tamaranth | 2022/73: The Physicians of Vilnoc -- Lois McMaster Bujold

2022/73: The Physicians of Vilnoc -- Lois McMaster Bujold

...disease recognized no borders or boundaries. Rather like gods, that. [loc. 532]

And the alternate title for this novella would be Penric and the Plague. A little too relevant for comfort, even two and a half years into the Covid pandemic ...

Penric has been living in domestic bliss for a while with his wife and small daughter: then his brother-in-law, General Arisaydia, asks him to come to the fort, where a mysterious illness is afflicting the garrison. The plague spreads to the city, and to a nearby camp of political prisoners. Penric and Desdemona use their combined magic to treat the sick, but it is a tremendous strain on both, and the plague just keeps coming. Can Penric and his demon find the cause, and perhaps the cure?

This revisits some earlier themes: Penric has previously sworn off medicine after a plethora of difficult cases -- those he couldn't cure -- drove him almost to suicide. Now, though, he's older and wiser, has more to tie him to life, and is more experienced than those he's working with: a young doctor, and an older man who's recently acquired a demon of his own. In the end, though, Penric is very much at the mercy of his god, and again he seems to be a useful tool for that deity.

Not my favourite of the novellas, but it does make me want to go and reread Penric's Mission ...