A totally satisfying vision of a middle-aged woman driven down by past tragedy who takes up the heroic work of making the world safe from the dangers of enslavement of souls. The character of Ista captured my heart with her charm, wit, and courage, as she almost did for the hero Cazaril in the previous book, “Curse of Chalion” (2001). For this feudal world, Bujold invents a lovely blend of Christian dualism with a Roman-style pantheon of five gods, a system within which saints and demon-infested sorcerers square off over the fate of souls with opposing approaches for melding matter and spirit.Ista, the mother of the current queen, dreams of escaping the emptiness of her protected life and settles on a fake pilgrimage. In the first pages, Bujold builds a pre-condition for her hero worthy of mythological themes identified by Joseph Campbell. Ista’s stultifying life in a provincial capital is punctuated by a series of bubbling thoughts:Who am I, when I am not surrounded by the walls of my life? When they have all fallen into dust and rubble. …I want a road that does not come back. …But how could she gain the road? Roads were made for young men, not middle-aged women. … I am an orphan now, though. Is that enough to qualify me? .It was fun to see her put together an ideal escort, bullying her way past her official protectors to avoid a big retinue of attendants, soldiers, and a distinguished spiritual guide. In her mind she ponders, “What might pilgrimage be like if, instead of dragging a lot of tired guardians out on a road that suited their bones so ill, she could travel with people who laugh? Young people, not brought low by old sin and loss?” A small troop led by two dashing young brothers is enlisted from Cazaril’s forces. A young, scholarly acolyte of the quirky Bastard god is tapped to be her religious guide. A young female courier who is masterful with horses is snapped up to be a combination personal courier and lady’s maid. Many dangers beset their party. She ends coming under the protection of the governing family of a province besieged by marauding Roknari soldiers from a neighboring enemy kingdom. Among them are sorcerers who host demons within their souls. Her host family has a terrible dark secret of their own, which also involves demons. For survival, Ista is forced to learn to how to harness her own special talents in dealing with spiritual beings and in leading people toward effective action. A love story is buried in the rich and rewarding tale of second chances.Bujold works a lot of poetic metaphors into the spiritual order of her world, as introduced early in the book through their priest’s first sermon:From the fire at the heart of the world slowly grew the World-Soul.But the eye cannot see itself, not even the Eye of the World-Soul. So the World-Soul split into two, that it might so perceive itself; and so the mother and father came into being. And with that sweet perception, for the first time, love became possible in the heart of the World-Soul. Love was the first of the fruits that the realm of the spirit gifted back to the realm of the matter that was its fountain and foundation. But not the last, for song was next, then speech. …In their first love for each other they bore the Daughter and the Son, and divided the seasons of the world among them, each with it special and particular beauty, each to his own lordship and stewardship. And in the harmony and security of this new composition, the matter of the world grew in boldness and complexity. And from its strivings to create beauty, plants and animals and men arose, for love had come into the fiery heart of the world, and matter sought to return gifts of spirit to the realm of spirit, as lovers exchange tokens.”…But the fire at the heart of the world also held forces of destruction that could not be denied. And from this chaos arose the demons, who broke out and invaded the world and preyed upon the fragile new souls growing there as a mountain wolf preys upon the lambs of the valleys. While these four gods can only deal with the spiritual realm, the Bastard god is more Christ-like in its blend of matter and spirit:And so was born the last god, the Bastard, love child of the goddess and the great-souled demon. …their Son, of all the gods, was given agency over both spirit and matter, for He inherited as servants the demons that His father’s great sacrifice had conquered and enslaved and so swept out of the world. Despite my focus here, the spiritual system and magical elements involved in negotiating the bleeding edge of good and evil forces at play are not overwrought, as is often the case in classic fantasies like “The Lord of the Rings.” The excitement of the teamwork as a band of “brothers” and creative problem solving during crises made this tale a compelling read for me.
I have to admit my partisanship right up front. I am a dedicated fan of the Miles Vorkosigan books and I loved The Curse of Chalion, which serves as a prequel to this book. Though Paladin stands quite well on its own.The plot is fairly easily summed up: the Royina Ista, a middle-aged widow, decides to go on pilgrimage through the land of Chalion, which feels a lot like a Renaissance alternate-Spain, one that is overseen from the other-worldly realm by five gods, so there are five religious traditions going on here. On the way she and the divine leading her entourage discover that demons have been appearing in the world with disturbing frequency, having escaped from the fifth god’s hell. The pilgrimage is then waylaid by a lost contingent of Roknari warriors from the neighboring kingdom; she is rescued by a swashbuckling horseman who attacks a troop single-handedly. He is Arhys, march of Porifors, a border fortress that has seen far too much action of late.Roknari, demons, and gods tangle up in fast action covering just a span of days, and Ista is squarely at the center.What make the story so rich and readable are Bujold’s strengths as a storyteller, here on confident display. Ista is, like Cordelia Naismith, a grouchy, funny, smart middle-aged heroine, not beautiful, but eminently lovable, even when she is angry and soul-parched and must rediscover love.Besides Ista there are a pair of heroes who ought to please anyone who likes swashbuckling men, and a cast of subsidiary characters none of whom are mere spear carriers or cardboard Greek chorus, all reacting the same way in order to signal the reader what emotional reaction is required.Bujold is not just a master of plot, she is a master of emotion.“I think you left some hard turns out of your tale, too.” But that last remark had the weight and density of a truth too large to be denied. How like a man, to change from mask to mask like a player, concealing all intention, yet leave his heart out on the table, carelessly, unregarded, for all to see.The action is enriched, with grace and wit, by subtle characterization that suggests that middle-aged love can be sexy and romantic, can even be the more powerful because the attraction is backed by experience.But the young characters are not overlooked. One of the most interesting and complex is Arhys’ young wife, who is gorgeous, obsessively in love, and very self-centered. However she too is no one-note character. As the story unfolds, she reveals layers that make her fate impossible to predict.One of Bujold’s strengths is the generosity of spirit that gleams like a vein of gold through even the grimmest wars and immoral actions of the Vorkosigan saga. In the Chalion world, there is plenty of room for emotional conflict, and growth, for moral choice and its consequences.What this fantasy series permits Bujold to explore, as the Barrayaran stories do in a very limited sense, is speculative religion. And she does it with verve and dash.Ista swallowed, or tried to. And prayed, Ista-fashion: or made a prayer of rage, as some claimed to do of song or the work of their hands. So long as it was from the heart, the divines promised, the gods would hear. . .I am not a child, or virgin, or modest wife, fearing to offend. No one owns my eyes now but me. If I have not the stomach by now to look upon any sight in the world, good or evil, beautiful or vile, when shall I? It is far too late for innocence.The gods are not one-dimensional, predictable human analogues. Rare is the light-shaft of numinosity in fantasy these days, despite (maybe because of) vast powers being splashed back and forth across the megaverse by Evial Mages and Goddess-blessed Sorceresses, but Bujold manages it in this novel.“Your Father calls you to his Court. You need not pack; you go garbed in glory as you stand.”This series is generous with action, character, humor, terror, moral as well as physical conflict, emotional complexity, religious questing in the realm of the spirit-—and redemption.
What do You think about Paladin Of Souls (2005)?
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 who does NOT enjoy most of the imitators and pretenders that simply don't have the depth of plot, deeper issues, facility with language, and creation of a fully realized alternate reality I was thrilled to find Bujold a worthy successor to Tolkein and Ursula LeGuin.However, her second book in this loosely associated trio - "Paladin of Souls" took me from thrilled to astonishment. Not at all what one expects in a fantasy, our main character is a middle-aged noble woman, former Royina (Queen-Consort) and now "Dowager Royina" (mother of the current monarch). Only in her mid-forties, she is percieved as having served her purpose and is now no longer useful. In fact, she's considered slightly mad, though the reader will discover that assumption to be quite wrong. Troubled by a recurring dream, she embarks on what is obstensibly a religious pilgrimage, but is frankly an escape from those who would smother her with good intentions but slowly wring the life from her soul.What she finds is remarkable, inspiring and frightening. The book brought me, a grown 40-something man to tears of heartbreak, rage and overwhelming joy on several occassions - and I've heard other men, usually not the type, respond in the same way. It is not a surprise that this book won just about every award a science-fiction/fantasy novel CAN win. The follow-up third book "The Hallowed Hunt", is just as captivating as the first book "Chalion", and though it does not reach the soaring apex of the soul that "Paladin" acheives, it is in no way a letdown. It still has moments of staggering beauty and painful goodness, and brings us back to earth from the heights of the central novel.The grouping is so wonderful that after reading each at its initial publication (2001, 2003, 2005) I have since re-read them twice. The "finish" date is for my most recent reading. I recommend this series even to those who do not generally go for "Grand Fantasy" as this is true Grand Fantasy, NOT a "swords and sorcery" stamped-out rehashed pulp novel. The issues and emotions dealt with here are much more evolved and thoughtful than any pretender to Tolkein's throne could be. Dare I say it, her insight into emotions and motivations is better than that of Tolkein, who did not let us see into the very souls of his heroes and heroines the way Bujold bares the very core of her protagonists.
—John Patrick Schutz
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 old noblewoman who has been fighting her 'god-touched' connection for years.Ista is an interesting, complex female lead that is reaching toward change, even if she isn't exactly sure how to get there. She's had emotional scarring in her past, and years of a cursed "madness" coupled with her status as a royal have kept her wrapped in a cocoon. However, she recognizes this and longs for some unspecified alternative. "The dullness of her life, the stalemate of her soul since then was just long habit." She develops a plan to escape her highly protected life under the guise of a pilgrimage visiting various gods' shrines. It's part of the underlying irony that this is Ista's justification for travel when she secretly hates the gods and their interference in her life.While some events happen to her in the beginning, she begins to take more authority over her choices and decisions little by little, until it is partly her energy and leadership that (view spoiler)[ sustains a large group through a siege. (hide spoiler)]
—Carol.
I was a really big fan of this when I started it. It's an aftermath story of a middle-aged woman, a Mother figure from a previous novel who has already lived through the fire and black magic that lead to the somewhat more typical fantasy-adventure of her daughter's coming of age, marrying the prince, producing an heir and living somewhat happily ever after. This woman, considered mad due to her previous involvement with gods and curses and magic, starts the book not even after those events close, but after the death of her dominating mother. She is suddenly alone, with no obligations or immediate threats to face for the first time in twenty years or more and asks a compelling question:"Who am I, when the walls of my life no longer surround me?"It drives her to run, to change, to Eat, Pray, Love it up high fantasy style. It's awesome at first watching her assert herself and build her own life and find out her strengths and her talents. However, perhaps not unexpectedly, she discovers these talents through stumbling upon a A Situation that must be fixed, which only she can do. Unfortunately, this meant that we largely left the more interesting inner character development and exploration to watch her figure out the rules of magic and theology and demons, interspersed with battle sequences. This is her talent, so it makes sense, but I wish that Bujold had kept more of a balance between the way she started the book and the Quest that the rest of the book became. There were still a few affecting moments here and there, but on the whole the rest of the novel became a more typical sword and sorcery thing that I was far less interested in. It was cool, though, to see the hero of such a tale be a middle-aged, somewhat average looking woman, even if she did have super special powers and spoke to gods. That did seem to be somewhat the point, so well done, mission accomplished. You go girl!It was an interesting experience to read how a typical fantasy hero might be different with twenty years more of experience, a life behind them, and, you know, being a woman, a mother, and one who had made a lot of mistakes and specifically NOT been a hero before. There were decisions that the heroine made that someone without those things would not have (her relationships with her love interest and his brother, her dealings with her former "keepers", and especially her dealings with the other female character with the most screen time). I wish we had spent more time on that aspect of things, though, rather than on the more typical action sequences, magical rules and world building that I could encounter elsewhere. Bujold created a cool thing here, I just wish she'd spent more time making the most out of it, rather than driving home the point of how much this thing is like the other.In any case, an enjoyable read with an interesting premise that is pretty solidly written throughout. Just not as unique as I thought it would be at the start. Or maybe it's just that I have still only rarely encountered an action sequence that did not make my eyes glaze over if it lasted more than a few pages. That could be it, too. I'll take some of the blame for my less than stellar rating on this one.
—Kelly
