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

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Um, hello, I lurk around your journal for the book/manga/anime/tv reviews and such. ;)

By crazy coincidence, I just finished reading this book for the first time myself. I was kind of... ambivalent about it as well. On the one hand, it opened beautifully and was written with enough skill to fully distract me on an overnight train ride (on a hard sleeper, no less). But I didn't emerge from it feeling exhilarated and energized, the way you do with the best books; just a general sort of "well, that was nice."

There were some fantastic elements in this story that made me very excited when I picked it up, but I felt like they never really came together... You definitely nailed it with the lack of danger -- and for me, Ista seemed remarkably secure and self-assured for someone who spent so many years steeped in madness. It wasn't ignored -- Bujold's too good to do that -- but her worries about lapsing back into old ways seemed more habit than a real conflict, and of course once she left the estate there wasn't anyone around her questioning her sanity. I guess I would have liked to see her struggle more... I would have liked to see a lot of the characters struggle, since there seemed to be a lot of potential for conflict set up but only touched on briefly before the plot whisked you along.

I'm still tempted to try her scifi, though. Someone described them as "Regency romances in space" to me, and that actually tickles my interest.

[oyceter]

(OT) Icon love!

Hi! I'm glad you commented!

Oooh, yes, I got the same sense as you did wrt Ista's years of madness and how all the "good" characters almost immediately didn't question her mental state and only the "bad" characters (like her annoying handmaiden who was not Liss) assumed that she was still mad or condescended to her.

rachelmanija told me that A Civil Campaign is the Regency in space, though maybe you need some background for that? I'm not sure... another Bujold fan would probably know more!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

(OT) Icon love!

Isn't it great? It feels almost too appropriate, as I inevitably end up gravitating towards them in my free time... even during the year I worked at a bookstore.

Hi! I'm glad you commented!

Hi! You probably won't be able to get rid of me, now! ;)

There was an annoyingly obvious divide (I felt) between the "good" and "bad" characters. Some were perilously close to stereotypes saved only by the sophistication of Bujold's writing: the smothering caretakers, the pretty-but-not-too-bright young wife of the heroine's lust-interest... Actually, the lust interest himself was (I thought) the only really ambiguous character, with his being married yet happily flirting with rescued damsels, and never seeming that upset about how he was living on his brother's borrowed life. But because Ista never really examined any of this closely it all became a non-issue.

rachelmanija told me that A Civil Campaign is the Regency in space, though maybe you need some background for that?

I'm actually fond of diving into books/movies/story lines halfway through and learning what came before as I go along, so that's not a problem. What I do need is a bookstore with a decent English-language scifi/fantasy section... but I'm back in the states in several months, I'll look it up then. Thanks!

[oyceter]

Ha, I did the same when I worked at a bookstore! I think I am overcompensating for years spent growing up in a country with very few English bookstores.

Ooooh, you are the LJer in China! Nifty! I hate trying to get books while living overseas (am in the US now though), especially when I am constantly tempted by book recs online.