Demon Daughter

This is an interesting and charming story and I have difficulty in finding any fault with it. Unusually, I gave it 5 stars on first reading.

It's about a young girl (Otta) going through traumatic experiences; fortunately, she's strong enough not to cave in completely, and she soon receives help.

It's interesting partly because of Otta and her experiences, and partly because we meet a new kind of demon that isn't quite like the ones we've met before, and it's new to Penric and Desdemona too. They react to it differently and in ways that I didn't expect, but which are nevertheless credible and throw some new light on them as characters.

We also get some exposure to the three-way relationship between Penric, Desdemona, and Nikys. Years have passed since the last story: Penric and Nikys are now about 40, and their children are Rina aged 7 and Wyn aged 4.

Since Penric married Nikys (about 10 years ago), each story has taken him away from his home and family; but this one, for a change, is centred on his home and family. So we get more family life and almost none of the regular characters outside the family.

We do meet Learned Sioann from the chapterhouse (but not Lencia or Seuka, who must be teenagers by now); the elderly sailors Laxo and Symo; and Blessed Iroki. But Duke Jurgo, Adelis, Learned Dobro, and many others remain offstage throughout.

It's always nice to see more of the regular characters, but this is a story about Otta and Penric's family, and it would be superfluous and distracting to clutter it up with characters that don't fit naturally into the story.