Book: The curse of Chalion

[liv]

Author: Lois McMaster Bujold

Details: (c) Lois McMaster Bujold 2001; Pub Voyager 2003; ISBN 0-00-713361-8

Verdict: The Curse of Chalion is a magnificent high fantasy tale.

Reasons for reading it: I'd been meaning to get into Bujold for ages, since everything I'd heard about her made her sound cool. And then I was swapping book recommendations with cartesiandaemon (which is a highly satisfying way to start a relationship!) and it turns out that he's a big fan, so that bumped my vague intention up a few notches of priority.

How it came into my hands: cartesiandaemon lent it to me *bounce*

The curse of Chalion is really everything fantasy should be. It's a roaring good story, full of drama and twists and consistently exciting for 500 pages. The characterization is great, a large cast of characters all of whom are believable and interesting. The world building is top-class, really detailed and original. I particularly loved the religion; unusually for fantasy religions, it has both social facets and a believable sense of spirituality, and it's not just Christianity or Wicca with the serial numbers filed off. It's just a lot of fun to read.

The viewpoint is very interesting. I like Cazaril as a protagonist, both because he's a great character and because the princess' tutor isn't an obvious viewpoint to pick to tell the story of saving the kingdom from black magic. If Iselle had been given the viewpoint, the book could have fallen into cliche, and she might have been a bit of a Mary-Sue, being beautiful, intelligent beyond her years, unexpectedly inheriting a throne as a teenager and using her position to resolve major political and magical problems. But Cazaril is aware of her flaws, and there's a much better sense of her coming of age than there would be if the story was told the obvious way. I also like the way that although Cazaril is a special Chosen One, this is handled extremely subtly and doesn't play out in at all the expected way.

If I have a crticism at all, it is that the factions are a little unsubtle. There are a pair of obvious Villains, who nevertheless manage not to be too melodramatic or evil-overlordish, they good guys defeat them by being intelligent and lucky, not because they are stupid, so I'm fine with that part. But everyone else is either obviously in the pay of the villains, or obviously trustworthy. I think the book would have been improved by a bit more sense of court intrigue and paranoia. I suppose the treatment of the gods makes up for this a bit; there is plenty of ambiguity about their benevolence. It's a big plus that nobody is immune to misery or plans failing to work out or getting unfortunately killed; the fate of Umegat I found particularly effective.

tCoC is a thoroughly modern fantasy, not that it's anachronistic, I think Bujold does an exceptionally good job of avoiding that sort of trap. But it seems to exist in a context of being aware of what is wrong with run of the mill sword-and-sorcery, and fixes some of those problems without in any way undermining the genre. For example, the handling of gender, sexuality and the range of romantic possibilities are very nice, without making any polemic point about being so edgy and having queer characters, or too crudely applying 21^st century morality to a quasi-Mediaeval setting. It seems to fall into a similar category to Gaiman's Stardust: it is absolutely straightforward fantasy, nothing clever or ironic or iconoclastic about it, but a superlatively good example of what it is. darcydodo, if you haven't read this, you should, you'll love it, it's just your sort of book!

Am I right in thinking that the story is somewhat based on the real world history of the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella? I don't know where I got the idea that the royacies are the pre-unification Spanish kingdoms, Darthaca is France, and Roknar is Arab North Africa, but it seemed to fit. I think I would have appreciated a map, especially as it is very much the kind of book that has a map on the first page.

Comments

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

Well, Bujold says it is based on them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Chalion#Allusions.2Freferences_to_actual_history_and_geography). I can't see it, perhaps because Ferdinand and Isabella are the bad guys on my time line.

[liv]

Ooh, thanks. I should have thought to look that up rather than speculating at LJ. I'm quite proud that I spotted it. I know what you mean about having a reflex dislike for Isabella; I have similar difficulties with people who get romantic about Vespasian and Titus! But I have at least a minor association in my mind with Isabella as the great unifier of Spain, so I could pick up the connection.

[wychwood]

It definitely felt Spanish to me, though I couldn't pinpoint why. And did you notice that it's set in the southern hemisphere? I thought that was a really nice touch.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

If you want a really good alternate Spain with (tiny amounts) of magic, try Guy Gavriel Kaye's The Lions of al-Rassan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060733497?ie=UTF8&tag=lennhoff-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060733497).

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I too have been repeatedly encouraged to get off my arse and read LMcMB - it will happen one of these days, but I'm always glad of further confirmation that her books are Worth It. Not finished my Mary Gentle yet, tho.

[liv]

Thanks for the rec! I have in fact read the GGK, just before I joined LJ. I enjoyed it a lot, especially the way it deals with analogues of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Obviously Bujold avoids that issue altogether, but I found Kay's treatment interesting.

[liv]

I think the Spanish-ness is mainly the conlang, but also having a bunch of small kingdoms some of which are landlocked and so on. I didn't notice about the hemisphere, I'm not sharp enough with geography for that sort of thing. Cool, though.

[liv]

I think if you like high fantasy at all you'll very likely get on with The curse of Chalion. Which Gentle are you reading? I like her a lot, but she does tend to the verbose, so I'm not surprised it's taking you time to finish!

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I thought I'd said good things about Bujold to you; can't recall if I mentioned Chalion, I'm very fond of the Miles books, modulo the series being somewhat uneven and the very best bits being spearhead to things that need one to have read eight books to really appreciate, which seems a bit much to push on you. I liked Curse of Chalion a lot save that the resolution of the magical dilemma was really obvious to me form pretty much the moment it was set up.

Also, I'd not call it "high fantasy", because I am used to "high fantasy" specifically meaning a story of a certain shape that involves saving the world from a Dark Lord, rather than being applicable to secondary-world fantasy in general.

[siderea]

You know the best thing about The Curse of Chalion?

The sequel's even better.

I would recommend, if you're interested in exploring LMB's most famed corpus, you start the Vorkosigan saga with Borders of Infinity, then, if that works for you, crank back to Shards of Honor.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I recently read the 3 books in that series because my boyfriend is quite fond of them, mainly because of the portrayal of the gods. If you read the next two, it gives you more of a view of the religion, and it really is a nicely designed religion - believable without being a direct copy of a standard religion.

[liv]

Oh, it's likely that you were among the people who contributed to a general positive feeling about Bujold. It may be that you spared me a direct recommendation because of knowing my views about excessive series.

Genre terms: I thought secondary world meant specifically the structure with a framing story in this world, where the characters go through some kind of magic portal to a more magical plane? I agree with your definition of high fantasy, but I thought saving the kingdom from a divine curse counted as more or less the same story shape as saving it from a dark lord.

[liv]

Oh, I do like the fact that cartesiandaemon has come up with something that lots of my flist have read, that way I get much more discussion. The sequel to The curse of Chalion is Paladin of Souls, right? I shall surely look out for it. Thanks for your suggestion about the Vorkosigan space opera books too, that's good to know.

[liv]

Mm, I definitely like the religion, even after only reading one of the books. You're quite right, it stands way above most designed religions, because it is truly original and also believable.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I strongly do not recommend starting with Borders of Infinity, the stories contained within, while very good, are at places through the series that work a lot better with more background for the characters IMO.

Shards of Honor or The Warrior's Apprentice are IMO the best places to start; it's also worth noting that in the last few years the books have started coming out in omnibus editions with weird names and hideous covers.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Paladin of Souls and then The Hallowed Hunt, yes. I had kind of been hoping that the logical length of that series would be five books, one per god, more or less; do not know whether that is in fact the plan, as she is writing something different now.

[neonchameleon.livejournal.com]

I read the pattern as slightly different. One book for the core theology (Chalion - I don't see The Daughter as being particularly dominant despite Cazaril being one of her saints). One book for the odd part of the theology (Paladin of Souls and The Bastard - the other four being relatively understandable). And one book (The Hallowed Hunt) to deal with those seemingly outside the bounds of the theological setup.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

I was started on A Civil Campaign. Don't Do This, whichever you choose to start with! You won't have a clue who anyone is, and you'll be completely spoilered for the book before (and pretty well spoilered for a fair few others). I love Shards of Honor and Barrayar, and they're the first two, so I don't see any reason not to start the Miles saga with them.

[midnightmelody.livejournal.com]

I love Shards of Honor and Barrayar, and they're the first two, so I don't see any reason not to start the Miles saga with them.

*seconded*
Plus they have lots of Cordelia, who is clearly brilliant.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Shards of Honor I may be a bit unreasonable about, because it's pretty much the only romance-shaped plot I have ever liked (because of how credible the people in it are, and how grown-up). I have known a couple of people love Shards and then bounce off Barrayar, though. Odd people in other ways, I should add.

I think Warrior's Apprentice is also a reasonable place to start just by virtue of being the first Miles POV.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

That's the sort of sensible way of looking at it that makes me want to read the series again.

[liv]

Omnibus editions with weird names and hideous covers are about what cartesiandaemon has lent me. (Thank goodness they are lends, because I would have been very put off by those ugly things if I'd just come across them in the wild.) So basically I have access to the first (?) five right now, and it would be kind of rude to refuse to read any of them until I have got in at some hypothetical other starting point. So I guess I need to figure out whether the priority should be Shards (Cordelia arc?) or Warrior's Apprentice (Miles arc?)

[siderea]

The sequel to The curse of Chalion is Paladin of Souls, right?

Yep.

Thanks for your suggestion about the Vorkosigan space opera books too, that's good to know.

I highly recommend them.

[liv]

Do you know how much I need to read a romance about credible and grown-up people right now? I think you've probably sold me on it.

[siderea]

Shards before Apprentice.

But really, Borders' contents are meant -- and were, as I recall, initially published in periodicals -- as stand-alones. They're fabulous introductions to Miles' character and how Bujold handles ethics.

[siderea]

I strongly do not recommend starting with Borders of Infinity, the stories contained within, while very good, are at places through the series that work a lot better with more background for the characters IMO.

See, I disagree; I think they work better read blind, not knowing the characters, which is (I think) how they were originally written. They actually explain things which the reader is assumed to know (e.g. about Miles' bones) in subsequent books.

And perhaps most importantly, "Mountains of Mourning" is the only book in which we get to see Miles truly dealing with the prejudice which informs his entire life. We get told about it in other books, and we see little interactions which demonstrate it, but this is the only work in which that issue is front-and-center.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice at all, but now is obvious, the Roknari are obviously from hotter climes, and Darthaca colder (although this is obvious later, when more icey places are mentioned). But I never thought about it.

I always feel like there's a map, even though I think there never was.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, but I can't put my finger on why Chalion would not be. It lacks epic magic a bit, but it has all-encompassing backstory, and high politics, and drama. I think it feels less sweeping because it's not about the life of the whole world, but clear that these characters are great in the context of these kingdoms, and things are much the same elsewhere. And that there are characters, more or less -- insofar as 'high fantasy' is 'like Tolkien', the characters should be solely larger-than-life heroes?

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Religion: Oh yes, it's one of my favourites. In retrospect it's not as consistent as I'd thought it was. But it truly (and wonderfully) shows a religion where the Gods are real and relevant, but theology is still tricky, and how the Gods have distinct personalities, but you can't say any were right or wrong, but empathise with them all.

Protagonist: That's a good point, it hadn't occurred to me how it would be from another point of view.

World layout: I don't know, but I bet you're right, it's exactly the sort of thing she would do. That might explain why there isn't a map. Her first novel was fantasy, and more interesting than good in my opinion, but that drew in alchemy in mediaevel Italy, but quite subtly.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

But I think if you haven't been through Barrayar and seen the fight between Cordelia and the Count for Mile's right to live, then you don't have the feel of overwhelming prejudice for "Mountains of Mourning" to have the punch that it does. Maybe.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh goodie.

Further thoughts in mail. *hug*

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

The distinction to me is that the fate of the entire world is not in this case at stake.

Which, come to think of it, is another part of why I like The Armageddon Rag so spectacularly much - because it is the only thing to ever really convince me that the fate of the world was at stake, in that particularly high-fantasy way, with our world.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

That sounds right. So it's probably better for that, some authors would tack on an "and then everyone else would die because of fantasy physics" rider to the plot of all three books and make them seem more fake and no more epic, but agreed, it's not quite what I'd call 'high fantasy'.

AR: Yes.

[liv]

Yay. *bounce* Thank you again for lending me this, it's brilliant!

I think it's actually a good thing that the theology isn't consistent, because any self-respecting theology isn't. This isn't even about some mystical woo-woo ineffability excuse, it's just that a reasonable theology has to contain a theory of human nature, and no-one's come up with a truly consistent one yet.

I do like the fact that the gods are characters in the story, but they're still obviously divine beings, not just really powerful superheroes as can often happen with fantasy religion. Also, it rings true that having gods who are more obviously interventionist than in our world doesn't stop theology from being tricky. It isn't that hard to figure out how to achieve spiritual enlightenment, but people don't take those steps because they don't actually want contact with the numinous. That is very nicely portayed in The curse of Chalion, and it can be hard to do because at first glance, it would seem that if a fantasy religion is obviously true by authorial fiat, then everyone should follow it.

If you look at the other comments, it seems that Wikipedia confirms my guess about the historical and geographical roots of the story. And yeah, good reason not to put a map in, though I think if you reversed the standard compass, and didn't put in the modern borders it might be subtle enough. Or at least no easier to guess than it was anyway from the text.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

'1610', which I got out of the library nearly 3 years ago, but never got a chance to read! So far so good. Need to read 'Ilario' after that.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

*hugs*!

That's a great description of the religion and why I love it, I won't really try to amplify it. That insofar as they understand it, it's still fraught with dilemmas and not as important as you might think, and a wonderful example of how the Gods can be real and present, and yet people still accept them to a greater or lesser extent.

And that's an amazingly fine line she walked, conjuring into existence a world where the theology is important and tricky and more convincing to me than many actual religions. So many fictional religions fail by either having excessively restricted gods, or having powerful gods where everything would seem obvious, except for essentially arbitrary restrictions.

Here, you can appreciate the Gods' point of view, but maybe disagree, or think they're right, but just choose not yet choose to accept. And there are genuine theological dilemmas that apply to the gods as much to us, and the *different* gods may both have laudable but different ideas.

Talking reminds me of just how much I love it. It's one of the very few books where you might legitimately ponder the theology, rather than just "God A good, God B evil. How do we make A win?" I can think of very very few if any other books with interesting theology. (And few I might throw my loyalty behind, whereas here I might, because the Gods seem worthwhile but also to have legitimate things to struggle for, rather than wanting worship just because.)

However, I was a little embarrassed by my fulsome praise and brought up a few problems a little violently. But some things do suggest "Bujold should have worked this out in advance even if she didn't describe it, as it's too basic not to have lots of evidence in the world" rather than "naturally open question". Which isn't to do her down, it's still the best theology I've read.

For instance: are different miracles harder to achieve physically, or only in terms of how devoted to them the saint is? What proportion of people go to hell, what's it like? Does everyone captured by death magic do so? Are there physical restrictions on what prayer is necessary for death magic, or si the rat/crow thing just a physical representation of sufficient despair? What's with the three souls in two buckets thing? And that she seems not sure how much the Gods do intervene, each books seems to make up new theology in order to have a story.

In retrospect, that doesn't sound as fundamental as I'd thought. In fact they sound very good theological points for pondering (ponderables?). But I think there are potentially unresolvable problems, I just didn't articulate them. But I'm not sure :)