Beguilement

I recently read Bujold's The Curse of Chalion which teased me with the romance between Cazaril and the young Beatriz. Beguilement, part one of the Sharing Knife series, served almost as a sequel to that romance for me, giving me all the sexual tension and adoration that were only hinted at in Chalion. The romance spawns from the unfortunate adventures of Fawn when she becomes entangled with a deadly Malice and works with the Lakewalker, Dag, to save the world from the blight of evil.

I love the whole concept of the Malices, creatures that feed on life and cannot be killed but by the Lakewalkers and their very special ground magic, bound to the bone sharing knives they carry for just such a purpose. I love the lore of the Malice and of the Lakewalkers and Dag's history, much of which we learn through Fawn's naïveté and her endless curiosity. The world Bujold created is fascinating and I really wanted more of it. But all I really got was the courtship of Dag and Fawn.

The romance and the questions end up taking up 80% of the story, with all the excitement and danger of the Malice more or less wrapped up in the first part. I don't mind a story that focuses on a prolonged romance, and I enjoyed the character development that went along with it. But when they finally get it on, I expected the overlying plot of Malices and bandits to rear their ugly heads again.

Nope. We get to meet the parents! And plan weddings! Oh and deal with ex-boyfriends too!

I haven't checked the blurb for Legacy, the sequel, but I half expect the plot to cover the honeymoon, birth of children, marital counselling, the messy divorce, custody battles…