love them. Passage, however, takes the series to a new level. I wouldn't recommend reading Passage without reading the first two, however. I don't think this volume would have the same impact and would be a bit difficult to follow without the background of the first two.

Passage finds Fawn Bluefield and Dag Redwood Hickory returning to the Bluefield farm after Dag confronts his Lakewalker clan over his marriage to a farmer girl. Upon arrival they plan a trip to the sea. They take along Whit, Fawn's younger and at times troublesome brother and set off on the long journey. Along the way they pick up a collection of characters who are misfits, in some ways, making for quite an interesting trip along the river to the sea. Dag has a self-imposed mission to bring Lakewalkers and farmers into closer harmony by revealing the secrets of Lakewalker powers and discovers new and growing powers of his own. Dag wrestles with his new found abilities and tries to find ways to use them for the best. At the same time he takes Whit and two young Lakewalker patrollers under his wing.

It is rare for a third book in a series scheduled to be four to be much more than filler. That certainly isn't the case here as Bujold takes the series to a new level with her exquisite ability to bring characters to life, her wonderful prose, and brilliant storytelling. I eagerly await Volume 4.

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Arguably, the best Sharing Knife book

Lois Bujold has created a world rich and characters and mystery. This is the third in the series which should be read in order. All are well worth the reading. If you enjoy the first book, you will enjoy the next two. Each has a distinctly different feel. Unlike too many authors, Bujold doesn't simply repeat earlier works, but expands upon them. This continues the development of the two main characters, Dag and Spark. This concentrates on Dag's development and learning, as told largely through Spark's perspective. The book consists of a mostly leisurely trip down the river to the ocean. Lois Bujold uses the trip to slowly delve into the mysteries surrounding the world and its ground. It answers many questions raised in the first two books, reaches a clear termination, but raises more new questions and problems than were answered.

Bujold's Vorkosigan series demonstrates her ability to take an original novel and extend the series in new interesting and unexpected directions. The Sharing Knife series lacks the action of the Vorkosigan series, but provides deeper characterization. The villains and heroes, if any, are less black and white. There is room for further books that continue to explore this world. I await the next in the series.

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Into Uncharted Waters

The third book in Bujold's Sharing Knife series takes the reader on a boat trip down the river to the sea. Both the newlyweds are moving into uncharted territory in this book. Fawn Bluefield, the young farmer girl, is traveling to the sea, something she never could have expected to do. Her Lakewalker husband, Dag Redwing Hickory, is coming to terms with his exile from his people and his former occupation. He is motivated to explore his developing "ground sense" powers of healing and making both as a means of earning a living and to try to develop a bridge between his own nomadic magical people and the settled farmers that his bride comes from.

As he explains the long malice war to the farmers he and Fawn encounter, he breaches the curtain of secrecy that his people and culture have built up around their sharing knives. This saga of Bujold's has grown ever more complex with each book. The first was a simple love story about an unusual pairing. The second illuminated the clash of cultures represented by the lovers. This third book takes us one more stage on the journey, offering frightening glimpses of a renegade exile of the Lakewalkers, cast out for the same "crime" that Dag has committed: marrying outside of his own people. There is no sense that this closes the story of these unusual lovers reaching across the divide between their peoples. In fact, it can't end here.

Bujold gives us a deeper glimpse into this imaginary world and with this river journey she manages to recall other narratives that center on other rivers such as HUCK FINN and LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. Filled with colorful characters and touches of humor, Bujold invokes that sense of wonder which is the hallmark of great fantasy and makes us experience life more wisely which is a hallmark of great literature. The previous two books could stand alone although they were stronger together, but they are required reading for this one. One wonders where Bujold will take us from here.

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Not as good as I had hoped.

I am a Bujold fan. Normally reading a new Bujold book I can't put it down. I did not have that reaction to this book. It seemed very ho hum to me. I felt that the conflict was missing. Dag was the main character and the book was about his development and yet the book skips a lot of what is going on with him.

I was disapointed this was not what I was expecting at all.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6

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