The Spirit Ring

This book was an impulsive buy at a used book store. I loved Bujold's Chalion series and was interested in exploring her other fantasy titles before tackling something like Vorkosigan. Written in 1992, it feels a lot like the sort of books I read in my tween years: a plucky young heroine and an unlikely but handsome suitor avenge their loved ones, storm the castle and conquer evil. Pretty standard for its time.

Bujold, however, always adds an element to overlay the standard. She has a way of writing about religion that recognizes its flaws without demonizing it. The Church of her stories is heroic and ultimately good, even if it is not always effective. Chalion takes this idea to form, but I can see the precursors in this novel.

She has other twists such as Master Beneforte not being anything like a traditional doting father, a sense of diversity that I don't remember from my 90s heroine fiction at all, and an intriguing magic system that all speaks to the talent of this author. While somewhat forgettable when compared against her other works, it's still a fun read, particularly if you're a fan of the McCaffrey, Lee, Pierce, Lackey style of hero.

This is a one-off fantasy novel that Bujold published 9 years before [b:The Curse of Chalion 61886 The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1) Lois McMaster Bujold https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322571773l/61886.SY75.jpg 1129349], the first of the World of the Five Gods series. Compared with the Five Gods series, the setting is similarly mediæval but slightly later in time: cannons have been invented, but no smaller firearms. The story takes place mostly in and around Montefoglia, a fictional Italian city and small duchy located at the foot of a lake, somewhere between Milan and Venice.“The narrow lake extended eleven miles north from Montefoglia”, so it's about the size of the real Lake Iseo.In this world, magic is performed by mages, using spells, ingredients, diagrams on the floor, and sometimes the spirits of dead animals and humans. The religion seems to be conventional Christianity.The novel starts slowly but gradually becomes more exciting, mainly focused on Fiametta (a name normally written Fiammetta in Italy), a mage's daughter, and the ruthless Lord Ferrante, who attempts a hostile takeover of Montefoglia.It's quite a good story, but the Five Gods series features finer characterization and a scenario that's more original and more carefully worked out. Thus, this is a decent novel, worth reading if you like this kind of thing, but not an award-winner.Bujold seems to have researched mediæval metal-working techniques for this book, which contains plausible technical details occasionally, where appropriate. But she shows her research with restraint and avoids going on about it at length.