Horizon: The Sharing Knife, Volume Four

Bujold's Sharing Knife series concludes on a cheerful note that will please fans of fantasy romance. The Lakewalkers have been humanity's only defense against the Malices, vicious creatures who turn their victims into murderous zombie-like “mudmen.” Dag, a former patroller exiled for insisting that the deliberately aloof Lakewalkers reach out to farmers, has finally found a Lakewalker “medicine maker” willing to teach him healing magic. When Dag disobeys the rules to help a seriously ill farm boy, he's kicked out again, and he and his pregnant farmer-born bride, Fawn, head north to a friend's home, braving mountains swarming with mudmen. The frontierlike setting and its postapocalyptic elements are the stars here. Although the first half of the book is slow going, Bujold piles on the action later, making her characters earn their happy ending. (Feb.)