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Paladin of Souls Paperback – 20 Oct 2003

4.7 out of 5 stars 26 customer reviews

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Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Voyager (20 Oct. 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007133596
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007133598
  • Package Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,142,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product description

Review

"Fresh, intriguing, and as always from Lois McMaster Bujold, superb."
Robert Jordan, New York Times best selling author of The Wheel of Time Series

"This is one of the great ones."
Science Fiction Chronicle

About the Author

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1949. She attended Ohio State University from 1968 to 1972, but didn't graduate. She describes her real education as reading five books a week for ten years from the Ohio State University stacks, reading enormous amounts of SF as a teenager, and listening to her father, an engineer. She started writing in 1982, and sold her first story to Twilight Zone in 1985. Then Baen Books bought all three of the novels she had already written and published them in 1986. Her fourth novel, Falling Free, won Lois her first Nebula. "The Mountains of Mourning," also went on to win both Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novella of 1989, and The Vor Game and Barrayar won Hugos for best novel in 1991 and 1992. All her titles have been translated into fourteen languages (so far).

She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota,with her two children, Anne and Paul.

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
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Top Customer Reviews

By A Customer on 6 Oct. 2004
Format: Paperback
None of the reviews of this book so far do it justice. If you've given up on fantasy because it's all the same, and it's full of women in fur bikinis or red-haired heroines with violet eyes, or kitchen boys who happen to have misplaced their kingdoms or - even worse - characters with random apostrophes in their names (Robert Jordan please step forward) - then you must give this book a try before you desert the shores of fantasy for ever.
'Paladin of Souls' is an emotionally resonant, gripping, and yet gently domestic fantasy. Ista, the protagonist, is not a typical heroine. She is a mature woman who believes her life is behind her, her family think she is mad and she knows she has committed a desperate and dammning sin for which she has yet to forgive herself. It's easier for reviewers to get to grips with Cazaril's tale in the previous book 'Curse of Chalion; his sacrifices and drives are more easily understood in terms of standard fantasy heroics, though none the less exciting and absorbing. I think Ista would be amused at how little understanding of her narrative the previous reviews show.
In the everyday piety of the realm of Chalion, Ista's rage and despair against her gods and against the restrictions of her life mark her out for a spectacular, deeply moving experience of being pushed, tugged and cajoled toward a new destiny, but it is made clear to her that she can choose for herself, to reject or to accept. Her encounter with a - literally - godforsaken individual closely connected with the most dark deed of Ista's life, is the catalyst for Ista to choose.
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I loved the characters in the first book in this series, and at first I was disappointed to find that in this one we're following 'Mad Ista' instead. However, once I got into the story, I enjoyed where it took me. Once again, Bujold shows her skill for developing believable characters and drawing the reader into an investment in the outcome. I also love the unusual twists to her stories.
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This is a very moving book. Underneath the surface, it says some universal things about the nature of faith, the need to surrender, and the possibility of renewal in life, no matter how old one is. One of Lois McMaster Bujold's best, and she's written a lot of good ones.
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By A Customer on 8 Jun. 2004
Format: Paperback
McMaster Bujold is a master of science fiction; in this sequel to the Curse of Chalion she shows that she is also a master of fantasy. Instead of spectacular sorcerous powers attributed to the main characters, an intricate system of five gods is behind the magic in this world. In this book, middle-aged, cynical, mad (?) dowager royina Ista makes a journey of growth and self-discovery comparable to any coming-of-age theme in other books - and oh, so much more interesting! Although not a feminist utopia, there is more room for female heroism in this world, and a more gender embracing and un-hypocritical religion than most. The book develops more evenly than its predecessor, with as prominent characters, and some surprising turns. It also features a happy ending, and an emerging love story, which may be offensive to some readers. A general theme in Bujold's books is the physically weak hero/heroine - but none of them is painfully pathetic, like Covenant the unbeliever, or similar characters. More in the inspiring vein - we can be heroes, too! Perhaps this is Harry Potter for adults, with political intrigue instead of boarding school injustice? (And we will still read Harry Potter ...)
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Format: Paperback
My first impressions of the cover and for that matter the title made me wonder if I was going to find that a book about Iselle's crazy mother as enjoyable as all her previous books. I really prefer si-fi but as loyal fan I bought it and as usual could not put it down until I finished it.
Although it is a sequel to the Curse of the Chalion, our heroine is Ista. It's her adventure with some old and some new characters and a happy ever after romantic ending. - Whenever has a Bujols book not left the reader satisfied with the outcome.
It would spoil it if I told you anything about the story but it's fantasy at its best.
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This is just a fabulous book. Read it, even if you don't like fantasy. The characters are well-drawn and utterly believable, and the religious and cultural system is consistent. It helps to have read the first book, Curse of Chalion, which gives more of a background, but it's not necessary (though it, too, is a great read). All in all, thoroughly recommended.
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Format: Paperback
This one sauntered up my to-read shelves with quite some anticipation attached: a loose sequel to _The Curse of Chalion_ (which I enjoyed immensely), it was the target of rave reviews when it came out in 2004, and won the Hugo award for Best Novel that year.
_Curse of Chalion_ introduced us us to a fictional world that, while hardly unique - its touchstone remains, as so often in the genre, a romanticised high medieval Europe - certainly contains a number of intriguing elements. Chief among these, and integral to the story, was the intertwining of magic and religion. There is a quartet of gods, who correspond variously to the seasons and to stages of human life (e.g. the Daughter of Spring is linked with marriage), plus a black sheep of the divine family, a half-demon aptly named the Bastard. All have their own priesthoods, devotees and rituals - and all exert very real influence in the world, frequently to the detriment of their human instruments.
_Paladin_ picks up the story of a secondary player in the previous book - that of Ista, dowager royina of Chalion. The story begins with Ista, now 40, confronting her mother's death, and recovering from the madness that has gripped her for half her life (a legacy of the _Curse_ of the previous book's title). A new world of possibilities opens up before her - but her desire to finally experience those things denied her by her long illness is stifled by the confines of her social position and the demands of her over-protective family. In desperation, she seizes upon one of the few freedoms available to her: a pilgrimage. Along the way, of course, she finds that life, and the gods, haven't finished with her yet.
This is essentially, then, a coming-of-middle-age story - measured, thoughtful, and life-affirming.
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