Short Book Reviews: A Physician-Sorcerer Takes on an Epidemic

The Physicians of Vilnoc, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Subterranean)

This latest novella featuring temple sorcerer and sometimes healer, Penric, and his chaos demon, Desdemona, is a love letter to epidemiologists. In a time of plague, tracing the course of the outbreak is the key to gaining control. Is it contagious? What is the means of spread? How did it enter the community? Who dies, and who survives—and why? In this tale, Penric is summoned to an army fort town where a mysterious illness is rapidly spreading, threatening the ability of the soldiers there to defend the port capital. Through Desdemona, Penric can manipulate chaos, thereby allowing a patient’s body to heal itself, but the cost can be high and the limitations on what one sorcerer can do, are great. Through Desdemona, he can siphon off chaos from a patient’s body, in essence lowering the entropy and increasing the orderliness of the tissues. But the amount of chaos remains the same, and Desdemona can absorb only so much. The best way to discharge it is through the ultimate increase in entropy, the death of a living creature. This poses a moral dilemma for Penric, for although ridding the place of fleas and rats is not a problem, their tiny lives are not sufficient. He sets up an arrangement with the butcher to slaughter food animals quickly and painlessly, but even that cannot keep up with the increasing accumulation of chaos.

Over her long existence, Desdemona has passed through a series of hosts, not all of them human, and she carries their memories and wisdom. Her relationship with Penric is exceptional because he treats her as a partner and not as a dangerous, rebellious slave to be controlled at every step. As a consequence, or perhaps as a result of the variety of hosts she’s known, Desdemona has slowly acquired the ability to trust and be trusted. She’s still a demon, but she’s one that values her host and his concerns.

Besides his partnership with Desdemona, Penric also has an inquiring mind and keen analytic skills, with the ability to see through the easy, superficial explanations. He knows that knowledge of how the disease is spread and where it came from is crucial to containing it, but he’s being run ragged in trying to save lives. He’s in dire need of help, but in even more desperate need of information.

I loved all the previous “Penric” stories, but this one was particularly resonant, given that we are now entering our third year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Physicians of Vilnoc is a poignant and compelling reminder of our vulnerability to contagious diseases, and the importance—the necessity—of meticulous epidemiology in combatting them.