Penric and the Shaman
core novella 2016 World of the Five Gods
Record
| First published | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novella |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.17 (8,926 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 160 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781596068155 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
Several years after gaining his demon Desdemona, Penric, now a sorcerer in temple service, is recruited by Senior Locator Oswyl to help track down Inglis kin Wolfcliffe, a Wealdean royal shaman wanted in connection with a murder. The pair's pursuit leads them out of the city and into the mountains of the Weald, a region steeped in older shamanic traditions distinct from the temple magic Penric practices. As they close in on Inglis, the investigation draws in the shamanic bond with Great Beasts and the involvement of the Temple's own gods, complicating what began as a straightforward manhunt. First published in 2016, Penric and the Shaman belongs to the World of the Five Gods series.
Where it sits
- Universe: World of the Five Gods
- Series: Penric & Desdemona core; position 2 of 16 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 2017: nominated; Lost to Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway.
Notes
- From the series record (Penric & Desdemona): 16 novellas (2015-2026); publication order diverges from the author's own stated internal chronological order (recorded via internal chronology). Set roughly 150 years after The Hallowed Hunt and roughly 100 years before the Chalion novels. Classified Core Canon (not Expanded) because the novellas are marketed/sold as their own numbered series, are narratively load-bearing rather than side content, and the Hugo voting body treated them as full constituent parts of the universe when awarding the 2018 Hugo Best Series to the whole World of the Five Gods.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Penric & Desdemona: position 2 of 16: previous Penric's Demon (2015) · next Penric's Mission (2016)
- Internal chronology, within World of the Five Gods: position 3 of 19: previous Penric's Demon (2015) · next Penric's Fox (2017)
Sources
← World of the Five Gods dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.