Paperback, 416 pages
English language
Published May 4, 2004 by Harpercollins Pub Ltd.
E-Book Extras: ONE: The Keys to Chalion: A Dictionary of People, Places, and Things; TWO: Chalion MiscellanyIt's been three years since the curse was lifted, but Ista dy Baocia, Dowager Royina of Chalion, holds a dark secret: she was responsible for the destruction of Chalion years ago. When her kingdom is threatened once again, Ista must defend her homeland, and her soul.One of the most honored authors in the field of fantasy and science fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold transports us once more to a dark and troubled land and embroils us in a desperate struggle to preserve the endangered souls of a realm.Three years have passed since the widowed Dowager Royina Ista found release from the curse of madness that kept her imprisoned in her family's castle of Valenda. Her newfound freedom is costly, bittersweet with memories, regrets, and guilty secrets -- for she knows the truth of what brought …
E-Book Extras: ONE: The Keys to Chalion: A Dictionary of People, Places, and Things; TWO: Chalion MiscellanyIt's been three years since the curse was lifted, but Ista dy Baocia, Dowager Royina of Chalion, holds a dark secret: she was responsible for the destruction of Chalion years ago. When her kingdom is threatened once again, Ista must defend her homeland, and her soul.One of the most honored authors in the field of fantasy and science fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold transports us once more to a dark and troubled land and embroils us in a desperate struggle to preserve the endangered souls of a realm.Three years have passed since the widowed Dowager Royina Ista found release from the curse of madness that kept her imprisoned in her family's castle of Valenda. Her newfound freedom is costly, bittersweet with memories, regrets, and guilty secrets -- for she knows the truth of what brought her land to the brink of destruction. And now the road -- escape -- beckons. . . . A simple pilgrimage, perhaps. Quite fitting for the Dowager Royina of all Chalion.Yet something else is free, too -- something beyond deadly. To the north lies the vital border fortress of Porifors. Memories linger there as well, of wars and invasions and the mighty Golden General of Jokona. And someone, something, watches from across that border -- humans, demons, gods.Ista thinks her little party of pilgrims wanders at will. But whose? When Ista's retinue is unexpectedly set upon not long into its travels, a mysterious ally appears -- a warrior nobleman who fights like a berserker. The temporary safety of her enigmatic champion's castle cannot ease Ista's mounting dread, however, when she finds his dark secrets are entangled with hers in a net of the gods' own weaving.In her dreams the threads are already drawing her to unforeseen chances, fateful meetings, fearsome choices. What the inscrutable gods commanded of her in the past brought her land to the brink of devastation. Now, once again, they have chosen Ista as their instrument. And again, for good or for ill, she must comply.
It's hard to top The Curse of Chalion. I really liked this, despite a few pacing oddities and some heavy-handed spots. Those actually had a whiff of Le Guin, so that's not all bad, I guess. And as an older woman, I very much liked having Ista as a main character.
I straight up disliked this one in a lot of places, but shrugs without those places, the payoff wouldn't have worked. Very well told.
Takes a while to get going, but snowballs once the pieces are in place. Great characters with mostly complicated motivations.
4.75 Very good high fantasy focused on an older woman, faith, trust and character relationships. Bujold re-uses the reluctant tool of the gods from The Curse of Chalion, but manages to twist it into and altogether different, but equally gripping narrative. Less politics and scheming and awful pasts in this one, but still a nice set of connections to the previous book. I really like how the author manages to develop formerly minor characters.
4.5 stars
ISTA!!!!!
My mother had recommended these books of Chalion to me this past summer or so. I have read a couple of Ms. Bujold's books in the past and enjoyed them, although there is at least one of her novels that I could not get through.
Having just finished The Curse of Chalion, I delved right into this book. The character of Ista is a carry-over from the previous book, and though I liked what was done with her in the first book, I was a bit dubious of what could be done with her in this one, just based on the description from the first book.
I was pleasantly surprised. I liked that this is a woman of 40, still beautiful, as she had always been beautiful (she had been a queen after all). I liked that once she shed her shackles imposed by her family, she grew as a …
My mother had recommended these books of Chalion to me this past summer or so. I have read a couple of Ms. Bujold's books in the past and enjoyed them, although there is at least one of her novels that I could not get through.
Having just finished The Curse of Chalion, I delved right into this book. The character of Ista is a carry-over from the previous book, and though I liked what was done with her in the first book, I was a bit dubious of what could be done with her in this one, just based on the description from the first book.
I was pleasantly surprised. I liked that this is a woman of 40, still beautiful, as she had always been beautiful (she had been a queen after all). I liked that once she shed her shackles imposed by her family, she grew as a person. I really liked this story of her. I think this is the first novel of Bujold's that I've read with a lead female character. I think she writes her well.
I had no trouble getting into this novel as the world had been set-up in the previous novel and it is only 3 year later, established pretty early on. There were twists and surprises and the climax occurs later than one expects, which is nice. Bujold tends to give waves of stories within the one story so that you have sort of waves of climaxes.
According to her bibliography on the back of Curse of Chalion, only Heinlein has won more Hugo Awards for best novel than Bujold, which I didn't know.
I liked this one better than [b:The Curse of Chalion|61886|The Curse of Chalion (Chalion, #1)|Lois McMaster Bujold|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170597725s/61886.jpg|1129349], which I had not thought possible since I loved that one. Ista was such a tragic, yet fascinating, minor character in Chalion. I'm very glad that Bujold decided to flesh her out.
