This dual Hugo/Nebula Award winning fantasy novel is a sequel to Curse of Chalion. In my effort to read all dual award winners, I felt it best to read Curse of Chalion prior to Paladin of Souls. I was so underwhelmed by the first novel in the series, that I delayed tackling the sequel for several months. Simply put, medieval fantasy, with a Spanish twist is not my cup of tea.

That having been said, I found this to be an improvement over Curse of Chalion. The story revolves around a peripheral character in Curse of Chalion, the Dowager Royina Ista. There is abundant mysticism and theology in addition to demons, sorcery and direct involvement of Gods (there are five gods in Chalion). These things all detract from my enjoyment of what actually became quite a good story. From a slow start, the book built into a fine read in which various plot lines were pulled together quite well.

I cut my teeth on Lord of the Rings as a junior high school student. As a result, at a young age, I read tons of fantasy, only to be disappointed by the numerous cheap ripoffs of LOTR. I dropped fantasy altogether for almost 20 years before reading George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Subsequent forays into the fantasy realm have been largely disappointing, however. I cannot abide stories involving dwarves, elves, ogres, goblins, sorcerers or “otherworldly” beings or happenings. While this novel contains healthy doses of some of these, the underlying story makes it palatable.

In summary, if you relish medieval fantasy, read J.R.R Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series (up through book three). Bujold’s series simply doesn’t measure up, though adherents of this style of fantasy will certainly find it to their liking. ( )

Another great Bujold book: From some of the early reviews mentioning that this diverted from most of the characters in "The Curse of Chalion" I was prepared to be a little disappointed since I enjoyed "The Curse of Chalion" so much... however, this has the same quality of writing, characters and plot twists as the other. One thing I enjoy about her writing is that they're never predictable. You can't guess where the plot will be going next. (though it works - she doesn't go off in the weeds just to be unpredictable) I really enjoyed it and I'd highly recommend it to others who enjoy Bujold books.

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 with the guilt she felt over her ancient murder/accident. She has a lot of guilt, you'd think she'd welcome any effort on the part of the gods to change that. To change anything about her current, ultra-boring life.

All the browbeating and general grumping about are finally done away with in the last 50 pages, but geez, it's just too late. 450 pages, lady! You could have done this story in 250 pages with no problem. It shocks me that it won the Hugo and the Nebula. "The Curse of Chalion" was so much the better book. I suppose that's like Whoopi Goldberg winning for "Ghost" instead of "The Long Walk Home."

I found the humor in the last 50 pages welcome, although I know others who were irritated by making a harsh situation comedic. Well, that's the Bastard for you, no? ( )

Dowager Royina (Queen Mother) Ista is a prisoner of her position and past. Driven mad by desperation and the Gods, Ista regained herself as the result of events in a previous book. There are only subtle indications that there is a whole other novel preceding this one - the exposition of the necessary events is handled very, very well.

Ista seizes her chance at a semblance of freedom by traveling under the guise of a pilgrimage, though she's not fooling everyone. On the way, she once again finds her situation being manipulated by the Divine. Now, she must choose between the good of her people and her desire to get out of the affairs of gods. It turns out to not be that hard a decision, just a hard one to live with.

Ista is a very engaging protagonist, with her rage at the gods, rage at not being able to control her own destiny, and intense desire to just live her life damn-it. She moves from her sense of imprisonment to her sense of unwelcome destiny, to peace with herself in a bumpy, contentious, organic fashion.

Ista's story functions within an occult and geopolitical plot, weaving the whole into a more-complex-than-usual quest/adventure fantasy, as her pilgrimage is interrupted by a raid from a neighboring country, in which she is captured, and an increase in demonic presence. The usual magic powers, fate-of-the-kingdom fantasy plot is rendered something more layered than that by the fully-fleshed characters, interesting sub-plots (doomed!romance, and not Ista's), the divinity in question (or several of them), and the interaction of all these.

The cast of Divine characters is particularly interesting, especially with the creation of The Bastard. He walks on, He walks off, He laughs and enjoys Ista's rage at Him and His interference. Besides playing an active role in the primary plot, The Bastard acts as thematic touchstone and bratty superior.

And besides, how many middle-aged, female, adventure protagonists do we usually get? And one that has agency,besides? Ista is fed-up, not gonna take it anymore, and she's a joy to read. ( )

This is as good or even better than curse of chalion. The story follows a character from the first book and the story it weaves is full of humour, suspense and adventure. The characters develop throughout the book and it is joy to read. ( )