The Curse of Chalion

Bujold is a master of the flawed character and the deep, value driven plot. Here she produces one of her best works. Gods are real but not as you might like them but more believable. The hero is a real hero, but doesn't look or feel like one, to anyone. You have to learn a great deal to begin to see it... and the journey is not just interesting but really impressive. I'll avoid plot spoilers because it was such a joy to discover this work of art.It has a sequel (Palladin of Souls) and others in the same world (Penric's Demon, Hallowed Hunt) that are also brilliant. This stands alone perfectly well, and is perhaps the best of them.STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

I was lent this book back in 2001 when it first came out and, though enthralled by it, had unfortunately forgotten the name of the author and the title. Fortunately it turned up in my recommendations so bought a used copy.( Sadly, although the next volume of the Chalion books, which won an award,has been reprinted this one has not.)I was so glad I did. Lois McMaster Bujold plunges you into the realm of Chalion which is beautifully realised and completely coherent. Unlike many sword and sorcery fantasies this is brilliantly characterised, multi layered, subtle, believable and unexpectedly humourous. The intrigue, violence and unexpected twists in the plot make this a very satisfying read from the first moment of meeting Cazeril trudging his way along along a muddy track to the unexpected resolution.The three Chalion books seem to be a complete departure from her usual oevre for this author. I have read a few of the Vorsakian books and they are not to my taste, but for anyone who likes Guy Gavriel Kay's work the Curse of Chalion is highly recommended.

The Curse of Chalion is one of the best fantasy novels of the latest years. It belongs to that rare category, which also contains Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, C.S.Lewis' Perelandra, Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz, or Anderson's Orbit unlimited, which combine an interesting adventure plot with important ethical dilemmas and deep questions about the nature of man and God.In this novel, as deftly crafted as her Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold has pushed further the bounds of subcreation (as defined by Tolkien in his paper On fairie stories). She presents us, not just a coherent imaginary universe, but even a strange God, which rather than three persons displays five. However, under the superficial differences, this God is not unrecognizably different from the one we have heard about (I don't dare say that we know).Cazaril, the hero, is clearly a figure of Christ: his death becomes the rent between the worlds, through which one of the divine persons enters the world of matter to lift the curse of Chalion, a kind of original sin. He is even, in some sense, resurrected. This parallel, however, does not push the story out of its logical lines, but is smoothly embedded in it. In fact, one could say, it is the other way around: the story pushes the message and makes it take the appropriate form for the world being described, in a show of the literary masterly of the author.The book is interspersed with pearls worthy of being remembered. The following are a few of them:To a man of certain age... all young ladies start to look delightful. It's the first symptom of senility.[God] does not grant miracles for our purposes, but for [His purposes].Prayer, he suspected... was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all the same.Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure.[God is] on our side... can we fail?... Yes... and when we fail, [God does] too.

I read a lot of science fiction and it is of vary variable quality. I never bother with sword and sorcery as they just seem a little ridiculous a lot of the time especially with the cod-mediaeval stuff often used. However I have become a devotee of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan sagas. They contain regular SF mechanisms and happenings but mostly deal with real people in believable situations, working their way through to an understandable fruition. With this delight in her writing I sought to try her S&S work rather expecting to be disappointed. But not at all. No, not at all. Her writing is very similar to her Vorkosigan books and although the tribulations of her protagonists are because of, or dealt with, by more mystical means these people are real, believable and fascinating. I'm only halfway through this book but will be ordering more to make sure I don't miss out on the sheer joy the reading brings.

I discovered Lois McMaster Bujold a long time ago reading "The Vor Game", and have been a fan ever since. I'd long imagined I was in a minority until I recently discovered she seems to have won more awards in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres than pretty much any other author. And not surprisingly to my way of thinking.The Curse of Chalion is fantasy rather than space opera, but it is still pure joy from start to end, for Bujold is as deft at one as the other. Gods and magic play their part but this is an adventure about people. The heroes are suitably flawed and the villains wicked but in a believable way. Written with pace and leavened with sly humour, it gets the pulse racing and the pages turning.You may not come away from reading this feeling intellectually elevated, but you should have a smile on your face and feeling of well being.