Curse of The Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

My taste in books tend more towards Science Fiction than Fantasy, but once in a while I find a gem that’s quite worthwhile.  For the past week or so I’ve been engrossed in the Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold, who’s more well known for her SF Miles Vorkosigan series.  I would classifiy the Chalion series as “unputdownable”.  Highly recommended!

Book 1 : The Curse of Chalion

Hugo Award Nominee, World Fantasy Award Nominee, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Winner, Nebula Award Preliminary Ballot Nominee
eBook Description:  On the eve of the Daughter’s Day-the grand celebration that will honor the Lady of Spring, one of the five reigning deities-a man broken in body and spirit makes his way slowly down the road to Valenda. A former courtier and soldier, Cazaril has survived indignity and horrific torture as a slave aboard an enemy galley. Now he seeks nothing more than a menial job in the kitchens of the Dowager Provincara, in the noble household where he served as page in his youth. But the gods have greater plans for this humbled man. Welcomed warmly, clothed and fed, he is named, to his great surprise, secretary-tutor to the Royesse Iselle-the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is destined to be the next ruler of the land. But the assignment must ultimately carry Cazaril to the one place he fears even more than the sea: to the royal court of Cardegoss, rife with intrigues and lethal treacheries. In Cardegoss, the powerful enemies who once placed Cazaril in chains and bound him to a Roknari oar now occupy the most lofty positions in the realm, beneath only the Roya himself. Yet something far more sinister than their scheming hangs like a sword over the royal family: a curse of the blood that taints not only those who would rule, but those who stand in their circle. The life and future of both Iselle and her entire blighted House of Chalion lie in dire peril. The only recourse left to her loyal, damaged servant is the employment of the darkest and most forbidden of magics-a choice that will indelibly mark Cazaril as a tool of the miraculous.and trap him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death for as long as he dares walk the five-fold pathway of the gods.

Only Robert A. Heinlein has won more Hugo Awards for Best Novel than Lois McMaster Bujold, a singularly lauded author whose work has been compared to Jane Austen’s. Now channeling her remarkable storytelling genius in an exciting new direction, she creates a riveting tale rich in atmosphere, magic, character, and consequence that twists and turns in many unanticipated directions.

Much more than simply the next eagerly awaited tour de force by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion is a stunning masterwork of fantastic invention that demonstrates the vast range of her astonishing talents-and elevates her into the pantheon of premier contemporary fantasists.

Book 2  Paladin of Souls

Hugo Award Winner, Nebula Award Winner
eBook Description:  It’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.

Book 3 : The Hallowed Hunt

eBook Description:  An acclaimed legend in the field of fantasy and science fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold returns to the vivid and perilous world of her previous masterworks, the Hugo Award-winning Paladin of Souls and Hugo and World Fantasy Award-nominated The Curse of Chalion, with an epic tale of devotion and strange destiny. Prince Boleso is dead–slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile. Lord Ingrey kin Wolfcliff has been dispatched to the remote castle of the late, exiled, half-mad royal to transport the body to its burial place and the accused killer, the Lady Ijada, to judgment. Ingrey’s mission is an ugly and delicate one, for the imminent death of the old Hallow King has placed the crown in play, and the murder of his youngest son threatens to further roil already treacherous political waters. But there is more here than a prince’s degenerate lusts and the fatal retribution it engendered. Boleso’s dark act, though unfinished, inadvertently bestowed an unwanted mystical “gift” upon proud, brave Ijada that must ultimately mean her doom–a curse similar to one with which Ingrey himself has been burdened since boyhood.

A forbidden spirit now inhabits the soul of Ijada, giving her senses she never wished for and an obligation no one sane would desire. At once psychically linked to the remarkable lady and repelled by what she carries within, Ingrey fears the havoc his own inner beast could wreak while on their journey, as he fights a powerful growing attraction … and an equally powerful compulsion to kill. The road they travel together is beset with dangers–and though duty-bound to deliver Ijada to an almost certain execution, Ingrey soon realizes that she is the only one he dares trust. For a malevolent enemy with designs on a troubled kingdom holds Ingrey in his sway–and without Ijada’s aid and love, the haunted lord will never be able to break free and realize the great and terrible destiny bestowed upon him by the gods, the damned, and the dead.

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