[1] Set in the fictional Italian city-state of Montefoglia, The Spirit Ring follows 15-year-old Fiametta, daughter of a master metalworker and magician, Prospero Beneforte.

The grandest of these countermeasures is the use of a larger-than-life Perseus statue cast in bronze, though by the time of his death, Master Beneforte's masterpiece had only reached the wax model stage.

After the casting and the voluntary investment in the spirit of Uri Ochs, the invincible soldier is able to lead a rabble of townspeople into the castle to kill Lord Ferrante just before the statue cools to immobility.

[citation needed] Publishers Weekly praised it as "enthralling, crisply paced and fully developed",[2] while the SF Site called it "Bujold at her storytelling best" and "a fine and stirring yarn".

[3] Infinity Plus stated that it has "good writing, decent plot, engaging characters, and the logical, well put-together world", but found it to be "somehow lacking a certain snap that Bujold has consistently brought to her Science Fiction".