Rating: 
Summary: Awesome writing as usual, from Bujold
Review: The only flaw is that the timid dowager queen turns into Miles Vorkosigan half way through. But what can you do? That's the way heroes operate.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Day, Another Demon
Review: The positively delicious "Curse of Chalion" deserved a sequel. What it got was a caboose. In "Paladin of Souls", a character with a flaw in her history, an honorable heart, and a highly-developed sense of duty is placed in a nearly impossible situation. She rises to the occasion and saves the day. This device has worked well for Bujold in the past (see dy Cazaril and Miles), and it works again here. Throw in a demon infestation and a need for cosmic pest control, add a romantic subplot and some sainthood - oh, wait, we've read this book before. Alas, there isn't enough new material to make the story shine. The fascinating theology of this world is not significantly advanced. Ista's love interest is one-dimensional (not Arhys, who grows to be rather complex; but Illvin, who doesn't display a single negative trait. Bleah.) Not even the political situation actually moves along. And a single great character, no matter how well-drawn, cannot carry an entire book. "Curse of Chalion" was an outstanding book. It set the bar so high, not even its own author could reach it again. If you lower your expectations, you'll enjoy "Paladin of Souls". If you expect a treat like "Curse", all you'll get is the caboose, trundling sadly along after the great train roared by.
Rating:
Summary: Another Day, Another Demon
Review: The positively delicious "Curse of Chalion" deserved a sequel. What it got was a caboose. In "Paladin of Souls", a character with a flaw in her history, an honorable heart, and a highly-developed sense of duty is placed in a nearly impossible situation. She rises to the occasion and saves the day. This device has worked well for Bujold in the past (see dy Cazaril and Miles), and it works again here. Throw in a demon infestation and a need for cosmic pest control, add a romantic subplot and some sainthood - oh, wait, we've read this book before. Alas, there isn't enough new material to make the story shine. The fascinating theology of this world is not significantly advanced. Ista's love interest is one-dimensional (not Arhys, who grows to be rather complex; but Illvin, who doesn't display a single negative trait. Bleah.) Not even the political situation actually moves along. And a single great character, no matter how well-drawn, cannot carry an entire book. "Curse of Chalion" was an outstanding book. It set the bar so high, not even its own author could reach it again. If you lower your expectations, you'll enjoy "Paladin of Souls". If you expect a treat like "Curse", all you'll get is the caboose, trundling sadly along after the great train roared by.
Rating: 
Summary: Really 4 1/2 stars - another winner from Bujold
Review: The royal house of Chalion lived beneath a horrible curse for 3 generations. Ista, the dowager Royina of Chalion, had been given the means to end the curse by the very Gods themselves. But it went horribly wrong and she spent many years with the terrible burden that she was nothing more than a murderess. And the curse remained strong, claiming the lives of her husband and her son. Because of the terrible burden placed on her by the Gods, Ista cursed them roundly and retreated into madness. Thanks to another who was given the means, the curse was lifted and Ista was content to live out the rest of her days quietly. But with the quietness came boredom and the overprotection of her family and retainers. In a desperate bid to escape her velvet prison, Ista enlisted the help of her daughter, the current Royina, and friends to go on a journey around the country side. Under the guise of a religious pilgrimage, Ista undertakes her journey. What promises to be a few months of freedom instead turns into another task for the Gods. For they are not quite finished with Ista yet. Demons have been appearing with a startling regularity and the fifth God, The Bastard, patron of the Demons, wants to welcome them back into his realm. The Gods are all powerful but they can't lift a leaf without a human agent. The God enlists the unwilling Ista and in doing so draws her into to the life of Arhys dy Lutez and the mystery of Castle Porifors. Ista, the reluctant saint, must corral a posse of enslaved Demons and aid a sundered soul in getting back to its God, while also confronting the demons of her own past. This book is a sequel to the also excellent 'Curse of Chalion.' It is not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy the second, but it does help explain some of Ista's sometimes oblique references. I gave this book 4 ½ stars instead of five because the beginning is a bit slow. But once the book hits it stride about 1/3 of the way through, it becomes a serious page turner. I barely recognized poor sad, mad Ista from the first book. In this one she is a serious heroine who is commanding and compassionate. Bujold writes tremendously and just as in the Curse of Chalion, she makes religion another character in the book. While the Daughter of Spring was the main deity in the first book, the Bastard is the main one in this book. And what a deity he is. He has a wicked sense of humor and, as befitting a deity known as The Bastard, he seems somewhat preoccupied with matters of the flesh. And lest you think this book is all about Ista, it really isn't. There are other very fascinating characters such as Arhys the warrior, his brother Illvin who sacrifices a lot to keep his brother alive; Cattilara the steele-willed chatelaine of Castle Porifors; Liss the competent and fearless courier and the brothers Ferda and Foix whom we'd met in the previous book. I hope there are other books in this series because I loved the outcome of this story and would love to visit Chalion and her people and her Gods again.
Rating:
Summary: Poetry in prose
Review: This companion piece (as one of the reviewers below said so well) to The Curse of Chalion is an absolute gem. The prose is sparkling, poetic, and succinct. The story flows at a wonderful pace, with no annoying "back on the other side of the world" flashbacks or time pauses. The concepts explored, the characters built, the humor and multi-faceted views of the world and those in it: all these wonderful elements add up to a story to savor, one that ends too soon, one that haunts for weeks afterwards and still tugs at the heart strings. A wonderful read and an enchanting talent. I certainly hope Ms. Bujold returns to this world and its characters and stories. Thanks, ma'am, for a wonderful read!
Rating:
Summary: Good read for "Chalion" fans
Review: This is a follow-up to Lois McMaster Bujold's excellent fantasy, "The Curse of Chalion" (2001). Either book can be read independently, but interested readers are strongly advised to read "Chalion" first. Dowager Royina Ista (mother of Chalion's current ruler) was thought mad in the days of the Curse of Chalion, and has been confined for years in her own mother's castle. With the death of her aged mother, Ista feels a desperate need to escape the castle -- or she really may go insane. And she has guilt to expiate which is connected with Chalion's curse. The solution? Ista will undertake a pilgrimage, travelling around the countryside and stopping at holy sites. The world of Chalion is inspired by 1400's Spain. But Bujold has created a unique, well-thought-out religion: the people worship five deities, who are entwined with the seasons and daily life. The first part of "Paladin of Souls" deals with the religion, customs, and physical description of the country, as Ista and company begin the pilgrimage. Readers are also treated to the latest news about the lives of characters from the first book (which would constitute spoilers if you haven't already read that book). "Paladin" does not have the immediate hook that "Curse of Chalion" did - the character of the broken man who, to his own astonishment, starts to come back to life. Ista is a sympathetic character, but her plight is not as compelling. The first magical thing in "Paladin" happens in the fourth chapter. "Curse of Chalion" had a nice balance of vivid characters, action, political intrigue, religion-based magic and a dash of romance. "Paladin" does have action and intrigue (a mystery involving two brothers). Some fun characters from the first book return, and Bujold introduces lively new people (notably Liss, the young female courier). But there is a great focus on religion-based magic. Too many people suffer from, or are trying to wield, demons. There are too many manifestations of the gods. (In the first book, such things were rare, which made them all the more powerful.) The book is still a good read, especially for those who loved the first book and long to return to the world of Chalion. There are flashes of humour, as when a lady-in-waiting plies a needle "as narrow as, though rather sharper than, her mind". One cavil: borders are very important in this book. Even more than in "Curse of Chalion", a map of this world is needed.
Rating:
Summary: Competent
Review: This is a solid fantasy novel. The base of the plot is conventional but developed in greater detail than most such books. Bujold has created a world in which the supernatural directly contacts the material world and develops a mythic-theological structure in a fairly rigorous way. The plot itself is based on a clever combination of the sleeping beauty and doppelganger stories. The main character undergoes a trial that is an act of personal redemption that mirrors a prior mistaken action. The quality of writing, however, is not outstanding. Some aspects of the story resemble a romance novel and sections are redundant. Another defect is that this book is a sequel and reading the prior book, The Curse of Chalion, is necessary to understand the background and characters in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Coming back from despair
Review: This is one of those books with so much subtext it could float a battleship. There's a straight story on the top, very plain and not at all simple. Then under that, there's Lois McMaster Bujold with her literary stick stirring up your brain, getting all these odd thoughts to come floating out. As she always does. On the straightforeward bit, this is the story of a woman who was a minor character from The Curse of Chalion. She's spent the past many years of her life in a deep despair, a depression and suicidal misery caused by a curse and exacerbated once the curse was lifted by the death of her son. She's watched over by kind, loving people who give her no freedom, no privacy and no trust. She has no love; even her daughter is far away and almost a stranger to her, and no prospects of friendship in her situation. So she goes on a pilgramage, to get out and get away; an excuse but also an invocation of the Gods of Chalion. And as the Curse proved, the Gods of Chalion are listening... The Bastard God answers her with some very interesting problems. So that's the straightforeward bit. It's how she does it that you have to see, because her writing is so amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: A new novel from a master storyteller doesn't measure up
Review: This long-awaited sequel to Curse of Chalion just doesn't measure up to Bujold's usual well-crafted prose. The story was interesting but it just didn't flash with her unique voice. A disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome Back to Chalion
Review: This pleasant sequel to The Curse of Chalion contains all the hallmarks of the Lois McMaster Bujold style -- an underdog protagonist with unexpected strength, extremely engaging characters, three-dimensional villains, witty and epigram-laced writing so good you want to read it aloud to somebody, and clearly written action concerning a situation that starts out fairly complicated and gets a lot worse, and more complex, before it gets any better. As usual, Bujold is compulsively readable. I think if she wrote VCR owner's manuals, I'd stay up past midnight turning their pages. However, this is a lesser work than her previous novel in the same setting. I think this is the nature of the setting she picked. Readers of the past book have gotten the message, which was well-hidden until the end, that if you trust Chalion's gods and do what you know you ought to do, the gods will make sure things turn out okay in the end. Curse of Chalion contained mixed blessings that made the gods seem mysterious and mercurial, but here, the gods speak to the protagonist face to face and whenever she gets into too much trouble, they give her another superpower that can get her out. Also, readers of the previous book, knowing you get into more trouble ignoring the gods than taking their (admittedly oblique) advice, may be as miffed as I was at the protagonist for her perverse insistence on doing things the hard way no matter how many others suffer. Okay, I got that out of my system. Now, don't let it stop you from reading the book. This isn't the VCR manual I said I'd read if Bujold wrote it. It's a fine novel, one of the best you're likely to read this year, and a welcome return to a vivid and fascinating world. Just because it's not flawless (as Curse of Chalion is, or very nearly) doesn't make it not a gem.
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