Review: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold)

Why did I read this book? Two reasons. First, an article by Jo Walton on tor.com entitled “The Numinous Underpinnings of Fantasy” piqued my curiosity. Second, anyone with a name as cool as Lois McMaster Bujold surely demands attention. Yes, I can be an incredibly shallow human being at times.

The book follows the pilgrimage of Ista, who now in middle age feels she has failed as a mother, a queen, and a saint. She sets out with only a ragtag assemblage of attendants, much to the dismay of her lords and ladies in waiting at the castle of Valenda who feel she should travel in far greater comfort and pageantry. It is impossible to resist drawing some comparisons between the early stages of this novel and the framing narrative of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. In Ista’s party are the valiant brothers dy Gura, the portly and paradoxical spiritual guide dy Cabon, and the coarse yet capable courtier turned lady-in-waiting Liss.

As well-rounded and intriguing as these characters are, I had problems with the pacing of its early chapters. Almost from the outset, Ista’s dreams of a dying man pierced by a chain of soulfire foreshadow the plot’s developments, but it took me a while to become emotionally invested in the characters. Part of the problem, for me, lies in Bujold’s dense writing style. In a laudable effort to create a rich, nuanced, world, she tends to sometimes overburden the reader with a density of circumlocutions and metaphors. I’ve encountered similar problems so far in my reading of her new series The Sharing Knife.

I may be in the minority in this complaint. My limited experience with today’s reading and writing community is that they are prone to style-blindness, or at least style-myopia. That is, they tend to focus on the meso- and macro-features of character development, pacing, and plot, rather than the micro-features of style, diction, and word choice. Having grown up with a linguist and having studied languages extensively myself, I am rather more sensitive to these issues than the average reader.

In terms of story, though, Paladin of Souls succeeds both intellectually and emotionally. In the world of Souls, the Five Gods, like the Greek gods in Homer’s Illiad, sometimes intervene directly in human affairs. Ista finds herself in the reluctant service of The Bastard, the God who holds sway over chaos, disasters, and demons. The God grants her a second sight, the power to see, visually, the quality and temper of human souls. This ability takes center stage in the book’s second half, leading to a thrilling climax. The likable cast of characters also grows together in a measured, satisfying manner.

I didn’t realize until after finishing the book that it is actually a sequel of sorts to The Curse of Chalion , which focuses on the misfortunes of Ista’s family a generation earlier. While I don’t think the two books are too directly linked, I’m sure some of my bewilderment in this book’s early pages would have been diminished if I had read its predecessor.

I can see why Bujold is so widely praised, and how she’s managed to win numerous Hugo awards. While my own preferences of style prevent me from recommending the book whole-heartedly, any fan of high medieval fantasy won’t go wrong with this novel.