#The Curse of Chalion

[mantisshrimpfrommars]

I am halfway through The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and this is such an amazing book! I am absolutely spellbound! I absolutely love the characters and the World of the Five Gods as well! Cazaril is such an interesting and unusual protagonist.

And then I go to the Internet, as I so often do when I find something I love, and am very surprised to find that there is very little fanfare to find there. I'm honestly kind of disappointed. Is the book just not that well known? What is happening?

Anyway, if someone wants to talk about this amazing book, I'm here:)

[heyitsrink]

A saint is not a virtuous soul, but an empty one.

_

Cazaril from The Curse of Chalion

[a-very-cute-snake]

I wish people would make animatics of book scenes more

[the-one-someone]

Iselle and Betriz

[mizeliza]

on a scale from cazaril to gen how well do you react to the realization that your gods set in motion a plan to ultimately unite several kingdoms on a peninsula by causing you personal suffering and permanent damage to your body

[beccastareyes]

Given seagulls are one of the Bastard's sacred animals, I choose to believe this is a divine omen about putting up hostile architecture from the Lord of the Unseason.

[abigailspinach]

“What, everyone knows of Royesse Iselle’s clever secretary, the man who keeps his own counsel—and hers—the Bastion of Gotorget—utterly indifferent to wealth—”

“No, I’m not,” Cazaril assured him earnestly. “I just dress badly. I quite like wealth.”

― Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion

[connoisseur-of-trash]

It’s not a bad life, being mad, you know. It has its advantages. You don’t have to make any decisions. What to eat, what to wear, where to go… who lives, who dies… You can try it yourself. Just tell the truth.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[iliiuan]

Of Lois McMaster Bujold's work, the group I think best suited to live-action screen adaptation is the Chalion/Five Gods collection. It has a variety of storylines that lend themselves easily to a few movies and an episodic. The special effects would be dope. You've got classic nightmare sequences in The Hallowed Hunt, with smoke and apparitions running through the woods and everything. Then imagine the fun with Desdemona sometimes sharing Penric's face, sometimes his voice; her as a character inside his head; her as a manifestation only Pen can see ... Gods it would be so entertaining to watch. And then we get to see Cazaril, sopping wet cat of a man, blorbo material extraordinaire, face a God and save the world. I'm really surprised he's not a bigger deal on this webbed site, as much as you lot love a tortured man. And then. Then. We could enjoy Ista embracing life. She's so amazing. She's the middle-aged mother-turned-hero I needed in my life. I want the whole story to have her thoughts as voice overs. It would be so hilarious. She deserves to be a movie star, after everything she's been through. I'm afraid I'm starting to babble, but I just can see these stories onscreen so easily. I want them so much.

So why not the other catalogs, you ask?

Vorkosigan - There's no way Hollywood wouldn't fuck this up 100 ways. No thank you very much.

Spirit Ring - It could make a good movie, but then what?

Sharing Knife - I'd want this one animated. Don't have a great reason or justification.

In conclusion, the world needs Chalion on screen asap. Thanks for listening to my spiel.

[jotun-philosopher]

If you liked that, you might like this: Good Omens and World Of The Five Gods

Heyo! Time for another ramble~!

Good Omens has given me a bit of a taste for theologically interesting fantasy, which led me to the World of the Five Gods series by Lois McMaster Bujold -- let me tell you about it! (Not everything, but hopefully enough to whet your appetite and spark your curiosity ^_^)

Putting everything under a cut, because while this isn't really a meta and I'm going to try to avoid spoilers as far as possible, I am going to be infodumping so it's gonna get loooooooooong XD #AutismForTheWin

So! World of the Five Gods is set in a sort of fantasy-counterpart-culture version of Medieval Europe (more or less late Reconquista era), but with the map rotated 180 degrees. Consistent across countries and cultures is the Quintarian religion, which involves worship of a pantheon of five gods:

The Father of Winter, who deals with mature manhood, fatherhood, justice, fairness, leadership, natural deaths, male virility and suchlike. His colours are grey and black.

The Mother of Summer, who covers mature womanhood, motherhood, love and its results, female sexuality, birth, renewal and healing/medicine, among others. Her colour is green.

The Daughter of Spring, whose purview is youth, beauty, virginity, education and planting. Her colour is blue, which is frequently trimmed with white.

The Son of Autumn, who covers war, hunting, courage, harvest and emotion. His colours are red and orange.

The Bastard, the broadly benevolent but frequently inscrutable trickster figure of the pantheon. His purview is orphans, demons, disasters and chaos, illegitimate children, queer folks, executioners, divine justice where mortal justice fails, lives unnaturally cut short, "all things out of season". His colour is white. He likes it when his followers 'pray' to him by cursing him out, both because they're actually *thinking* about their situations and because he finds it hilarious. (His sense of humour is a bit odd...) At the uttermost end of mortal justice, when all else has failed, one can pray to the Bastard for a 'death miracle', which if successful will kill both you and the intended target via one of the Bastard's demons taking your soul and theirs.

The Quadrene religion views the Bastard as a demon rather than a god, and reviles as heretical those matters which fall within his purview.

The gods have total power over the world of spirit, but their ability to affect the world of matter is highly limited at best; they thus have to rely on mortal agents. The tool is not the work, though -- tools get broken, after all -- so being a tool of the gods tends to really fucking suck.

WotFG has (at time of writing) three novels and twelve novellas.

The novels are:

The Curse of Chalion -- The Daughter's book. An escapee from a slave galley seeks a position in the household of his old patroness, is assigned as secretary-tutor to the Royesse (= princess) of Chalion (roughly equivalent to Castile in Reconquista-era Spain) and does his darndest to protect her from the deadly court machinations of the PROFOUNDLY evil chancellor and his brother while also seeking a way to break the curse of the title. (Seriously, get you someone who's as fiercely loyal and devoted to you as Cazaril is to 'his ladies'!)

Paladin of Souls -- The Bastard's book, and direct sequel to Curse, taking place a few years later. Ista, Dowager Royina of Chalion, is fed up of being locked in her rural castle by well-meaning caretakers who mistake her god-touched status for insanity. She goes on what is ostensibly a pilgrimage for her mother's soul, and finds that the gods are not done with her yet... (not quite the little-old-lady fantasy hero I've seen tumblr posts about -- Ista's in her forties -- but she is *very* badass and outspoken; one can imagine her being played by Catherine Tate)

The Hallowed Hunt -- The Son's book, set about 250 years before Curse, in the Weald (roughly analogous to Germanic areas). Ingrey kin Wolfcliff is dispatched to a remote castle to collect a young woman called Ijada, as well as the corpse of the highborn would-be rapist whose head she bashed in with a giant war hammer. Devious machinations and long-laid schemes abound surrounding the Hallow Kingship of the Weald, into which Ingrey and Ijada are swiftly drawn.

The thirteeen (so far) novellas focus on Learned Penric kin Jurald, scholar and sorcerer-divine of the Bastard's order, and his demon Desdemona. They take place roughly 150 years after Hunt (so, about a century before the start of Curse) and start out set in the Cantons (equivalent to Switzerland), but Penric (and the stories) travel around a fair bit. There is some interesting gender-wibbliness involved as well, because all of Desdemona's hosts prior to Penric were female, still live on in some way within her such that Penric can channel and converse with them, and Penric has to cross-dress more than once (particularly and memorably channelling the courtesan Mira).

In terms of approximate internal chronology, the Penric novellas are:

Penric's Demon, Penric and the Shaman, Penric's Fox (collected in the omnibus titled 'Penric's Progress')

Penric's Mission, Mira's Last Dance, The Prisoner of Limnos (collected in the omnibus titled 'Penric's Travels')

Masquerade In Lodi [chronologically earlier than the stories in Penric's Travels], The Orphans of Raspay, The Physicians of Vilnoc (collected in the omnibus titled 'Penric's Labors')

The Assassins of Thasalon, Knot of Shadows, Demon Daughter (at time of writing, to the best of my knowledge, only available in e-book format)

edit 17/08/24: Penric and the Bandit (published 1st July 2024, ebook format only)

The novels and novellas can technically be read in any order (though, being a sequel to Curse, Paladin of Souls contains spoilers for that book). Personally, I find the worldbuilding easiest to digest when reading the novels in publication order (Curse, Paladin, Hunt), then the Penric stories. It's up to you, though!

The setting of WotFG as a whole (as I mentioned at the start) is informed to varying degrees by the history of Spain's 'Reconquista' era; the influence is especially strong in The Curse of Chalion, to the point that I'd strongly advise against making a drinking game out of it -- there are parallels to persons and events you wouldn't think could *have* parallels! Good fodder for a history-side-of-tumblr meta post, though, eh? ;-) (pls tag me if you do make one, I'd love to read it!)

Having come to WotFG from Good Omens, I have a particular soft spot for the Penric stories -- there are a few parallels with GO (a small enough number that it's probably safe to make a drinking game out of it -- though I'd still recommend tumblr meta-posts as the safer and healthier alternative!), all of which are more than likely genuine coincidences, but enough to add an ineffably lovely layer of enjoyment :D Have fun finding 'em ^^ (Srsly, the AU fanfics almost write themselves...)

Happy reading!

(tagging @ao3cassandraic and @vidavalor -- I get the feeling you'll like WotFG if you haven't run across the series already)

[mantisshrimpfrommars]

I have finished The Curse of Chalion and absolutely loved it, and really want to own a copy of my own. I have now been to every bookstore in my country and have not been able to find it. No one seems to have even heard of it! What the hell is this?! It's not in any libraries either. Absolute disgrace 😞

[heyitsrink]

Lupe Dy Cazaril 🤝 FitzChivalry Farseer

Two tragic, traumatized men who spend hours lamenting about how positively ancient they are at the ripe age of 35.

[mask131]

While I adore The Curse of Chalion, I can't help but feel so hilariously weirded out by Cazaril's reaction and understanding of women's age. I mean, okay, Bujold was just recreating actual historical considerations about how women "matured", but damn... One chapter Cazaril, upon learning Betriz is 19 immediately thinks "Wow, she is so close to my age!" (he is 30 by the way) ; and the next, upon remembering Iselle is 16, outright thinks "She is still so young, she is barely a child, she's not even a real adult". Like... I love this book but Cazaril's consideration of women is so bizarre X)

[shsenhaji]

An End of the Year Accomplishment - Finishing A Civil Campaign

I finally finished A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold!

I'd started reading the Vorkosigan Saga a while ago, making my way through it based on the internal chronological order as outlined by the author herself.

Despite Miles being Miles, and all of the adventures being a bit more intense than I usually like to read, there is something very charming and compelling about how Miles manages to dig himself out of almost any situation (usually by digging a larger hole). The way it's written, alongside the amazing cast of characters, the entertaining plots, the great character development and worldbuilding, the themes and ethos of the series - all of that has kept me happily reading.

However, as Bujold had mentioned in this recommended reading order, there are a few good entry points into the series, including Komarr, which "makes another alternate entry point for the series, picking up Miles’s second career at its start. It should be read before A Civil Campaign."

Intrigued by this, along with a few vague spoilers about Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, and Memory (all of which I have not read yet), I decided to jump ahead in the series, as it were.

I bought the Miles in Love ebook bundle, which collects Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Winterfair Gifts, and happily tore through Komarr as well as the first part of A Civil Campaign. Then I reached The Dinner Scene, something I'd heard a lot about, and...put the book aside for a while. A long while.

Luckily, I've recently been feeling drawn to the Vorkosigan Saga once more, wanting to get back into it, and so I braved The Dinner Scene once more. It took me some time - reading a few pages, skipping ahead, going back, pausing a few times - but I got through it! And of course proceeded to finish the rest of the book that very same day, feeling accomplished but also very emotional from the book's themes of love, solidarity, healing, honour versus reputation, and characters finally able - with the help of a supportive community - to take charge of their own lives.

I absolutely loved the second part of the book, and even though I'd wanted to save Winterfair Gifts (a novella where Miles and Ekaterin finally get married!) for later, I also finished it that very same day.

Not a bad way to send off 2023 at all! Now I'm thinking of getting back to The Curse of Chalion, which I started a few years ago, loved, but had to return to the library when I was only halfway through. I'm also looking forward to diving into Brothers in Arms in 2024 as well.

May your end-of-year reading goals be met as well!

[roaroarke]

The Hallowed Hunt, Lois McMaster Bujold

Always a big fan of immortal characters wanting something that's permanently gone. It's such a human impulse - to miss something you once had and still love. To take human impulses and magnify them beyond human limits is one of the most fun parts of fantasy to me.