Bujold, Lois McMaster
THE CURSE OF CHALION
Lois McMaster Bujold
EOS 2001
Hb 442 pg
ISBN#
0-380-97901-2
"The gods are parsimonious," --indeed. Cazaril, once commander of a fortress under long siege who had given up his faith in the Son, was taken up by the goddess Daughter for the workings She needs doing. Of course Cazaril is unaware of this at first. Cazaril is shocked to find his name NOT on the list of those ransomed after the Dy Jironal brothers sold his fortress out. He is beaten and taken onto a slave galley. Only the eventual arrival of a rival ship saves Cazaril from this horrible fate. But his spirit is broken. Cazaril hopes now only for a position in the scullery of the castle where he trained as a page; his true home now lost to war.
In Valenda he finds the old Provincara just as sharp as ever. Her daughter Ista is no longer at court since Ista's husband the roya of Chalion died, leaving the son of his first marriage to rule in his place. People say Royina Ista is now insane. Cazaril remembers her with fondness and is glad to take the position of secretary/tutor to Ista's daughter Royesse Iselle, stepsister to Chalion's ruler Roya Orico. But this position takes Cazaril back to court and within reach of the Dy Jironal brothers again. The oldest is chancellor to Roya Orico: the man who rules the land through another weaker one. The younger Dy Jironal brother is a troublemaker who soon captivates and corrupts Iselle's younger brother Teidez. Cazaril manages to avoid the Dy Jironal brothers for awhile, his sole attention on keeping Iselle safe and educating her to hidden dangers. Teidez is not so lucky. His private tutor ends up dead and Teidez strikes a blow against his half-brother without even realizing what he is doing.
By this time Dondo, the younger Dy Jironal, has manipulated the court into an arranged marriage with Iselle. But she is Royesse! She should be married out of Chalion so as to bring peace to troubled borders. Besides, Iselle (unlike her bothers) sees Dondo for who he really is. There is no getting out of this marriage, however, and Iselle prays most desperately to the goddess Daughter . . . and her prayers are answered in Cazaril.
Ms. Bujold's world of Chalion is brilliant. There are five deities: Father, Mother, Daughter, Son, and Bastard. People join one Order or another and worship their chosen. When they die, mourners bring sacred animals to the funeral and one of those animals will lay by the body as evidence as to which god or goddess claimed the soul. But no animal lay by Dondo's body on the day he was supposed to have gotten married. That's because no deity claimed his soul. Dondo's soul is trapped within Cazaril (because of black magic that backfired). And so Cazaril is now a hero with many problems. First, how does he get rid of Dondo's soul without losing his own? -2- Who is Iselle supposed to marry now? (the older Dy Jironal brother is worse than Dondo, more intelligent, more powerful and ambitious); -3- But most importantly, what can be done about the curse?
Iselle's family is cursed with "a miasma of ill luck and subtle bitterness... (it is) The black shadow ... (of) the Golden General's unfulfilled destiny, curdling around his enemies lives--a death curse." This curse crosses the marriage bed to affect spouses, thus not only is Roya Orico affected but so is his step-mother Royina Ista ... and her children. Cazaril fears there is no hope for Iselle, and no hope does he gain from the ghosts that plague him in anticipation of his departing soul which would leave a vacant shell for one of them to inhabit.
Good book? Oh, yeah. This is a great story for all High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery fans. Besides the brilliant world-building, the characterization is warm and yummy, and the action is also good. I had never read Bujold before, but I certainly will again.
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