The Curse of Chalion - Hardcover

Bujold, Lois McMaster

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380979012 ISBN 13: 9780380979011

Publisher: Eos, 2001

Synopsis

Now humbled and seeking a menial position in the royal household he once served as a page, Cazaril is stunned to be offered the post of secretary to the Royesse Iselle, the beautiful, headstrong sister to the heir to Chalion's throne, but his new assignment brings unexpected dangers when he comes face to face with old enemies and a sinister curse. 40,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

In The Curse of Chalion Lois McMaster Bujold abandons her usual military space-opera for good reason; this is an emotionally powerful, inventively plotted novel which needs to be fantasy to work. Cazaril, betrayed by his enemies into a crippling two years in the galleys, returns to court a physical and emotional wreck: appointed secretary-tutor to the young princess Iselle, he finds himself in direct opposition to his powerful betrayers. His preparedness to make the ultimate sacrifice and save Iselle from an unwanted marriage to one of them by a death spell that will kill him also has unforeseen results; he learns the hard way that the gods have plans for him, ingenious and mischievous plans.

Bujold does charm very well--we share Cazaril's sheer joy at mentoring the bright snippy Iselle--and she is also good at physical and emotional pain--Cazaril's sense of himself as broken and worn-out is entirely convincing. This is also a fantasy which includes some inventive thinking about the nature of gods and the consequences of curses; there is a nasty-minded logic to almost everything that happens here. Bujold's fans will read it without recommendation; many readers who have resisted the Vorkosigan books will find this an attractive and intelligent fantasy. --Roz Kaveney

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

“Bujold continues to prove what marvels genius can create out of basic space operatics.”
Booklist

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Eos
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0380979012
• ISBN 13: 9780380979011
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 442