Product Description

Lois McMaster Bujold has won the Hugo award four times, and the Nebula award twice. This is her second epic fantasy and the sequel to Curse of Chalion. The Golden General's curse has been lifted from the royal family and Cazaril can now rest easy and enjoy his new life with his bride Betriz. However, life for Ista, the Dowager Royina has not improved. With the death of her mother, the Provincara, and with her surviving child Iselle now ruling Chalion from the Capital Cardegross, she is left without purpose. Her brother's family still think she's mad and aim to keep her locked up safely to avoid embarrasment, but she craves freedom and escape and begins to plan how this may become reality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109781 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

Review
"Fresh, intriguing, and as always from Lois McMaster Bujold, superb." Robert Jordan, New York Times best selling author of The Wheel of Time Series "Bujold continues to prove what marvels genius can create out of basic space operatics." Booklist "This is one of the great ones." Science Fiction Chronicle

About the Author
Lois McMaster Bujold was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1949. She started writing in 1982, and sold her first story to Twilight Zone in 1985. Her fourth novel, Falling Free, won Lois her first Nebula. The Mountains of Mourning also went on to win both Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novella of 1989, and The Vor Game and Barrayar won Hugos for best novel in 1991 and 1992. All her titles have been translated into fourteen languages (so far). She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota,with her two children, Anne and Paul.

Customer Reviews

No fur bik' inis!
None of the reviews of this book so far do it justice. If you've given up on fantasy because it's all the same, and it's full of women in fur bikinis or red-haired heroines with violet eyes, or kitchen boys who happen to have misplaced their kingdoms or - even worse - characters with random apostrophes in their names (Robert Jordan please step forward) - then you must give this book a try before you desert the shores of fantasy for ever.

'Paladin of Souls' is an emotionally resonant, gripping, and yet gently domestic fantasy. Ista, the protagonist, is not a typical heroine. She is a mature woman who believes her life is behind her, her family think she is mad and she knows she has committed a desperate and dammning sin for which she has yet to forgive herself. It's easier for reviewers to get to grips with Cazaril's tale in the previous book 'Curse of Chalion; his sacrifices and drives are more easily understood in terms of standard fantasy heroics, though none the less exciting and absorbing. I think Ista would be amused at how little understanding of her narrative the previous reviews show.

In the everyday piety of the realm of Chalion, Ista's rage and despair against her gods and against the restrictions of her life mark her out for a spectacular, deeply moving experience of being pushed, tugged and cajoled toward a new destiny, but it is made clear to her that she can choose for herself, to reject or to accept. Her encounter with a - literally - godforsaken individual closely connected with the most dark deed of Ista's life, is the catalyst for Ista to choose.

Don't be put off - one need nor be religious in any way to be gripped by the emotional undertow of the fight against depression and despair vying all the time with the mordant humour and spritely intelligence of Bujold's heroine. The nature of Bujold's world- building for Chalion has a particular form based on the beliefs of the inhabitants and the existence of absolute beings. It's not in any way offensive or intrusive.

I urge you to read this novel - it's really one of the best fantasy novels I've read in ages.

Paladin of Souls
McMaster Bujold is a master of science fiction; in this sequel to the Curse of Chalion she shows that she is also a master of fantasy. Instead of spectacular sorcerous powers attributed to the main characters, an intricate system of five gods is behind the magic in this world. In this book, middle-aged, cynical, mad (?) dowager royina Ista makes a journey of growth and self-discovery comparable to any coming-of-age theme in other books - and oh, so much more interesting! Although not a feminist utopia, there is more room for female heroism in this world, and a more gender embracing and un-hypocritical religion than most. The book develops more evenly than its predecessor, with as prominent characters, and some surprising turns. It also features a happy ending, and an emerging love story, which may be offensive to some readers. A general theme in Bujold's books is the physically weak hero/heroine - but none of them is painfully pathetic, like Covenant the unbeliever, or similar characters. More in the inspiring vein - we can be heroes, too! Perhaps this is Harry Potter for adults, with political intrigue instead of boarding school injustice? (And we will still read Harry Potter ...)

Bujold continues a winning formula
This is just a fabulous book. Read it, even if you don't like fantasy. The characters are well-drawn and utterly believable, and the religious and cultural system is consistent. It helps to have read the first book, Curse of Chalion, which gives more of a background, but it's not necessary (though it, too, is a great read). All in all, thoroughly recommended.