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

[chomiji]

Wow, what a variety of reactions people have had here. I'm going to make it even more so. I really can't deal with Bujold's science fiction. My brain goes blank when I read it - I'm not interested in any of the characters at all.

But I liked Curse of Chalion pretty well, and I really liked Paladin of Souls and the third book, The Hallowed Hunt. I like the idea that some unromantic, un-gorgeous people are ending up as human channels for godhead, and that the people themselves aren't particularly thrilled about it. I'm not as attached to the characters in these books as I am to the characters in some of my favorites, but at least I care about them, which is more than I can say about Miles and Cordelia.

The are some nice little details along the way too - people in these books eat real food, ride real horses (and suffer real saddlesores), wear real clothes. The religion's a little too pat in some ways, but it's intertwined in daily life in a reasonable fashion. I like the idea of the two related forms of the religion, each considered a heresy by the other. The process of discovering how to deal with demons was interesting to me, too.

There really is something anti-angsty about Bujold, though. I can't put my finger on why, either.

- Cho

[oyceter]

Huh! Interesting!

It's really weird, because I sort of like some of the details that Bujold puts in, but everything just ends up feeling a little too pat for me, if that makes any sense? Sort of like Ista dismissing her irritating companion for Liss, who largely seems to be faultless.

[chomiji]

I think you may be right. Bujold doesn't seem to want to let ongoing tensions continue to "on-go." But tension is what gives so many stories and characters their edge ... hmm. >thinks< It's like she's eaten some elaborate gourmet dish that she found tasty but over-seasoned, so she makes her own version of the recipe, leaves out the second spoonful of lemon juice, all the cumin, and most of the black pepper, and the ultimate result is fairly complex, more or less satisfying, and certainly not revolting, but you wouldn't bother to take a second helping, because it lacks a certain spark.

Did that make any sense, or did I just go off on a completely pointless culinary comparison?

Also, I have a feeling that her characters' inner processes are just too damn efficient. I guess that's more of the same business you said in your original remarks - that they're too well-adjusted. Real people tend to obsess uselessly over at least some of their mistakes. Ista seems to have got over hers too quickly, yes? She doesn't have enough regret, and doesn't question herself enough.

Although I have done at least one re-read of this and may eventually do another one or more, this certainly doesn't fall into the category of books I re-read obsessively when I want to get lost in a book. You know, I think I like the setting almost more than the characters - it makes me want to run a roleplaying campaign again.

[oyceter]

Hee! I like the culinary metaphor.

The odd thing is, I tend to like when characters have suffered lots of angsty situations and end up ok. Except... I think in Bujold's case, they end up too uniformly ok, or something; like another comment thread here, I feel like more people should be questioning her sanity, or there should just be more conflict that isn't external.