The Assassins of Thasalon
core novella 2021 World of the Five Gods
Record
| First published | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novella |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.49 (4,733 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 308 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781645240891 |
| Internal chronology | 12 |
Synopsis
When a sorcerous assassin is sent to kill Penric's brother-in-law, General Arisaydia, Penric and Desdemona intervene and manage to capture her before she can complete the attack. Questioning their captive, they learn that she did not act out of malice or loyalty to an enemy, but was coerced into the assignment by a Cedonian minister who is holding her young son hostage to guarantee her cooperation. Faced with an assassin who is as much a victim as a threat, Penric and his household must decide how to respond, ultimately resolving to gather allies and resources to free the boy from his captor. The novella follows Penric navigating the political dangers of Cedonia once again, this time working to undo a scheme built on threats against a mother and her child rather than to punish the woman it forced into action.
Where it sits
- Universe: World of the Five Gods
- Series: Penric & Desdemona core; position 10 of 16 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
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 10 of 16: previous Masquerade in Lodi (2020) · next Knot of Shadows (2021)
- Internal chronology, within World of the Five Gods: position 12 of 19: previous The Physicians of Vilnoc (2020) · next Knot of Shadows (2021)
Sources
← World of the Five Gods dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.