47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Logical Foray into Fantasy, January 18, 2000
This was the first Lois McMaster Bujold book I ever read (and now I've read them all) and it's still one of my favorites. What makes this book stand out from all the other Middle Ages, magical rings books is, first and foremost, this book makes sense! Bujold carefully lays down the ground rules for the use of magic in her world, and then she sticks to them. There's no "Deus ex machina" in The Spirit Ring, just a wonderful, witty, entirely "believable" story. As always in a Bujold book, there's mystery, comedy, action, and even a little romance.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First-rate historical fantasy, set in a magical Renaissance, January 6, 2004
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"The Spirit Ring" is based on "The Grateful Dead", which is an old
folk-tale (young man pays for a pauper's burial, and is rewarded by his
ghost), Ms. Bujold's great-uncle's Ph.D. dissertation, and (I presume)
source of the band's name. This is, I think, her most personal novel. The
heroine's domineering, larger-than-life father must be, in part, LMB's own
engineer-father, though the character is formally modeled on Benvenuto
Cellini. The spunky, rebellious, and ultimately spectacularly successful
daughter is surely, in part, Lois herself (or at least a power-fantasy
wish-fulfillment mental self-image) [1]. Huh. I don't normally do (or
like) this sort of review, but it feels right this time. Read the book and
see what you think. LMB has said that the engineer-hero of "Falling Free"
was explicitly modeled after her Dad. And "The Spirit Ring" is her only
female coming-of-age novel. None of this will get in the way of your
enjoyment of the book, BTW, it's Bujold at her story-telling best, a fine
and stirring yarn indeed.
We're in the smokehouse at a rural inn:
Thur glanced up, then his gaze was riveted by what lay in the shadows
above the rafters... the nude body of a gray-bearded man, close-wrapped in
the same sort of gauze as the sausages... His skin was shrivelled and
tanning in the smoke.
"Pico was right," Thur observed after a moment's stunned silence. "Your
wife does smoke the most unusual hams."
Catti glanced up after him. "Oh, that," he said in disgust. "...He's a
refugee from Montefoglia who didn't quite make it. Penniless, it turned
out -- after the bill was run up."
"Do you often do this to guests who don't pay?" asked Thur in a fascinated
voice. "I'll tell Pico to settle our bill promptly..."
"The Spirit Ring" was Bujold's ninth published novel, first fantasy novel
and first hardcover. It didn't sell very well. I was vaguely aware of its
existence, but I'm not a regular fantasy reader and had passed it by. Don't
you make the same mistake.
Happy reading!
Pete Tillman
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than the cover implies, December 10, 2002
By A Customer
A quite enjoyable book. Being a fan of the Vorkosigan books, I put off reading this book out of fear that a SF author's first (and at the time only) foray into fantasy wouldn't be up to snuff. I was quite pleased to find my fears were unfounded.
LMB brings a "scientific" approach to magic, which is quite refreshing compared to the average fantasy novel. While not at all all similar, it reminds me of Modessit's concept of magic (where there are systematic rules to how magic works).
The book does suffer from a slight lack of character development, and there aren't too many surprises at the end. But these problems are quite small when compared to the fact that the book is just plain fun to read.
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