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

Passage (The Sharing Knife, Book 3) | Lois Mcmaster Bujold | Earlier books in this series were good. This one's great.

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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 25 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Acclaimed science fiction and fantasy writer Lois McMaster Bujold?five-time winner of the Hugo Award?brings us the third installment in her New York Times bestselling romantic fantasy

The Sharing Knife, Volume Three: Passage

Young Fawn Bluefield and soldier-sorcerer Dag Redwing Hickory have survived magical dangers and found, in each other, love and loyalty. But even their strength and passion cannot overcome the bigotry of their own kin, and so, leaving behind all they have known, the couple sets off to find fresh solutions to the perilous split between their peoples.

But they will not journey alone. Along the way they acquire comrades, starting with Fawn's irrepressible brother Whit, whose future on the Bluefield family farm seems as hopeless as Fawn's once did. Planning to seek passage on a riverboat heading to the sea, Dag and Fawn find themselves allied with a young flatboat captain searching for her father and fiancé, who mysteriously vanished on the river nearly a year earlier. They travel downstream, hoping to find word of the missing men, and inadvertently pick up more followers: a pair of novice Lakewalker patrollers running away from an honest mistake with catastrophic consequences; a shrewd backwoods hunter stranded in a wreck of boats and hopes; and a farmer boy Dag unintentionally beguiles, leaving Dag with more questions than answers about his growing magery.

As the ill-assorted crew is tested and tempered on its journey to where great rivers join, Fawn and Dag will discover surprising new abilities both Lakewalker and farmer, a growing understanding of the bonds between themselves and their kinfolk, and a new world of hazards both human and uncanny.

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Floating Down the River

Passage (2008) is the third fantasy novel of The Sharing Knife series, following Legacy. In the previous volume, Dag and Fawn were called before the camp council on charges pressed by his brother Dar. The council split on the decision, but Dag and Fawn left Hickory Lake Camp anyway. After the Malice incident in Greenspring, Dag wanted to find another way for the Lakewalkers to relate with the Farmers. Besides, their marriage has caused enough trouble with both Lakewalkers and Farmers.

In this novel, Dag and Fawn go first to her family farm. The twins have moved off to stake their own claims and Whit has -- mostly -- quit his teasing of Fawn, so the visit goes well. At least until shortly before they leave, when Whit decides to go with them.

They leave Fawn's pregnant mare at the farm and take two draft horses that Whit has trained. Naturally, Dag continues to ride Copperhead to protect the Farmers; no telling what that horse will do! The three ride off toward the Grace River.

On the way, Dag and Fawn acquaint Whit with previously unshared knowledge about the Lakewalkers and Malices. Since Fawn knows Whit much better than Dag, she does more of the talking. Yet his confirmations make the discussion more real to Whit.

Reaching Glassforge, Whit learns that his sister and brother-in-law are very well known in the town. They stay at the inn where the wounded had been treated and everybody knows Fawn. They even know that she has killed a Malice. Whit is quite amazed at his sister's fame.

When it comes time to leave Glassforge, Whit changes his mind again. Instead to returning home, he decides to travel further with them. He does sell the horses, but gets a job with the firm that bought them. Now Whit and Fawn are riding the wagons to the river and Dag is still riding Copperhead.

In this story, Dag and Fawn meet many people on the trail and boating down the river. Dag also meets a few Lakewalkers in the river camps. He and Fawn, with some help from Whit, disseminate more information about the Lakewalkers and gain more knowledge of the people themselves. Dag gets to perform a few more medical makings on the Farmer folks and starts to gain a reputation among them as a good healer.

The Lakewalker authorities -- even the Patroller chiefs -- are very much against his activities. They order him to stop treating the wounded and sick Farmers and to cease his information campaign. But events on down the river turn out to require his healing and information.

This tale shows that the Farmers can accept the Lakewalker activities as beneficial and understand the dangers of the Malices. Yet the efforts of Dag and Fawn are only a drop in the bucket. They also need to change the Lakewalkers themselves to gain full acceptance from the Farmers.

The story is far from finished. Dag and Fawn will be back in Horizon, the fourth volume in this series. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Bujold fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic societies, unusual magics, and marital romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

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Earlier books in this series were good. This one's great.

Middle books in a series are often the hardest for an author to pull off. You need to move the story along, but you can't resolve too much or there's no reason to continue to volume 3. Yet it has to be good enough that readers *want* to keep reading. Even with an author as fine as Bujold, the second book in the Sharing Knife series suffered from this problem. Certainly, several reviewers were disappointed by Legacy. If you aren't sure if it's worth it to keep going and read Passage -- don't worry. Because she fulfills her promises. This is simply great.

Dag and Fawn, now four months into their marriage, head down the river to the sea, as that was one of Dag's promises to her. But the journey is an emotional one as well as geographic, as the couple tries to accomplish the goals they set for themselves: sharing understanding between "Lakewalkers" and "Farmers." They interact with lots of people from different levels of the society (I don't want to give away too much), and around every bend in the river they -- and we readers -- learn something new.

The writing has the same sweet caring and good humor you've come to expect from the characters in this series. Darnit, Bujold just creates such _likable_ people!

It's a VERY enjoyable read, I assure you. It's also good dense storytelling. Yes, it's totally different from Vor and Chalion. I like that; Bujold isn't becoming predictable.

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Terrific continuation of a fine series

With Passage, Bujold continues the saga of Dag, a Lakewalker and Fawn, his farmer wife. The two have left Dag's community because many there disapprove of the inter-cultural marriage. After a brief visit to Fawn's family they head south for a voyage along the Grace river to the sea, bringing Fawn's younger brother Whit with them. On the way to the river, he uses his Lakewalker ability to manipulate "ground", the life force within all things, to heal another young traveler. These four take passage on a boat captained by a young woman, Berry, and crewed by her uncle and brother. As the boat heads downriver, they collect more strays and Dag continues to explore new uses for his ground abilities.

There are moments of intense action, including a climactic confrontation with a Lakewalker renegade, that punctuate the calmer rhythm of the rest of the story. As they journey, Dag struggles to determine his place in the world now that he is cut off from his people. Dag and Fawn continually attempt to educate all that they meet, whether Lakewalkers, farmers or boatmen about the possibility of everyone working together against the greater threats of the world. Although all of the particulars differ, there is still an echo of Huck Finn in this tale of travelers on a river, meeting a wide variety of folk and discovering their place in the world. The writing is beautiful and this book has something for everyone.

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Well done, but rare.

This is the third book in this series. LMB does her usual fine job of developing the charaters until you feel you know them well. Like real-life people, the characters never stop changing. I truly hope Ms. Bujold continues this series a bit further. Her answers to evolving social change could prove insightful for all of us.

The writing quality here is so well done, but that is exceedingly rare.

A Leisurely Journey Down a River

I enjoyed this book. It was like spending some time with interesting people while floating down a river. There isn't a whole lot of excitement but it's a pleasant journey. I'm looking forward to the final book in the series.

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

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