RogerBW's Blog

Daughter of Witches, Patricia C. Wrede 02 June 2025

1983 fantasy, second of the very loose Lyra series. Ranira is a bond (more or less indentured) servant in Drinn, which is ruled by the Temple of Chaldon. Then some foreigners take a room at the inn where she works, and everything is turned on its head.

It is fascinating to see the progression from Shadow Magic to here. There are still fantasy tropes, but the distinctive Wrede voice is much more apparent.

For example, we have a classic Church of No Redeeming Virtues in the worship of Chaldon: the priests swagger about and take anything they want, their thugs assist them, and it's basically a police-state dictatorship, with never a mention of what the actual belief system might be or what spiritual comfort it provides to the rest of the people.

On the other hand, when during the escape (no spoilers unless you've never read a fantasy story before) Ranira and the foreigners have to swim in a river, the city people have never had occasion to learn to swim (quite apart from the lack of need, there are deadly water snakes encouraged by the Temple) and she takes some care to consider the sort of error they might make as people who are not just untrained but barely familiar with the concepts.

All right, it can get a bit infodumpy at times (particularly where the offstage Temple of the Moon is concerned), but all the principals are distinct and interesting in their own rights, and manage to have disagreements with valid points on both sides even as they agree on their overall goal.

Well worth revisiting.

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Previous in series: Shadow Magic | Series: Lyra

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