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]

(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.