I acquired this last week as part of my book-buying excursion, and then I decided to reread it, since it's a new addition to my library that I had read only once before, last year, as part of my Hugo-winner quest. Lois McMaster Bujold has won four Hugos for best novel, three for books in her Miles Vorkosigan science fiction stories, one for Paladin of Souls, the follow-up to The Curse of Chalion. Since she had won so many awards for noncontiguous storylines, I decided to just read all of it in order, digesting the Hugo winners along the way. I generally liked the stories and characters, and I certainly appreciated what she was trying to do with the science fiction. She's exploring an extremely patriarchal (sexist!), militaristic (ableist!) society from the perspectives of an extremely capable, strong female outsider (Cordelia, the mother of Miles) and a physically disabled young man (Miles Vorkosigan) while subverting the hero tropes of traditional space operas. She certainly has a way with dialogue, some fascinating ideas that she explores, and a great sense of the comic. But the books that won Hugos were by no means my favorites: Barrayar, The Vor Game, and Mirror Dance. Well, okay, maybe Barrayar. But the dinner scene in A Civil Campaign has to rank as one of the most memorable in my experience.

But on to the fantasy series. Once again, while I liked Paladin of Souls okay, I preferred The Curse of Chalion. The protagonist, Lupe dy Cazaril, or Caz, is limping home a broken man. Well, he doesn't really have a home anymore, so he's hoping to find refuge in the home of the patron of his youth. He used to be a lord and knight but most recently was a slave. The widow of his former patron takes him in, sees his potential, and appoints him to tutor her granddaughter, a member of the royal family. Soon enough he is caught up in larger events involving his old enemies, court intrigues, and even the gods. Once again, good characters, interesting ideas, lots of action in the plot, nice dialogue. The things that make this book stand out: the limits of human endurance and discovering that they are much further than dreamed possible, the wisdom and perspective that comes with age and a life rich in experience, growing into leadership and understanding the dynamics of power, the strength of personal integrity to survive hardship and find the right path, the relationship between the divine/spiritual and the material planes and differences in theology and how they connect to cultural differences. The downsides: everyone's white, so no real racial diversity though some cultural diversity; most of the key players including the protagonist are men. The upsides: every woman character is strong and unique, even the ones that appear weak at first; some of the characters are gay--it is in fact a point of cultural/theological difference and a key plot element. And it is a very realistic portrayal of the emotional and physical damages that accumulate in war and servitude. The hero suffers but still succeeds in the end. ( )

An intreging story set in a complex world.: In The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold considers a variety of relisous questions regarding the nature of sainthood, of demons, and of God. Her characters are personable and interesting and the delemas they face are compelling.

Honestly, this book was really slow going at first. I think it's about a third of the way through the book that things actually start to happen. That doesn't matter, though, because the main character is empathetic, charming, and behaves like an actual person. He doesn't do things because it's heroic, he does them because they're the things he thinks he needs to do. It's a fine distinction.Once the book gets going, you'll probably have difficulty putting it down. One of the best fantasy novels I've read. ( )

The best of Bujold's outstanding body of work. Cazaril is 'Miles grown up'; Chalion is a realistically detailed country reminiscent of medieval Spain; the religious context is intriguing, and the doctrinal concept that Caz 'volunteered for his assignment' is sound. ( )

This book is part of my effort to read all joint Hugo/Nebula Award winners. While this particular novel did not win the awards, it’s sequel, “Palladin of Souls” did. I thought it best to read part one before taking on part two.

That having been said, I’m not sure I’ll proceed to “Palladin”. This genre, medieval fantasy, is not my favorite. While I thoroughly enjoyed J. R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire (at least the first three installments), I found this to be far less effective. The setting of “Curse” is the Spanish medieval kingdom of Chalion. Many of the characters, titles and place names are heavily influenced by the supposed Spanish setting, which I found only slightly confusing. More troublesome is the complete absence of any kind of map. Whenever an author creates a world and frequently refers to geographic settings and various competing principalities and kingdoms, how can you fail to include a map?

Again, making allowances for my general aversion to fantasy, this book was preferable to other works of fantasy which include magicians, elves, dwarves and dragons, in a cheap ripoff of Middle Earth. There is heavy emphasis on religion and spirituality, and a backdrop of magic that doesn’t consume the story until a sequence near the end that just gets silly.

All in all, probably a winner for medieval fantasy wonks, though as stated, I’ve read better in the genre. I suspect I’ll proceed to “Palladin”, but more so from an obsessive compulsive desire to cross it off the Hugo/Nebula list than for any great need to see this story through. ( )