Paladin of Souls

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 think she is troubled with madness. In fact, she is haunted by both grief and anger.

Ista is quite a different main character than Iselle. She is older, of course, and less optimistic. She knows that the gods are real and doesn't want them to be--refuses to pray because she thinks she knows the disastrous results of her prayers. Despite her anger, she also has more quietness to her than Iselle.

I very much enjoyed this one, particularly the cast of supporting characters, which was excellent. Learned dy Cabon was a favorite. I'm always on the lookout for connections to other books, especially Megan Whalen Turner (I fully admit that I tend to use that series as a measuring stick for everything else). There's a section about storytelling early on which did actually remind me quite vividly of the various discussions of oral storytelling vs. words on a page in Turner's books:
Ista had heard various versions of the tally of the gods what seemed several hundred times since childhood, but she had admit, dy Cabon's delivery of the old story had the eloquence and sincerity to make it seem almost new again.

The castle section was a little less compelling, but I was pretty invested in the characters by then and didn't really mind. Overall, I greatly enjoyed the book, although I felt like it lacked a little bit of the texture of the first one. Still, Ista's story is carefully balanced between bitterness and hope, between faith and anger and I found it satisfying.

Book source: public library
Book information: Eos, 2003; adult

Previously:
The Curse of Chalion

All of my Lois McMaster Bujold reviews ( )

I think I liked this even more than [book: The Curse of Chalion]. It happens in the same world, but it's a completely different kind of story. ( )

I'm hooked on Bujold. This completely lives up to my expectations after The Curse of Chalion and redeems the Sharing Knife trilogy.

It's a bit slow to start out, since the main characters are the supporting characters in the previous novel, but it had me hooked very quickly.

The plot is a bit slow, but it seems more like a deliberate pacing of the story, rather than the book having not enough action.
One thing I am very impressed by is that none of the main characters are stereotypical. They all seem very real and have their own quirks that make them unique. ( )

I was terribly grateful that the sequel to The Curse of Chalion didn't feature the now all-wise martyr main character from the last book. That would have been terribly dull. As it is, the formerly-crazy, still-bitter main character is much more interesting. Bujold does strong women well. The plot here is increasingly fascinating, and the portrayal of the gods much more intimate - and funnier - than the previous book. How do you draw a woman legitimately screwed over by the gods back into the fold? Send the dirty-joke-cracking bastard brother god to annoy her until she gives in! ( )

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 have a point, and aren't a retread of the Greek Pantheon. It feels a mix of paganism and Christianity in fact. But her greatest gift is for creating characters you care about. And I care a great deal for Ista, a minor character in Chalion who comes into her own in this novel.

I love that she's no young sweet thing but a mature woman with miles on her and plenty of damage. She's a complex strong heroine and this book even passes the Bechdel Test (Two or more woman appear in at least one scene where they talk about something other than men.) In other words, there are interesting secondary women characters too. A fantasy book I consider more than comfort food; it's chicken soup for the soul. ( )