The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

[Werthead]

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

Lupe dy Cazaril is a former soldier in the army of Chalion. Taken prisoner after a siege, he has been sold into bondage, made a galley-slave and been rescued. Returning to his old home of Valenda, he seeks service with the Provincara dy Baocia. He is made tutor to Iselle, the sister of the heir to the kingdom, a position initially without power or influence. When Iselle and her brother are summoned to the royal court by their brother, the ailing king, Cazaril finds himself in a political nest of vipers, pitted against an old enemy who is very unhappy to see that he has survived, and a curse that may be beyond his abilities to thwart.

What happens when your life is taken from you and you are left abused, beaten and broken, and then abruptly returned to your former life?

The Curse of Chalion is a novel about trauma, about a man who has faced serious degradation and danger but lived to tell of it, and afterwards has to find his way back to something approaching normalcy. Unfortunately, whilst this is going on his country is under threat from external enemies and also from internal strife.

This is a fascinating novel, one that at first glance bears resemblances to Guy Gavriel Kay's classic The Lions of Al-Rassan (particularly the very strong Spanish inspiration) and to George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, particularly the political manoeuvrings within the royal court which start with mild barbed words but soon escalate to intimidation, murder and the threat of civil war. There's also a similarity to Robin Hobb's work, particularly the tight focus on a single character and its exploration of trauma and recovery. But it's also very much a Lois McMaster Bujold novel. Those who have sampled her other work, such as the long-running SF Vorkosigan Saga, will find similarities in the exploration of relationships, tragedy and redemption, although it is written in a different style.

The book lives and dies by the characterisation of Cazaril, the main protagonist. Although the book is not written in the first person, we spend the entire novel perched on Cazaril's shoulder to the point where it might as well be. Cazaril is a broken man, damaged goods, who tries to piece his life back together by retreating to his childhood home and station as a page to the royal family of Chalion but finds that his gifts and experience elevate him to a new position as a teacher and mentor to the younger members of the family. Cazaril is a refreshing fantasy protagonist; he is not a badass, sword-wielding prodigy or a reluctant youngster nevertheless gifted with vast sorcerous powers, but a middle-aged man who comes into situations he has little control over and has to find a way of negotiating his way through them, for good or ill.

The secondary cast is a well-drawn and varied lot, and the worldbuilding is impeccable. There's an interesting way of handling magic and the religion and politics of Chalion are drawn in some detail. Bujold's prose, honed at this point by twenty years of experience, is also excellent, evocative without being overwrought and a genuine pleasure to read.

The Curse of Chalion (*****) is a compelling, richly-detailed fantasy novel with superb, multifaceted characters and a strong sense of direction and purpose. It may just be Bujold's finest novel to date, in an exceptional career. It is available now in the UK and USA. It has a sequel, Paladin of Souls, and a prequel, The Hallowed Hunt.

[Liffguard]

Glad you've gotten around to reviewing this series. Definitely one of my favourites. IMO the sequel is even better.

I love the way Bujold approaches religion in this setting as a well-developed theology. There are too many fantasy stories where religion is essentially an afterthought.

[williamjm]

1 hour ago, Liffguard said:

Glad you've gotten around to reviewing this series. Definitely one of my favourites. IMO the sequel is even better.

I love the way Bujold approaches religion in this setting as a well-developed theology. There are too many fantasy stories where religion is essentially an afterthought.

That aspect is really well done, particularly in Paladin and the Penric stories.

I'm not sure which I'd pick as my favourite out of Curse and Paladin, they're both very good in their own way but different enough that it's hard to compare. Ista in Paladin is definitely one of the more unusual and interesting fantasy protagonists.

[Wilbur]

Wert's description of Bujold's mastery of style and prose is really on point for this book.  She clearly knows what she wants to say, and she says it well.  In this work and Paladin of Souls she seems to reach the height of her powers as an author, and the stories and characters are attractive without necessarily being Mary Sues.

My one wish is that we had a little more sense of the location.  The ideas of world building are all there, but I have a taste for just a little more "place" in the stories, where the locale acts as a character in the story.  By this I am thinking of Nero Wolfe's brownstone in New York as an example of the city or building that is described so well as to root strongly in my mind as I read.

[Starkess]

I just read these books over the past couple months. It was my first foray into Bujold, and I found them delightful. I did slightly prefer Curse to Paladin, but both excellent in their own ways. I just wish there was more! Although perhaps I should think of it as a kindness--characters generally must suffer, after all, in stories, and so I can imagine them happily settled down in peace. (I haven't read the Penric stories yet, though.)

[LongRider]

I read this trilogy and have to admit I really liked Curse and did not like the other two.  Cazaril was an interesting character to me and I was hopeful his story would continue in the next two books but that wasn't the case and I was disappointed.  I would read Curse again but not the other two. 

[Jo498]

It was probably around 4-5 years ago that I read both "Curse" and "Paladin" and I liked both of them quite a bit, the first maybe a little more, although the second might have a more original protagonist and plot. The vaguely ~15th cent. Spanish setting (including borrowings in geography, topography and history) is well done,  I think, but does not feel too close to real history to bother me. And yes, magic is done more convincingly than in most other fantasy and I am not aware of any other fantasy that did religion as good as it's done here.

[Wilbur]

One of the interesting things to do is to contrast the "realism" of the setting in The Curse of Chalion with the "mystical" setting in The Hallowed Hunt, which is set in the world of the Five Gods a couple of centuries earlier than Curse.

LMB really gets the tone right in terms of the mists of legend that pervade the story of Hunt, and then her treatment of the realities of a more humanistic world in Curse pop up for the reader even more on a second reading.

One or two of the later Penric stories weave together the cultures of the two, and she deals well with syncretism in a real world situation there.

[shortstark]

I reread Curse and Paladin every couple years and it's like the first time, have been reading LMB books for over 30 years and these are probably the best and thats saying a lot as Miles Vorkosigan is just below Fitzchivalry Farseer as my favorite fantasy/scifi character.. 

[Werthead]

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Three years have passed since a sorcerous curse was lifted from the royal family of Chalion. Chalion and the western kingdom of Ibra have allied and now prepare for a military campaign against the Roknari principalities to the north. Ista, the Dowager Royina, is far removed from such concerns. The lifting of the curse has returned to her a sense of self and intelligence, but her family is still treating her as a pariah. The removal of her children to the capital and the death of her mother have left her without purpose, so she plans to make a pilgrimage in honour of her memory. But it appears that destiny still has plans in mind for her.

Paladin of Souls is a loose sequel to The Curse of Chalion, although you could probably get away with not reading the previous novel. This book is primarily a stand-alone story revolving around Ista, the mother of the new Royina of Chalion, who finds herself at a loose end as her family moves on with their lives without her. Ista was a minor character in The Curse of Chalion, where she was often confused and frightened. Here, in her own story, we meet a much more capable and intelligent woman, but one who is frustrated at being treated as a near-invalid by her family.

This is an unusual epic fantasy in some senses. The protagonist being a middle-aged woman is a relative rarity in the genre and its primary thematic concern being with establishing or re-establishing a purpose in later life is a universally relatable one. There is also a lot of more familiar fantasy tropes, including romance, epic battles and formidable sorcery. Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most talented authors working in either science fiction or fantasy, with excellent prose skills and great characters, and she blends these elements together again her to create a novel which is vivid and engrossing.

It's not quite as successful as The Curse of Chalion, although it's close. Paladin of Souls has a somewhat slighter story than its forebear but unfolds over around a hundred extra pages, making it feel at least a little flabbier and less-focused than the previous novel. The book also spends a lot of time establishing the secondary cast in the opening chapters, but surprisingly only a couple of them played major roles in the denouement, the rest either just hang around or disappear for large stretches of time. They're a fun bunch of characters but ultimately don't feel like they have a clear purpose in the book.

That said, Bujold's world of the Five Gods remains an intriguing creation, effectively a magic-heavy version of Iberia in the 15th Century (fans of Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan will particularly enjoy this novel and its forebear, I believe). The characters are sharp and some of the plot twists are quite clever.

Paladin of Souls (****½) is a strong fantasy novel revolving around themes of love, war, family and honour. It's one of Lois McMaster Bujold's most critically feted novels, having won Best Novel in three of the genre's biggest awards, the Hugo, Nebula and Locus. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

[williamjm]

13 hours ago, shortstark said:

I reread Curse and Paladin every couple years and it's like the first time, have been reading LMB books for over 30 years and these are probably the best and thats saying a lot as Miles Vorkosigan is just below Fitzchivalry Farseer as my favorite fantasy/scifi character.. 

I sometimes feel with the Vorkosigan books that even though it's a superb series it's maybe the case that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are many good individual books in the series but Curse and Paladin are probably better than most of them taking on their own.

[Wilbur]

Paladin is a story with a lot of heart and caring for those who appear to be disabled.  It shows the reader that individuals who seem out of the mainstream may actually matter, and it causes the reader to care.

[Rorshach]

On 4/17/2020 at 9:56 PM, williamjm said:

I sometimes feel with the Vorkosigan books that even though it's a superb series it's maybe the case that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are many good individual books in the series but Curse and Paladin are probably better than most of them taking on their own.

I would agree with this. 

[ants]

I read the first Vorkosigan book a LONG time ago, and wasn't a fan.  I think I thought it was too unbelievable or far fetched?  Maybe I should give the series another go.

I'm currently reading the Penric books for the first time.  I've read Curse and Paladin a number of times, they are fantastic books.  

[Rorshach]

The first couple of Vorkosigan books aren't all that, though. Middle of the road, I'd say. 

Now, I really don't remember which books come first and last in the Miles books, but I think that after a couple of them, they start being better - that is, good. But it doesn't hurt to have read the backstory.

[williamjm]

13 hours ago, ants said:

I read the first Vorkosigan book a LONG time ago, and wasn't a fan.  I think I thought it was too unbelievable or far fetched?  Maybe I should give the series another go.

I think the series has convincing world-building and good characterisation throughout but occasionally the plots can get a little bit far-fetched at times.

The series has been written over the course of 30 years and I think Bujold did improve significantly as an author since the earliest books, although I still enjoyed them. There are a couple of books that could be regarded as the first book, Shards of Honor and The Warrior's Apprentice and while they both set up important events for future books I don't think either of them are among the best in the series. When I was reading the series the first one I thought was very good was Barrayar which takes place chronologically between those two but was written a few years later.

The series probably reaches its peak about the time of Memory/Komarr/A Civil Campaign.

[RedEyedGhost]

6 hours ago, williamjm said:

The series probably reaches its peak about the time of Memory/Komarr/A Civil Campaign.

I agree with this, with A Civil Campaign being my favorite of the series.  I also agree with your earlier comment that the whole of the series is greater than the sum of its parts.

 

I also really like The World of the Five Gods books.  Can't believe it's been 14 years since I read them.  Really want to read the Penric novellas, but also would like to reread the books before I do that... when I can find the time.

[williamjm]

15 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I also really like The World of the Five Gods books.  Can't believe it's been 14 years since I read them.  Really want to read the Penric novellas, but also would like to reread the books before I do that... when I can find the time.

You probably know this already but the Penric stories are set before Chalion and Paladin (I'm not sure about The Hallowed Hunt) so there wouldn't be any plot requirement to reread them first. However, I can certainly understanding wanting to reread the novels.

[williamjm]

I saw some good news today that there's another Penric and Desdemona story incoming, “The Physicians of Vilnoc”:

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/19809770-penric-8-impending

Bujold does note that some may think the timing may not be ideal:

So, due to its change of context, my tight little medical mystery may seem rather more fraught for some readers than I’d intended. If some would rather not read a plague story, no matter how miniaturized, medievaliod, and fictional, right now, I perfectly sympathize.

[Underfoot]

3 hours ago, williamjm said:

I saw some good news today that there's another Penric and Desdemona story incoming, “The Physicians of Vilnoc”:

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/19809770-penric-8-impending

Bujold does note that some may think the timing may not be ideal:

 

 

I'm excited. I read 6 and 7 in the Desdemona series a couple of weeks ago and it was a bright spot during a dark time. Will happily escape into the world of the five gods again!