Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold ISBN: 0-380-81860-4 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (109 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Bujold does it again
Comment: The Miles Vorkosigan series is one of my favorites, so I picked up "The Curse of Chalion" with high hopes. I was not disappointed.
Lois McMaster Bujold has a talent for writing intelligent, witty page-turners, and this novel is among her best work so far.
Cazaril, the protagonist and narrator, has returned to his homeland and the castle where he served as a page after many brutal years as a galley slave. There, the Provincara he once served (now Dowager) gives him a job as tutor to the Royesse Iselle, sister of the heir apparent to the throne of Chalion. This leads Cazaril to intrigue, terror, attempted death magic, sickness, rebellion, and sainthood.
"The Curse of Chalion" is notable in several ways. The story is typical (good vs. evil set in a medieval fantasy world, beautiful and courageous heroine, world-weary old soldier, etc., etc.), but Bujold alters it in subtle ways that make a tired old plot her own. By producing her own set of titles and roles (Castilar, provincar, roya, rather than lord, duke, king), Bujold has moved the focus of the story onto people. The reader can't make any snap judgements about a character but must draw his or her own conclusions. Especially striking is Bujold's treatment of religion. While exotic gods and godesses abound in fantasy, rarely are they treated as they are in "The Curse of Chalion"--as an everyday part of people's lives, for good or ill. These gods do not demand that their followers be mindless slaves; neither are they used by the author as deus ex machinae (please excuse the pun). When the gods intervene here, they do so because that is their will.
Pleasing to a feminist are Iselle and Beatrice (the royesse's lady-in-waiting). They are smart, tough, and brave--but they accept their limitations. In the world of Chalion, women occupy the same role as in our medieval Europe. To have her characters behave as modern women might would have been a mistake on Bujold's part. Instead, there is little insistence on making Iselle the hero of the day just because she is female. The royesse comes across as heroic because she earns our respect.
"The Curse of Chalion" is a fantastic book by a wonderful author. I can only hope that this heralds more fantasy from Lois McMaster Bujold.
Rating: 5
Summary: Brother Cadfael Meets Simon Illyan...
Comment: Lois McMaster Bujold has demonstrated a talent in her many books for having middle-aged characters fall in love ("Shards of Honor", "Falling Free", "A Civil Campaign"). She's also well-known for creating damaged - but not broken - heroes and heroines who pull victory from the jaws of defeat at the last moment. These talents have held her in good stead in her Miles Vorkosigan science fiction series, but they perhaps even serve her better in "The Curse of Chalion", Bujold's second fantasy novel.
Her protagonist, far from being another Miles Vorkosigan, actually reminds me a bit of a cross between Brother Cadfael from Ellis Peters' series of the same name and her avuncular spymaster Simon Illian from the Vorkosigan novels - a kindly, frustrated teacher with a worldly past who follows his cause to and past the point of selflessness. This character is definitely unique, though he shares the same spark of and for life that so many of her other characters have.
The story is one of unexpected boons and dangers, familiar danger (from within and without), intrigue, love and trust. Her world is better put together than many multi-novel series I have read and her religion system is surprisingly well thought out. The narrative is strung together surprisingly well and weaves to a wonderfully well-choreographed ending.
I really can't recommend this novel enough. It's got the political and social cohesion of a George R. R. Martin novel, the heart of an Orson Scott Card novel and the humanity of, well, a Bujold novel. It is, however, it's own unique entity and stands quite well on it's own merits. If you're a Bujold fan that's skittish of her non-Vorkosigan Saga stuff, I definitely recommend giving this a shot. If you're a fantasy fan that's a little wary of reading fantasy from a science fiction author, I also recommend trying it. I recommend this to everyone, really, but I am hard-pressed to think of other types of readers that would need cajoling to read it. "The Curse of Chalion" is simply the best fantasy novel I have read this year. While I look forward to more from the Miles Vorkosigan universe, I hope she returns to this one someday as well.
Rating: 5
Summary: Flawless.
Comment: A perfectly woven mystery within the adventure, and a mystical dimension made far more real than fantasy writers generally do.
 |
Title: Paladin of Souls: A Novel by Lois McMaster Bujold ISBN: 0380979020 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold ISBN: 0743436121 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold ISBN: 0671578855 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: Memory by Bujold ISBN: 067187845X Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold ISBN: 0671578081 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
