Previous book here.
Penric is now 29, ten years after the first book. After the death of his employer, he's now got a new job on the island of Lodi.* It's supposed to be Bastard's Day, a holiday, but Penric ends up working anyway when he's informed of the story of a guy who went overboard off a ship and was sorta-rescued....by getting possessed by a mostly-animal-influenced demon that's so messed up it can't be saved, and has made the poor guy completely whackadoodle out of his mind, and now he's running around the island doing God knows what.
- as a Californian, I have a vastly different, less picturesque vision in my head of anything called Lodi, so this weirded me out.
Penric needs to get the assistance of a demon-eating saint, and the one here, Chio, is actually a teenager and has been doing it since age 14 or so. I found Chio to be really intriguing, not to mention eerie. The mystery gets more involved when more is found out about the missing Madboy and specifically the business he's been working in. Pen ends up getting surprised....
Anyway, so far I find this to be the most interesting of the bunch, and I rather liked the foreshadowing of Chio ah, meeting a dude and how the Bastard may have set it up. I also like how this goes into how having to eat a demon (particularly a bad one) makes the saint feel (Ista seemed fine with it, but given her circumstances...and this is a more innocent girl).
I find it odd that this takes place AFTER Penric loses his job in Martensbridge after the death of his mentor/boss, and we find out after the fact that he did not enjoy having a medical career, to the point of having some kind of breakdown. I'm not sure why she didn't decide to tell that story, other than maybe she was feeling squeamish on the topic?
Four stars, though.