Rating: 
Summary: Unsatisfactory
Review: No complaints about adventure and mystery, but somehow the setup feels forced instead of genuine mishap. Almost instantaneously a woman was given the wisdom and perceptiveness that Vorkorsigan and Cazaril acquired in a lifetime. Almost no Chalion couriers noticed the turmoil at a border state. And almost no one called spiritual emergency (or at least alarmed some archdivine) aside from praying for relief. Good for flying-solo heroism; unsatisfactory for plot and world-building.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb storytelling
Review: No longer suffering from the God-induced madness, but sill reeling from guilt and mourning the loss of much of her family, Dowager Royina of Chalion Lady Ista dy Baocia seeks to find atonement. She feels a pilgrimage might provide some solace to her tortured soul so Lady Ista sets forth on a journey.However, her search for inner peace ends when she becomes embroiled in a devious plot that makes her ponder whether the five ruling Gods still manipulate her? Still Lady Ista cannot ignore the threat from Chalion's neighbor Porifors. The Roknari and the evil ones from the Fifth God place Chalion and Ista's ruling daughter in jeopardy with only Arhys dy Lutez and his half brother Illvin struggling to contain the assault. Ista joins the dy Lutez siblings though she may pay the ultimate price with her entrance into the fray. The sequel to THE CURSE OF CHALION (one of the all time great fantasy tales), PALADIN OF SOULS, is a fabulous stand-alone story. The story line focuses on a major but not the prime character from the first book as Lady Ista tries to find solace for the trouble she caused though logically she understands she was a puppet of the Gods. As in the first novel, Lois McMaster Bujold imbues the story line with deep depth that makes her realm see genuine though the non-stop action crowd will feel that slows the pace. Still sword and sorcery readers who relish a world that appears real will appreciate the heroine's quest and demand returns to this magical land from a writer who lives up to her middle name. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Great sequel
Review: Paladin is a great sequel to Curse of Chalion. I would say that it is, in fact, a better book. I was not thrilled to begin the book and find out that McMaster Bujold had abandoned her original characters from Curse and started again with one of the minor characters in this new book. I usually do not like sequels that do that. But really, it is a wonderful book, full of the wry wit that characterized Cordelia in McMaster Bujold's early Vorkosigan books. A wonderful read.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Strong Fantasy from Bujold
Review: Paladin of Souls is Lois McMaster Bujold's latest novel, her third fantasy, and a fairly direct sequel to The Curse of Chalion. It seems that Bujold's energies are now focussed on her fantasy secondary world, centered on the Royacy of Chalion, which has certain similarities to Renaissance era Iberia. At any rate, I understand that her next novel will be another Chalionese book. This seems a good choice -- I liked both The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls better than her most recent Vorkosigan book, Diplomatic Immunity. Paladin of Souls is the story of the Dowager Royina Ista of Chalion, mother of the new Royina Iselle, and widow of the late, cursed Roya Ias. The Curse of Chalion covered the events leading to the lifting of a terrible curse on the royal family of Chalion. Ista, who bore bravely years of living under the curse, with a terrible load of guilt and fear, as well as the burden of a loveless marriage and possession by a god which made her essentially insane, is now free of that. But her family and retainers are very protective of her -- her regained sanity remains in doubt, and she has lived a very circumscribed life. As the book opens she is chafing under what is in essence imprisonment, and she conceives the notion of a pilgrimage, ostensibly to pray for the birth of a grandson, but in reality simply to get out of her household for some time. She recruits, partly by accident, a new attendant who is actually a not very wellborn young woman named Liss,distinguished mainly by her horsemanship (she is a courier); and a priest of the Bastard to guide her pilgrimage: a young, fat, irreverent, and rather lusty fellow. She also accepts the protection of a group of soldiers led by two brothers, Ferda and Foix. What she had hoped would be an interesting journey rather quickly turns dangerous. There are rumors of a great outbreak of demons, and disastrously one soon possesses Ferda. Then they run into a raiding party from the neighboring princedom of Jokona, who are adherents to a (mutually) heretical form of the Chalionese religion. They are rescued by a local nobleman, a great fighter and very handsome man named Arhys. At Arhys's castle, Ista finds a very jealous wife, and a severely ill half-brother, and, worse, indications of more aggression from the Jokonans. All this is surely tied to the infestations of demons ... I thought it quite well done. Ista is an affecting character. The magic system/religion that Bujold has worked out remains interesting and a good source of plot conflicts. Perhaps Ista's powers seem to scale just a little conveniently to match the needs of the plot -- ever a problem with fantasies. But I enjoyed reading the novel, and I was surprised at several turns (if at other times things worked out a bit routinely). It is another fine story from Bujold.
Rating:
Summary: Another Wonderful Story!
Review: PALADIN OF SOULS is not really a sequel to Ms. Bujold's masterpiece THE CURSE OF CHALION, instead it should be considered a companion piece, another part of the Chalion anthology. Why not a sequel? After all it does pick up just three years after the end of CURSE, many of the same characters are found in both, even the story line from CURSE is the basis for PALADIN'S. Sounds like a sequel doesn't it? Amazingly enough it really isn't. To begin with the story center has shifted away from Iselle, Bergon and of course Cazaril to the now curse free Dowager Royina Ista, the mother of the ruling queen. In fact the principal characters from CURSE are rarely mentioned in PALADIN, it is the secondary characters who now become the main protagonists. The story revolves around Royina Ista, now free from her gods induced madness, and her attempt to break free from the confining restrictions imposed by her high station. Into her orbit fall the dy Gura brothers Ferda and Foix (one of my favorite characters from the CURSE) and a courier girl turned lady in waiting, Liss. In fact the twist of focus away from the original characters in CURSE is so dramatic and totally fresh that it becomes a completely new story, admittedly set within the familial universe of Chalion. A wonderful story that is a pleasure to read? Yes, absolutely! Without flaw? No. One of its major problems is the pacing, it is very slow to start, almost ponderous. But after the first hundred pages it starts to click and begins to flow quite nicely. Its second major flaw is the constant delving into the composition and intricacies of Chalion's religion, overly much I think. In CURSE it was touched on just enough to ensure the free and unhindered flow of the story line, in PALADIN it is debated and pontificated enough to where it becomes a trifle bit dull. All in all PALADIN OF SOULS is a wonderful story with interesting characters and an intriguing plot. While not quite as overwhelming as CURSE OF CHALION it is an exceptionally good piece of work that should be a 'must read' for fans of fantasy. You don't have to read CURSE first to appreciate this work but it would help, besides if you haven't read CURSE you have missed one of the best fantasy books published in the last ten years. This one I would rate as HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Bujold's Best Yet
Review: Paladin of Souls is set in a world ruled by five gods. Well, not really ruled, the gods must work through "volunteers". Paladin of Souls is the story of one such "volunteer". That's enough of the plot to get started with. Other than that, know that although it is fantasy it is logical. The characters are more than three dimensional. The descriptions are breathtaking. The writing is beautiful. The action is non stop. The book is a self contained work of art.
Rating:
Summary: A New Look At an Old Sorrow
Review: Paladin of Souls is the second novel in this series, following The Curse of Chalion. In the previous volume, Cazaril is god-touched, becoming the portal by which the Lady takes away the curse. Iselle and Bergon have married, uniting Chalion and Ibra under their joint rule, and Cazaril and Betriz have also married. Iselle ensures that Cazaril can support Betriz in proper style by making him Chancellor, replacing the unfortunate dy Jironal. Ista returns to Valenda to care for her failing mother. In this novel, three years later, the Dowager Provincara has been laid to her rest and the last of the mourners are leaving the castle. Since her mother's death, Ista has felt confined in the castle and feels a need to go out into the world. On an impulsive, she runs out the castle gate and down the road, but soon tires and is overtaken by her keepers. On the way back, she meets some pilgrims traveling to various holy places and decides that she will go on a pilgrimage. She notices a young divine of the Bastard in the party and, when he shows up at the castle as she is preparing to leave, Ista accepts him as her spiritual conductor. Others appear and become part of her party: Liss the courier lass and the dy Gura brothers with their ten Daughter's men. She leaves behind all her old maids in waiting and servants as well as most of her apparel and jewels, choosing to travel incognito and without pomp. All things appear well during the first three days, but later they encounter a bear possessed by a demon, which flies into Foix de Gura when he cuts off the bear's head. Then they almost run into a troop of Jokonan soldiers, who have become lost while returning from a raid on the town of Parma in Ibra, and they flee for safety. Thereafter, she learns that she is becoming a saint of the Bastard. The pilgrimage is really not bringing her much in the way of peace and serenity. This novel is a worthy sequel, continuing the tale of the curse, but very different in focus than its predecessor. It is a sort of belated coming of age or middle-aged reevaluation story, with Ista in the central position. It seems that the lifting of the curse had unforeseen consequences, including an infestation of demons. It changes Ista's life forever, but also brings her unexpected rewards. This novel has an unusual cast of characters, including an animated dead man, a sorcerer dedicated to the Bastard, and a demon-possessed master sorceress and her cadre of sorcerers. There is also a demon-gnawed groom, a demon-possessed horse, and a demon-possessed, strong-willed and foolish young woman. This novel builds upon the previous story, but doesn't require it. I had forgotten almost everything from The Curse of Chalion, yet I was able to follow this one fairly well. Most of it unfolded as Ista learned her new role, casting new light on previous events. However, I now wish that I had re-read The Curse prior to reading this volume. Highly recommended for Bujold fans and anyone else who enjoys magical adventures with an element of mystery and romance.
Rating:
Summary: Another Wonderful Chalion Adventure!
Review: Paladin of Souls picks up three years after The Curse of Chalion, when the dreadful curse that plagued Chalion's rulers was lifted. Dowager Royina Ista is fed up with her padded prison at Valenda and is ready to live again. When her mother finally passes on, the 40-year old Ista seizes the chance to go on a religious pilgrimage around Chalion. Ista is not particularly interested in the gods, as they have so long ignored her prayers, but it soon turns out that the gods are not quite through with her and still need her to accomplish a task for them. Ista tries to resist becoming what she sees as a pawn, but the gods have ways of getting you to cooperate... Ista soon finds herself in Porifors, a fortress on the border of Chalion that has long kept the enemy Roknari at bay. Ista cannot be comfortable there, however, as it is the home of the dy Lutez family, the family that Ista and her husband had so grievously wronged years ago. But comfortable or not, Ista finds herself embroiled in the dy Lutez family's problems and finds herself strongly attracted to both Arhys dy Lutez, the dashing young commander, and Illvin dy Lutez, Arhys' half-brother, who lies still and cold on his bed, stricken with some unknown malady. Seeing her chance to assist the dy Lutez family, as they had tried to assist her while she was the Royina, Ista reluctantly begins using her god-given gifts and finds that there are many sinister plans afoot in this forgotten corner of the Chalion empire... Although Paladin of Souls is a sequel to The Curse of Chalion, it is not a traditional sequel in that the stars of The Curse of Chalion are mentioned only briefly here and the peripheral characters are given a chance to shine. Ista was a wonderful character to get to know and I felt that I understood the choice she made in The Curse of Chalion much better now that I have learned more about her personality. It was also fun to see Ferda and Foix, seen in the first book, pop up again and have a more prominent role. I also loved the fact that Bujold chose to write this story to help give closure to those who were wronged from the curse in the first book, specifically Ista and the dy Lutez family. It does a great job at wrapping up those little loose ends that otherwise would just be left alone. Although I still rated it at 5 stars, The Paladin of Souls is not as good as The Curse of Chalion, but Bujold is such a wonderful author that I loved this book anyway. For whatever reason, I did not connect to the characters as strongly and the story dragged in a few places, but it was still a wonderful fantasy adventure!
Rating:
Summary: A great follow-up!
Review: Sigh...It's so *nice* to finally come across some decent single fantasy books, in these days when so many authors seem to be writing the Series that Does Not End. While set in the same world, this book is *not* in the strict sense a sequel to CURSE OF CHALION; it is a stand-alone work. Bujold here expands and deepens her world, as well as expanding the theology of her Five Gods in a creative and interesting way. Like in the previous book, Bujold's characterization is fully-integrated and developed--it's so nice also to see a fantasy writer who is not concentrating on children or adolescents; Ista is a middle-aged woman, who has already experienced tragedy and loss, and in a way this book is a story of her healing as much as CURSE OF CHALION was of Cazaril's. Liss is wonderful and I would love to see more of her, as well as Ferda and Foix. Even the young and seemingly frivolous Lady Cattilara demonstrates unexpected depths, as she is shown to be hanging onto her dead husband solely by force of will. Keep up the good work, Bujold, I would not at all mind seeing another book written in this world.
Rating:
Summary: A great follow-up!
Review: Sigh...It's so *nice* to finally come across some decent single fantasy books, in these days when so many authors seem to be writing the Series that Does Not End. While set in the same world, this book is *not* in the strict sense a sequel to CURSE OF CHALION; it is a stand-alone work. Bujold here expands and deepens her world, as well as expanding the theology of her Five Gods in a creative and interesting way. Like in the previous book, Bujold's characterization is fully-integrated and developed--it's so nice also to see a fantasy writer who is not concentrating on children or adolescents; Ista is a middle-aged woman, who has already experienced tragedy and loss, and in a way this book is a story of her healing as much as CURSE OF CHALION was of Cazaril's. Liss is wonderful and I would love to see more of her, as well as Ferda and Foix. Even the young and seemingly frivolous Lady Cattilara demonstrates unexpected depths, as she is shown to be hanging onto her dead husband solely by force of will. Keep up the good work, Bujold, I would not at all mind seeing another book written in this world.
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