Bujold, Lois McMaster - Paladin of Souls

[oyceter]

And now, I confess to my flist that I think Bujold is just Not For Me. I read The Curse of Chalion a couple of years ago and wasn't too impressed. I've read most of Komarr and Cordelia's Honor, largely because people have told me that Cordelia's Honor is one of her earliest and therefore not best works. Both of the Miles books I ended up putting down when I was smackdab in the middle of the climactic plot moments, and I've never felt the need to pick them back up again.

Bujold being Not For Me is not just "I admire it technically but don't quite understand and maybe a reread will convince me otherwise." I think it's something about her prose or her characters that slides right off me.

Anyway. Ista is the middle-aged mother of the queen; her life has previously been torn apart by the will of the gods, and she's really not all that open to them anymore. She embarks on a pilgrimage, largely to get away from court life, but ends up entangled in a mess of demons and conspiracies in which the gods are trying to guide her to do something.

I like that Ista is a middle-aged heroine and that she's allowed to have second chances and love again. Other than that, I was mostly bored by the book. Despite Ista's horrific past and the presence of demons in this book, I never felt that she or any of the other characters were really in any danger. And I could have put this down at the giant climactic moment and not felt any need to pick it back up again, which is never a good sign.

I'm really not sure what it is. Part of me wants to say that Bujold's characters feel too well adjusted to me; I know people will come in and talk about Miles and how much angst he goes through, but there's something about the prose or the way it's written that doesn't make the angst feel real to me. Ah well.

Links:
- coffeeandink's review
- truepenny's review (spoilery)
- rilina's review

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

I never felt that she or any of the other characters were really in any danger

Chad has pretty much this reaction to Bujold too, so you're not alone.

I have a split mind when it comes to narrative expectations & characters in danger: I don't really expect that the protagonists are going to die horribly, because that's not what usually happens in fiction except in certain kinds of genres that I don't read much of [*]; but I still get really tense on their behalfs anyway because I get sucked in. So I don't even know if I have this feeling about Bujold's plots; but if I did, I don't think it would matter.

[*] Though I will note that I give it even odds that Harry Potter dies at the end of the last book. And I'm okay with that, at least in theory.

[oyceter]

I never really expect any protagonists to die horribly either, but some authors or texts can still make me feel terrified. I spent most of Fullmetal Alchemist anime just waiting for DOOM to befall one or both of the Elric brothers, but I don't get that same sense of dread from the manga, oddly enough.

I suspect it may be because I don't care about her characters enough to worry when they are in danger?

[kate_nepveu]

Could be--they're your reactions, after all, you'd know better than I! =>

I'll observe, apropos _FMA_, that there's also an immediacy to stuff on-screen (that means, for instance, that I don't watch horror movies, or even moderately suspenseful movies).

[oyceter]

Could be--they're your reactions, after all, you'd know better than I! =>

Hee, quite true!

Now trying to think more about what makes me afraid for characters and what doesn't. Hrm. Maybe this will be a post later.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about the FMA anime.

I know for one that they pretty quickly trained me to get scared --hairs on the back of my neck prickling worried-- for the brothers when the ending music started playing. Uh oh, *now* what new mess are they going t get into?

[oyceter]

Oh god, the FMA anime! There were so many times I just wanted to cower under the cushions and not watch what happened, just because I was so scared for the Elrics.