Penric's Demon
core novella 2015 World of the Five Gods
Record
| First published | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novella |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.20 (13,335 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 139 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781596067691 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
This novella, the first in the Penric and Desdemona sequence, is set within the same World of the Five Gods as the Chalion novels. On the day of his betrothal, young nobleman Penric kin Jurald comes across a dying temple divine on the road and stops to help her in her final moments. Her death releases a powerful demon, Desdemona, who unexpectedly passes into Penric rather than into any of the trained divines nearby who might have expected to inherit her. Penric wakes the next morning to find himself the demon's new, entirely unprepared host, and must quickly come to terms with the abilities, dangers and temple obligations that now come as part of his unplanned new life.
Where it sits
- Universe: World of the Five Gods
- Series: Penric & Desdemona core; position 1 of 16 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Novella), 2016: finalist; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 2nd.
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 2016: nominated; Lost to N.K. Jemisin's Binti.
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 1 of 16: next Penric and the Shaman (2016)
- Internal chronology, within World of the Five Gods: position 2 of 19: previous The Hallowed Hunt (2005) · next Penric and the Shaman (2016)
Sources
- The Dendarii Nexus
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penric's_Demon
- https://www.thehugoawards.org
- https://www.sfadb.com
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