The Sharing Knife, Volume Four: Horizon (The Sharing Knife series, 4)

I'm not sure what it is I like most about Lois McMaster Bujold's writing: her characterization skills, her prose, the fascinating world-building and plotting? Maybe it's all of the above. One skill she definitely has, though, is adaptability. In all four books of the "Sharing Knife" series, she has used a different style, even as she keeps everything consistent between the books. The fourth book, Horizon, fully illustrates that as Bujold adds a bit of action to the mix, with some wonderful magic, menacing forces, and the gradual softening of attitudes among the two very distinct societies that she has created. It's a wonderful culmination to a series that has captivated me from beginning to end, despite a couple of rough patches in the first book. The first year of Dag and Fawn's marriage has been tumultuous, a honeymoon journey to show the Farmer girl a world that she's never seen. She's also learned a lot about how Dag's people, the Lakewalkers, aren't truly as scary as most farmers believe. Dag is learning more and more about becoming a "Maker," someone who specializes in working with the "Ground" that inhabits all human beings, and he harbors dreams of becoming a liaison between Lakewalker and Farmer, a bridge of understanding between the two peoples that will end the distrust that keeps them apart. As the newlyweds make their journey from the mouth of the river they have explored back home, with companions both Lakewalker and Farmer alike, the threat of a new kind of Malice (evil remnants of ancient magic) erupts in front of them. Old and tested ways may not be enough, and the true joining of Farmer and Lakewalker may be put to its ultimate test. Bujold continues her masterful exploration of the Lakewalker world in Horizon, with Dag becoming apprenticed to a crotchety Lakewalker maker in a camp far to the south of Dag's home. In the process, we see even more about how "ground" works and the possibilities that Dag has created with his exploration of it. Fawn makes the perfect bridge between the two peoples, as Farmers instinctively distrust any Lakewalker and she is able to counterbalance that. These two characters are the core of this series, and Bujold does a wonderful job characterizing them. That's not to say any of the other characters are neglected. As they journey north, the couple continually accept companions who want to come along for the ride, and the band becomes an eclectic mix of Lakewalker and Farmer, along with a couple of half-breeds who give Dag pause for thought regarding what he and Fawn will produce when the time comes. All of these characters are distinct and bring their own personality, prejudices, and talents to the group. They are all three-dimensional characters, never acting differently than they should and always contributing to the progress of the story. For those readers who feel there hasn't been enough action in the series so far, there's definitely some in the final chapter. These new form

I also own about every book published by this author, and have read most of them more than once. Whenever I see her name as author, I buy the book. Her books are consistently entertaining, thoughtful, and the characters are believable and delightful. Her worlds and situations can engage for hours. My husband, who is not much of a reader, is currently reading "The Sharing Knife" - volume 2. This is a fantasy series set on an unnamed but presumably non-earth world. The setting explores relationships between and within two main groups, ordinary people and those gifted "walkers" which can sense life-forces or have "ground-sense". In addition to the usual friction between different cultures, there is a common enemy of not-quite sentient "malices" which drain life force. The walkers, who have their own seasonal camps and who patrol from place to place as needed, protect the fringes of the more settled, interior settlements and have done such a good job that the farmers and other ordinaries have frequently come to believe that the malices are myth. Thus walkers are finding themselves even more as a fringe group (so to speak) as their traditional role has become less needed and therefore less valued. Some forward thinking walkers come to realize that their society must adapt, although in what direction, and how, is a struggle. This series has everything--engaging characters faced with tough decisions, romance, individual growth, exploration, humor, personal sacrifice--all seen through the eyes of likable characters who are thrown into situations and relationships requiring re-examination of their beliefs and relationships. The descriptions of landscape, dress, verbal expressions and the character's reactions to different behaviors, underlying prejudices, and trials as they journey, make for a wonderful and sometimes scary, adventure. Vacations don't come any cheaper, and you don't need travel insurance.

I have lots of books from this author and was pleased with this 4 book series.

This book is the 4th in the series and gives room for a 5th book, but still provides a satisfactory ending and shows the growth of all the characters. She is a very good writer who is excellent at showing the character development of her major and minor characters. Very good read.

First off, this is the second half of the second story in a two story, four book series. So no, don't start here. The book does not (and is not intended to) act as a standalone novel. So from now on I'll assume the reader of this review has read the other three books. I loved this whole extended story. And I'm glad to say, the final book does not disappoint. It neither wraps up all the problems of the whole world nor leaves a bunch of messy unfinished business. It continues the story of characters we've come to know and love, and it introduces still more of them (not always loveable). It also completes the "there and back again" story of Fawn and Dag's trip to the sea. The main message of the book seems to be that when you can't see a way to solve your problems from where you are standing, sometimes it helps to stand in a different place. That's true geographically, and also metaphorically. Dag, who has been patroller and maker, healer and killer, Lakewalker with a Farmer wife, as well as boatman and camp dweller, ends up finally having a diverse enough viewpoint to start seeing the answers. But he can't do it alone. The marriage of Fawn and Dag had been a shocking breach of the wall between Lakewalker and Farmer societies, up north. But in the south, where malices are few and Farmers are many, it seems the interactions between Farmer and Lakewalker are much more common. Dag rightly realizes that he is seeing the future of the north in the current south, and they haven't solved any of the problems he had spotted brewing back home. But at least the problems were more visible to other people, and that leads to a bit more support from them. The key break comes when he and Fawn are accepted (provisionally) into a Lakewalker camp so that he can apprentice with an expert maker. But that doesn't continue forever, and eventually Dag ends up shepherding a mixed bag of Farmer and Lakewalker pilgrims up the "Tripoint Trace", the road/trail that runs from the south back to the north. Just as the rivers are thinly disguised versions of the Mississippi and Ohio, the trail is a version of the famous Natchez Trace. Along the way they must solve problems both domestic and magical, as Dag continues on his quest to find some way to protect Farmers from malices. At the same time he continues to try and figure out how Lakewalkers can live with Farmers without either becoming their gods or their demons. And then, as you knew would happen from the time Dag made the sharing knife in the last book, they encounter a malice. But the malice is running from something else. What could force a malice to flee? In a conclusion featuring bravery and treachery, wisdom and ignorance, plus well-honed skill and lots of luck, they find out. And then we see that the end of the story does not mean the end of all stories, just the beginning of others. (That's not to imply there is any sort of cliffhanger ending. I would doubt there will be any direct sequels to these novels. My s