Customer Reviews

Paladin of Souls: A Novel

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3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold since I was entranced by her Miles Vorkosigan series a couple of years ago. She has an interesting way of telling a story, combining fascinating characters with the ability to write action when the story calls for it. I was sure that she could write fantasy as well, and she proved it with The Curse of Chalion. Now, she has written a sequel of sorts, called Paladin of Souls. And once again, she hits the perfect mix.

Paladin of Souls is a sequel only in the sense that the events in the book take place after the previous book. Ista was the mother of two of the main characters in The Curse of Chalion, and she didn't figure that prominently in it. Bujold takes her, a relatively undeveloped character except where the curse was concerned, and gives her a living vibrancy. The reader can see why she went mad before, and why she is still seen as slightly insane. But we can also see the inner workings of her mind, and see why she is like this and how she can sometimes use it to her benefit. When one is touched by the gods, one is not unaffected, and Ista shows that effect. She's in her 40s, most of her family dead and her daughter off ruling the kingdom, and she's bored. She's also one of the only people who know the whole truth of what happened, and what lengths her family had taken to try and remove the curse. The entire book is told from her viewpoint, so the reader also gets to see her reaction to the events and the people around her.

Ista's not the only wonderful character, though. All of the characters in the book are three-dimensional, unless the book doesn't call them to be. There's Liss, the messenger girl who Ista enlists to be her traveling maid (mainly because Liss doesn't treat her like an invalid who will kill herself the first chance she gets). She mixes wonderfully with everybody, demonstrating how uncomfortable she is with the trappings of a royal court, but willing to do anything for Ista. Her two soldiers at arms, Forda and Foix, are loyal to a fault, but also men with their own emotions. Bujold makes great use of them as well, giving Foix a lot to do that a normal man-at-arms wouldn't get. Bujold's great strength has always been her characterization, and it's this skill that makes even the slower parts of the narrative (there are a few sequences that seem to go on forever) interesting in themselves.

The plot of the book is just as good, with Bujold slowly unfurling it as she goes along. Just when the reader thinks it's going one direction, it suddenly turns and goes somewhere else. It starts out as a story of redemption for Ista, and while that ultimately is the point of the story, it redeems some of the other characters as well. The fact that we care about these characters only adds to the strength. Bujold keeps the story flowing, with only the aforementioned slow parts bringing it down just a little. A couple of Ista's conversations with the Bastard (one of the five gods) drag a little bit at times, but the Bastard is such an interesting character that it's easy to forgive.

While the book is not filled with action and is a character-driven one, there are some great sequences that show she can handle fast-paced action as well. Everything is vividly described, and while there is a lot of blood flowing at times, none of it is too grotesquely described. There may be missing limbs, but nothing too outrageous. One thing I thought was a little bit less well-done was the final battle, though. It's a bit confusing at times, with events moving from the physical plane to inside Ista's head and then back again. Overall, however, Bujold does a great job, immersing the reader in the book, and never letting go.

The writing style is simply gorgeous. I read the book very slowly because I was just reveling in it. She captures the gentle humour of the characters along with the metaphysical aspect of the plot, almost making it lyrical. Her prose has really matured since she started with Shards of Honor. Don't race through Paladin of Souls to get to the finish line. Instead, savour it. Take your time and lose yourself.

I haven't read a bad Bujold book yet (there have been a couple sub-par books, but that's only when compared with her other stuff). This is yet another winner. It also almost demands a sequel (and she is writing another Chalion book), but perhaps she'll do what she did this time and go off on another tangent. Wherever Bujold leads, I'll be right there waiting.

David Roy

This is one of those books with so much subtext it could float a battleship. There's a straight story on the top, very plain and not at all simple. Then under that, there's Lois McMaster Bujold with her literary stick stirring up your brain, getting all these odd thoughts to come floating out. As she always does.

On the straightforeward bit, this is the story of a woman who was a minor character from The Curse of Chalion. She's spent the past many years of her life in a deep despair, a depression and suicidal misery caused by a curse and exacerbated once the curse was lifted by the death of her son. She's watched over by kind, loving people who give her no freedom, no privacy and no trust. She has no love; even her daughter is far away and almost a stranger to her, and no prospects of friendship in her situation.

So she goes on a pilgramage, to get out and get away; an excuse but also an invocation of the Gods of Chalion. And as the Curse proved, the Gods of Chalion are listening... The Bastard God answers her with some very interesting problems.

So that's the straightforeward bit. It's how she does it that you have to see, because her writing is so amazing.

PALADIN OF SOULS is not really a sequel to Ms. Bujold's masterpiece THE CURSE OF CHALION, instead it should be considered a companion piece, another part of the Chalion anthology. Why not a sequel? After all it does pick up just three years after the end of CURSE, many of the same characters are found in both, even the story line from CURSE is the basis for PALADIN'S. Sounds like a sequel doesn't it? Amazingly enough it really isn't. To begin with the story center has shifted away from Iselle, Bergon and of course Cazaril to the now curse free Dowager Royina Ista, the mother of the ruling queen. In fact the principal characters from CURSE are rarely mentioned in PALADIN, it is the secondary characters who now become the main protagonists.

The story revolves around Royina Ista, now free from her gods induced madness, and her attempt to break free from the confining restrictions imposed by her high station. Into her orbit fall the dy Gura brothers Ferda and Foix (one of my favorite characters from the CURSE) and a courier girl turned lady in waiting, Liss. In fact the twist of focus away from the original characters in CURSE is so dramatic and totally fresh that it becomes a completely new story, admittedly set within the familial universe of Chalion.

A wonderful story that is a pleasure to read? Yes, absolutely! Without flaw? No. One of its major problems is the pacing, it is very slow to start, almost ponderous. But after the first hundred pages it starts to click and begins to flow quite nicely. Its second major flaw is the constant delving into the composition and intricacies of Chalion's religion, overly much I think. In CURSE it was touched on just enough to ensure the free and unhindered flow of the story line, in PALADIN it is debated and pontificated enough to where it becomes a trifle bit dull.

All in all PALADIN OF SOULS is a wonderful story with interesting characters and an intriguing plot. While not quite as overwhelming as CURSE OF CHALION it is an exceptionally good piece of work that should be a 'must read' for fans of fantasy. You don't have to read CURSE first to appreciate this work but it would help, besides if you haven't read CURSE you have missed one of the best fantasy books published in the last ten years.

This one I would rate as HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

An excellent story, well told, about a middle-aged woman's victory over her demons from her younger years. This book has it all, adventure, romance, mystery, horror, and wisdom. It is refreshing to read a story around a character who models adult behavior, thinking, and self-control. The story is an action-packed, engaging fantasy adventure/mystery replete with magic, demons, and chivalry without the pitfalls of poor writing and generic plots that plague the fantasy genre.

Sigh...It's so *nice* to finally come across some decent single fantasy books, in these days when so many authors seem to be writing the Series that Does Not End. While set in the same world, this book is *not* in the strict sense a sequel to CURSE OF CHALION; it is a stand-alone work.

Bujold here expands and deepens her world, as well as expanding the theology of her Five Gods in a creative and interesting way. Like in the previous book, Bujold's characterization is fully-integrated and developed--it's so nice also to see a fantasy writer who is not concentrating on children or adolescents; Ista is a middle-aged woman, who has already experienced tragedy and loss, and in a way this book is a story of her healing as much as CURSE OF CHALION was of Cazaril's. Liss is wonderful and I would love to see more of her, as well as Ferda and Foix. Even the young and seemingly frivolous Lady Cattilara demonstrates unexpected depths, as she is shown to be hanging onto her dead husband solely by force of will. Keep up the good work, Bujold, I would not at all mind seeing another book written in this world.

Paladin of Souls is the second novel in this series, following The Curse of Chalion. In the previous volume, Cazaril is god-touched, becoming the portal by which the Lady takes away the curse. Iselle and Bergon have married, uniting Chalion and Ibra under their joint rule, and Cazaril and Betriz have also married. Iselle ensures that Cazaril can support Betriz in proper style by making him Chancellor, replacing the unfortunate dy Jironal. Ista returns to Valenda to care for her failing mother.

In this novel, three years later, the Dowager Provincara has been laid to her rest and the last of the mourners are leaving the castle. Since her mother's death, Ista has felt confined in the castle and feels a need to go out into the world. On an impulsive, she runs out the castle gate and down the road, but soon tires and is overtaken by her keepers. On the way back, she meets some pilgrims traveling to various holy places and decides that she will go on a pilgrimage. She notices a young divine of the Bastard in the party and, when he shows up at the castle as she is preparing to leave, Ista accepts him as her spiritual conductor.

Others appear and become part of her party: Liss the courier lass and the dy Gura brothers with their ten Daughter's men. She leaves behind all her old maids in waiting and servants as well as most of her apparel and jewels, choosing to travel incognito and without pomp.

All things appear well during the first three days, but later they encounter a bear possessed by a demon, which flies into Foix de Gura when he cuts off the bear's head. Then they almost run into a troop of Jokonan soldiers, who have become lost while returning from a raid on the town of Parma in Ibra, and they flee for safety. Thereafter, she learns that she is becoming a saint of the Bastard. The pilgrimage is really not bringing her much in the way of peace and serenity.

This novel is a worthy sequel, continuing the tale of the curse, but very different in focus than its predecessor. It is a sort of belated coming of age or middle-aged reevaluation story, with Ista in the central position. It seems that the lifting of the curse had unforeseen consequences, including an infestation of demons. It changes Ista's life forever, but also brings her unexpected rewards.

This novel has an unusual cast of characters, including an animated dead man, a sorcerer dedicated to the Bastard, and a demon-possessed master sorceress and her cadre of sorcerers. There is also a demon-gnawed groom, a demon-possessed horse, and a demon-possessed, strong-willed and foolish young woman.

This novel builds upon the previous story, but doesn't require it. I had forgotten almost everything from The Curse of Chalion, yet I was able to follow this one fairly well. Most of it unfolded as Ista learned her new role, casting new light on previous events. However, I now wish that I had re-read The Curse prior to reading this volume.

Highly recommended for Bujold fans and anyone else who enjoys magical adventures with an element of mystery and romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

"Paladin of Souls" is set in the same world as Bujold's wonderful "The Curse of Chalion". It is not exactly a sequel and the main characters from Curse are mentioned only in passing, but we meet many of the minor characters again and see more of Bujold's fascinating world of Chalion. The sad and tragic Dowager Royina Ista from Curse is the focal character and the reader follows her attempt to regain some control of her life after her years of 'madness'. But the gods aren't quite through with her yet...

A beautiful and moving story. Highly recommended.

Paladin of Souls is Lois McMaster Bujold's latest novel, her third fantasy, and a fairly direct sequel to The Curse of Chalion. It seems that Bujold's energies are now focussed on her fantasy secondary world, centered on the Royacy of Chalion, which has certain similarities to Renaissance era Iberia. At any rate, I understand that her next novel will be another Chalionese book. This seems a good choice -- I liked both The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls better than her most recent Vorkosigan book, Diplomatic Immunity.

Paladin of Souls is the story of the Dowager Royina Ista of Chalion, mother of the new Royina Iselle, and widow of the late, cursed Roya Ias. The Curse of Chalion covered the events leading to the lifting of a terrible curse on the royal family of Chalion. Ista, who bore bravely years of living under the curse, with a terrible load of guilt and fear, as well as the burden of a loveless marriage and possession by a god which made her essentially insane, is now free of that. But her family and retainers are very protective of her -- her regained sanity remains in doubt, and she has lived a very circumscribed life. As the book opens she is chafing under what is in essence imprisonment, and she conceives the notion of a pilgrimage, ostensibly to pray for the birth of a grandson, but in reality simply to get out of her household for some time. She recruits, partly by accident, a new attendant who is actually a not very wellborn young woman named Liss,distinguished mainly by her horsemanship (she is a courier); and a priest of the Bastard to guide her pilgrimage: a young, fat, irreverent, and rather lusty fellow. She also accepts the protection of a group of soldiers led by two brothers, Ferda and Foix.

What she had hoped would be an interesting journey rather quickly turns dangerous. There are rumors of a great outbreak of demons, and disastrously one soon possesses Ferda. Then they run into a raiding party from the neighboring princedom of Jokona, who are adherents to a (mutually) heretical form of the Chalionese religion. They are rescued by a local nobleman, a great fighter and very handsome man named Arhys. At Arhys's castle, Ista finds a very jealous wife, and a severely ill half-brother, and, worse, indications of more aggression from the Jokonans. All this is surely tied to the infestations of demons ...

I thought it quite well done. Ista is an affecting character. The magic system/religion that Bujold has worked out remains interesting and a good source of plot conflicts. Perhaps Ista's powers seem to scale just a little conveniently to match the needs of the plot -- ever a problem with fantasies. But I enjoyed reading the novel, and I was surprised at several turns (if at other times things worked out a bit routinely). It is another fine story from Bujold.

I'm re-reading "Paladin" for the third time in five months and decided to comment on it. Prior to (relatively) minor surgery a few days ago, I needed to pick out a "comfort" book (to borrow Anne McCaffrey's term regarding Lee & Miller's "Korval" series ... another wonderful source of reading pleasure), to get me through it all, and I was a little surprised to find myself reaching for this.

I truly enjoyed "The Curse of Chalion", though I had been prepared to be disappointed that it wasn't more of Miles Vorkosigan's saga -- what an enjoyable surprise! THEN I was prepared to be disappointed with "Paladin" as a sequal -- again, my pesimism was completely unwarranted. Maybe I should let my guard down when it comes to Ms. Bujold -- unlike some authors, she has never disappointed me!

"Paladin" is more introspective than "Curse" ... more of a drawing room "spiritual whodunit" at times. Despite the necessarily slower pace, I love the tangential thoughts that seem to illuminate a lot of my own experiences in life.

Don't get me wrong -- there's plenty of hair-raising fight and/or flight scenes that leave me relieved and exhausted when "we've" made it through.

But there's also more focus on the developing romantic interest for Ista than there was on the subtle growth of Caz's love interest in "Curse". It's lovely to see "poor royina Ista" from the "Curse" have a second chance at life and love ... and have the guts and wit to grab onto it, despite fear of failure.

Thanks, Ms. Bujold for your "get well" gift; I will enjoy it for years to come.

From some of the early reviews mentioning that this diverted from most of the characters in "The Curse of Chalion" I was prepared to be a little disappointed since I enjoyed "The Curse of Chalion" so much... however, this has the same quality of writing, characters and plot twists as the other.

One thing I enjoy about her writing is that they're never predictable. You can't guess where the plot will be going next. (though it works - she doesn't go off in the weeds just to be unpredictable)

I really enjoyed it and I'd highly recommend it to others who enjoy Bujold books.