Unexpectedly captivating.

I'm a longtime fantasy reader, but I've gotten tired of the current crop of twenty year old heroines, the descriptions of their clothes, their vague struggles with boyfriends, and the development of their special powers. Even if coming-into-one's power storylines are set with werewolves and vampires, a certain uniformity starts to develop. Paladin does something I never expected in an epic fantasy; she's written a thoughtful coming-of-age story focused on a forty-year o More...

Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS FANTASY list.

As the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners list treated me so kindly, I figure I’ll trust those same good folk to pick me some stars in their sister-list, the Locus Fantasy Award winners.

While I was predominantly reading my way through every winne More...

A blurb on another Bujold novel I was looking screamed "Bujold at the height of her powers!". Very cheesy, but maybe true. And that also applies to Paladin of Souls. "Bujold at the height of her powers", then.

It´s so good, so well written and plotted out, thought out and thoughtful, a convincing feminine perspective on fantasy with an original take on theology. A nice story well told, the work of an author who acquired and sharpened all necessary skills for the writing of a story before writing More...

I love this book. I love Ista. I love her sense of humor, and I admire her strength and forbearance. I love watching her warm up and fill up over the course of the book.

I love how the worldbuilding is just so natural and easy, and how complete and interesting it is. I love the theology.

I love how she tackles the themes of redemption, grace, forgiveness, guilt, sin, failure, the relationships of gods with their creations, power and impotence, selfishness, aging, death and dying, finding a sense o More...

I loved this even more than the first book in this world, The Curse of Chalion--and I loved Chalion a lot, which was my first book by Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold was well known before these high fantasy works for a science fiction series, the Vorkosigan Saga. And after her fantasy I turned to those and loved them, but Chalion was first, and she wrote there as if high fantasy was her first language. She had a gift for creating a world that didn't feel off the shelf. Her deities feel like they ha More...

Exciting, philosophical, excellent character and world-building. I found myself yearning to talk to someone about this book--it really incites thought.

How good is this?

I read it in 24-hours, devoting every spare moment to it. It helps that it was a Sunday, when I had more time, but I did ignore normal chores this morning in order to dash to the conclusion.

I admit that I was a bit dismayed to find myself in Ista's company at the beginning of the book. However, her unique past and relationship to the gods yielded a compelling story, especially when coupled with the situation into which she was thrust by war.

I won't say more because part of the More...

One of my favorite books of all time. It took me a little while to transition into McMaster Bujold's fantasy novels (coming from her amazing enormous Miles Vorkosigan Sci-Fi series) but once I got into Chalion, I was hooked.

What I like best about McMaster Bujold is that her fantasy heroes (and heroines) are not straw-haired, starry-eyed farmers nor creatures out of myth or legend- she writes about tired adults, beaten down by the daily tragedies of life.

In this, her second book set in the kingdo More...

Good enough to stay up late finishing it, but not as good as its prequel "The Curse of Chalion". It may sound like an odd thing to say about a work of fantasy, but the world of Chalion doesn't seem "real" enough to me. Perhaps an even odder complaint, given that one of its main themes is the relationship between gods and mortals, is that there is too much deus ex machina. Lastly, I couldn't shake the feeling that Bujold was a little bored by her main character (Ista)... there wasn't as much spar More...

This indirect sequel to The Curse of Chalion follows a minor character, Royina Ista, and makes her something more. After a lifetime of cruel treatment by the gods and the loss of her husband and child, Ista is bitter and sick of her confinement. The courtiers around her still assume her to be fragile and insane. Therefore, when she insists on a pilgrimage, she's treated with skepticism---but all she wants is escape. However, there are a few things she can't escape: the will of the gods, and the More...

Like the first book in the series, this one has a riveting plot, compelling characters, thorny questions to ponder, and is just as satisfying on the second reading as the first.

Characters who played minor supporting roles in the first book of the series take the lead here, with the central cast of the first book receiving only casual mention. It fits the story better than if the author had given in to the temptation to provide us with a parade of cameo appearances, but I dearly hope that the aut More...

A sort of sequel to Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls follows Ista, one of the more minor characters in the first book as she tries to break out of her constrained, controlled and rather sad life. Ista was accused of being mad in Curse of Chalion. She wasn't and in fact had the god's gift of second sight; but the label stuck, and she was never able to shake it off.

On the death of her mother, Ista decides to escape from the constraints of her life and goes on a pilgrimage. She is accompanied by More...

Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin of Souls ist der zweite von drei Romanen, der in der Welt Chalion spielt. Die Autorin hat eine komplette mittelalterlich anmutende Welt mit einer eigenen Religion erschaffen, deren Basis fünf Götter sind, einer für jede Jahreszeit und ein fünfter (durchaus doppeldeutiger) Gott namens Bastard. (Wikipedia führt sogar einen Artikel über dieses Glaubenssystem... - wobei dabei die Frage ist, ob das mehr über den Wert von McMaster Bujold oder wikipedia aussagt.)
Auf Engli More...

Paladin of Souls is, just like Curse of Chalion, a book I read many years ago and reread recently.

Our protagonist this time is Dowager Royina Ista, who featured in Curse of Chalion. Despite the fact the curse has broken, life has not improved for Ista in the intervening time. Her family still think her mad, and are on the way to essentially locking her up for 'her own good,' and to avoid potential embarrassment. She uses the premise of a pilgrimage across the countryside to get some freedom, des More...

If Lois McMaster Bujold did nothing else, her creation of the deity known as the Bastard would place her in the "must read" category. You don't need to read parts 1 and 3 of this series -- Paladin of Souls stands alone quite well. Ista, the protagonist, sets out on a spiritual pilgrimage just to get away from the dreadful life she'd been stuck in. The most unlikely spiritual advisor elbows his way into the group and they sally forth to seek diversion and instead find their own spiritual centers. More...

As always when I'�ve devoured, I am overwhelmed with sorrow when it is done. Makes me wonder why I read sometimes, when the completion of that first innocent read grieves so.

What done already. But I’m not ready to leave yet.

I contemplate the fall. And more importantly, Lois McMaster Bujold’s new book, The Paladin of Souls. A middle aged heroine, her children one married, one dead, husband died, lastly parent died. What now? What purpose? Not old. Not young. What then?

Lois inserts our heroine in More...

Dear Lois McMaster Bujold,

My introduction to your writing was with The Warrior’s Apprentice. It was where I started my search to learn about this Vorkosigan saga thing. Sorry Lois, I did not get it. I just could not see what all the hoopla was about. I gave you another shot. I had no desire to move on through the series. You seemed like a nice enough lady, though, so I tried The Curse of Chalion. OMG, you blew my socks off. I absolutely loved the story and the Cazaril in particular. I could not More...

I loved this book. It's the first Bujold I've read, and it was recommended to me when I expressed a wish for more fantasy and SF books with women protagonists who are NOT young, beautiful, sassy, snarky, and trying to choose among multiple sexy suitors -- these days, usually vampires or werewolves. I wanted to see a protagnist more like me. The person who recommended it also knows that I'm at a difficult point in my life, having spent the last eight years fully focused on caring for someone else More...

Book Review: 3 Treasure Boxes

Demons are running rampant and unbalancing the world, so the God's decide to send in an unlikely heroine to set things right. This is Ista's story, she had a brief appearance in The Curse of Chalion and at that time came across quite mad. This book takes place several years after the end of the first book and we come to realize, she was not mad, but instead God touched and suffering after making a couple of disastrous decisions. Ista has decided to go on a pilgrimage More...

Quite possibly the best fiction I've read in a decade. I was always fond of Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan Series" of Science-Fiction books - always rollicking good fun while having deep underlying issues that make the reader remember them long after all the action and humor have faded to the background... but when Bujold decided to turn her hand to grand fantasy she found even more.

The first book of this grouping, "The Curse of Chalion" grabbed me from the first page. As a fan of Tolkein wh More...

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Opening line: "Ista leaned forward between the crenellations atop the gate tower, the stone gritty beneath her pale hands, and watched in numb exhaustion as the final mourning party cleared the castle gate below."

Paladin of Souls is the second of the Chalion books. It's not a sequel exactly, although we do get a few mentions of the main characters from the first book. Instead, it follows Ista, Dowager Royina of Chalion and mother to the current Royina, Iselle. Most people More...

First impressions were not favorable. I grew bored and I found my eyes wandering over the pages and there were times I was about to put down the book and go "well, maybe later". However, once you get past the hurdle of the first fourth/fifth of the book, then things picked up and became interesting and I was suddenly rather glad I started to read Paladin of Souls when before I was somewhat regretting my reading choice.

I went to reading Paladin of Souls without reading the first book in the Chal More...

Even though I don't enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold's science fiction, I liked her Curse of Chalion so I decided to try Paladin of Souls and liked it a lot, with some reservations.

At the start of Paladin of Souls, Dowager Royina Ista's mother has just died, leaving her with no other duties or real bonds to fulfill. Her family has been keeping her in seclusion for ages because of her "madness," which came from being god-touched. Years ago she tried something on the god's word that ended in tragedy, f More...

http://tinyurl.com/lqojns

The title doesn't work: a paladin is a warrior, albeit one without armor. Ista is certainly a force to be reckoned with, but a warrior? Nah.

Bujold takes a somewhat minor character from "The Curse of Chalion" and creates a story around her. It's not a stupid thing to do: Ista was enigmatic in the first book, and with a long history of madness and guilt, who could resist using her in another book? I disliked how down in the dumps Bujold made her-- didn't think it quite fit More...

Wow, I really enjoyed this book and am so happy I discovered Bujold. She has a wonderful knack for creating a readable page turning story without it being insubstantial. Her characters are wonderful and flawed and middle aged and they have no clue what they are doing and she plunks them down in a middle of a story that is adventurous and thought provoking.

Paladin of Souls starts about 3 years after the events of her first book set in the Chalion universe, The Curse of Chalion. One of the seconda More...

I liked this book a lot, though I'm not a fan of fantasy except for Tolkien, mostly because the world feels unreal to me. Like this series, set in some time that never existed, when there are castles, armor, and siege engines on the one hand, but other technologies (it's obvious they have printing presses) that don't seem to fit in the same framework. The literacy rate seems far too high. The way men and women interact annoys me, for instance, because it's almost modern but not quite. The fact t More...

This is a well written book, and while not holding my attention so much I loose sleep, makes me want to return to it as soon as possible. The story of a young woman married into the leading royal family, only to find herself chosen by one of the five gods controlling her world. Being young and not having all the facts she ends up killing her husbands best friend and lover. The books starts three years after her husbands death. With her mothers death, her dream directions from one of the five god More...

Ista is the new Dowager Royina of Chalion, due to her mother's recent death. She has been kept in her home by well-meaning servants and her erstwhile steward due to the madness that she overcame in her youth. Now she is ready to leave her castle over the protestations of her keepers : she is going on a pilgimage. To travel she gathers a special entourage including two brother knights, a tomboy lady-in-waiting/courier and a Divine of the Bastard's order ( a monk in their world). As she travels sh More...

A sequel to The Curse of Chalion, this book focuses on the dowager Ista, no longer mad and left at loose ends after the death of her mother. In many ways it's a coming of age story, despite the protagonist being over forty, and reads like one as well, with quite a bit more thought and care put into than one may expect.

Starting roughly at the halfway point of the book I became anxious for the resolution of the plot and puzzles, but felt that it took considerably more time to get through the secon More...