At the Beginning with Dag & Fawn

One of the nice things about taking a blogging vacation is all the books I can read.

The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold was one of these books. I've been seeing this one floating around the Fantasy world forever but had never picked it up (on account of my distaste of the cover). Finally, in need of a book fix, I grabbed it from the library shelf.

It was not what I expected. It was more a love story than a fantasy novel. All creatures of paranormal form appear only at the beginning and the rest is the story is essentially a romance.

I was surprisingly okay with this (although at one point I did consider calling it a bodice ripper).

 Dag is a widower who buries himself in his work. Fawn is barely a woman that has run away from home so as to avoid the shame of an ill-fated pregnancy. Neither expects the other to fall so unexpectedly, and dramatically, into their life.

I like the characters devotion to one another despite monumental adversities in front of them. Race, age, education, and lifestyle stand between their blossoming relationship and yet they endure (at least through book one).

My favorite line is when Fawn's brothers ask Dag to give them three good reasons why on earth he would want her. Dag's response (just three?) is the stuff of any woman's daydream:

"For the courage of her heart, which I saw face down the greatest horror I know without breaking.
For the high and hungry intelligence of her mind which never stops asking questions or thinking about the answers.
For the spark of her spirit which could teach bonfires how to burn."

I found myself enthralled with their love (I do love a good love) and was reminded of the song "At the Beginning" by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis.

We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you


No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start

"Beguilement" is the first book in the series, spanning only about a month of time at the beginning of Fawn and Dag's journey back to his homeland. It truly is at the beginning and now I'm itching to get my fingers on the second leg of this adventure.

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Books:
The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

Music:
At the Beginning by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis