Book Review: 3 Treasure Boxes
The Sharing Knife Series, Volume Two
Publisher: Harper Voyager (May, 2008), 356 pages, Language: English, ISBN-10: 978-0-06-113906-2

This is a story of magic, the fight against evil, family commitments and love. Dag, the magic wielding Lakewalker and his young bride the Farmer-girl Fawn continue their story including the ongoing battle against the evil creatures known as Malices. This book takes place immediately following Beguilement. 

Lois McMaster Bujold has written numerous Science Fiction and Fantasy books and series including The Vorkosigan Saga, The Chalion Universe Series and the The Sharing Knife Series. Legacy is the second book in The Sharing Knife Series which has a total of four books. These books fall into the Fantasy genre but can also be considered a Romance since it revolves around a love story.  There is magic in this universe that is welded by the Lakewakers and it takes place in a society that is equivalent to ours in the early 19th century.  It occurs after the fall of a greater society that was destroyed by the creation of evil creatures known as Malices.  In this world the Lakewalkers serve by destroying these creatures as they continue to randomly pop up. The story is told in a third person narrative by the two main protagonists Dag, the Lakewalker and Fawn, the Farmer girl.

Dag and Fawn, two individuals with completely different backgrounds are married and in love.  They leave Fawn’s farmer family and continue on to Dag’s communal camp.  Once they arrive they are once again facing the unfairness of prejudice. Dag is called away to fight against a mature malice that has uncanny abilities and gets into a very tight spot in the process.  Fawn is left alone in a hostile environment and it is heart wrenching reading about her mistreatment at the hands of Dag’s own family and community. It is all based on discrimination against her, not because she isn’t a good person, but because she is a farmer.  It is surprising because Dag was only half a person before he met Fawn and some people see and understand this. The story unfolded with a good pace and there was plenty of excitement and suspense during the fight against the malice. The book had a great ending.

I highly recommend this book.  If you enjoy reading a good, original fantasy story that revolves around a romance then you will enjoy this book.  This is a stand alone book, but I quickly picked up the next book in the series to see where the story is going.