Horizon (Sharing Knife Series)
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold

I'm a fan of Bujold's and always enjoy her novels. I began the Sharing Knife series as soon as I saw it. Many years ago. The first book was intriguing and different and I really enjoyed it and looked forward to the next book in the series. The series quickly lost steam, but I wanted to see how it ended. I don't even remember when I started the series, more than four years ago, I'm sure, but I finally read the last one.

Dag and Fawn Bluefield begin their journey home, though at this point they've no idea where home will be. But first, they need to find a maker to help Dag hone his skills. They find one at a southern Lakewalker camp but as usual there is a bit of a fuss when they realize Fawn is a farmer.

One thing Bujold excels at is world building and this is a very intriguing world. I wish she had expanded more on the nature of the malices and lakewalkers in this series, but she failed to delve as deep into the culture as she usually does in her novels. I had to read 3/4 of this book before it got interesting enough to hold my attention for longer than ten or fifteen minutes and then the excitement ended only a few chapters later. The series also had a rather abrupt ending. I wish there were more depth to the series. Even the Chalion triology, which is a three book series only loosely connected to one another, has more depth than the Sharing Knife series, which contains the same major characters throughout. That's not to say that it's not a good series or that the book is not well written, it's just not as good as other Bujold series.

This was an incredibly difficult review to write. It's so very short and has no spoilers. But it's the best I can do for this pale reflection of Bujold's usual writing. Nothing happens in this book. There is very little conflict and most of the action seems unnecessary. There's a bit of build-up but then it falls flat. The most intriguing part of the book was trying to figure out the geography and make it fit to the United States, which I almost managed to do.

If you've never read any Bujold novels, start with Cordelia's Honor or Curse of Chalion. They are gripping tales and the worlds are much more rich and fleshed out.