Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

The Penric and Desdemona novellas take place in the World of the Five Gods from the trilogy of that name.  Book one of the trilogy, curse of the chalion, is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read and I really enjoyed the remaining two.  Penric, a sorcerer, and Desdemona, his chaos demon, are a fantastic duo that I ADORE.

In 2020, these novellas were republished in a two-book omnibus set.  The first omnibus contained novellas 1 - 3 in the internal chronological order not publishing order.  The second set had the novellas 4 - 6.  I normally read in publishing order but have to admit that I strongly feel this series should be an exception if ye be new to it.

This was the first full-length novel and is number 10 in internal chronology.  I LOVED all the extra time spent with Penric and Desdemona.  This feels like an ending to a series (though I hope it isn't).  General Arisaydia is threatened with assassination and has to go back to his homeland to deal with the issue.  Penric ends up getting involved despite himself, as usual.

This is not a high stakes adventure as Penric is well-within his powers and literally has the backing of the God.  It is, however, a comforting and lovely read.  Iroki is very much a new favorite.  There are a lot of cameos of prior characters from at least four other novellas.  There were a couple of plot twists I wasn't expecting.  Neither was Penric!  I truly love this series and world and will read as many books as the author care to write in it.  Arrrrr!