I'll take 'Fantasy that Doesn't Suck' for $1000, Alex
I just finished reading Paladin of Souls. Spotted it on the shelf at the library and placed the title after a moment - the book won a Hugo award a couple years back. It's actually a little unusual for a pure fantasy novel to win the big award. And that's perhaps not surprising - for all that it's everybody's favorite genre, fantasy seems difficult to actually do right, at least if the amount of unreadable tripe that is published every year is any indication.
I'm not sure why that is. I love fantasy, many of my all-time favorite books are fantasy. Fantasy has an unparalleled ability to transport the reader to another time and another place. There are very few boundaries on what can be fantasy - a fantasy novel can be set in the everyday world with a twist, a lost corner of history or a universe that is entirely other. So why is it so often done so badly?
Paladin of Souls is fantasy done right. I read it in two days flat. So that's good. And the writing most definitely is - Ms. McMasters Bujold avoids the overwrought style that often afflicts fantasy, but leaves the reader in no doubt that they are in the hands of a competent stylist. So that's a huge plus. Another is the characterization. The characters are not cutouts but interesting and unique - our protag is a bitter, lonely middle-aged noblewoman who feels trapped by her life and abandoned by the gods.
Oh, the gods. This is the central conceit of Ms. McMaster Bujold's fantasy world - that there are five gods (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall and The Bastard), they are real, and that they interact with humans and the physical world in very specific ways. In a way, this is just the author's particular system of magic, a la Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea system. But it works very well, and more importantly, it ties directly to plot and character. Our embittered heroine becomes an unwilling vessel of the gods when a dark evil invades a castle on the frontier of the five kingdoms. Whether or not she will put her life on the line to become the fulfillment of desperate prayers is a driving narrative force.
One little note on the plot - it is not particularly 'epic' or 'sweeping', and for this I applaud it. Not every fantasy novel needs to contain the ultimate showdown between good and evil within its covers. Sometimes the redemption of a character that resonates with us will do just as well. I don't mean to imply that the book doesn't have a grand sweep to it, but it doesn't feel the need to constantly impress upon us the Dire Import of events.
I'm not going to break the whole down for 'criticism'; instead I'll just say this book has a lot going for it - good writing, interesting characters, believable fantasy, and an engaging plot. I've already started in on the sequel.
I'm not sure why that is. I love fantasy, many of my all-time favorite books are fantasy. Fantasy has an unparalleled ability to transport the reader to another time and another place. There are very few boundaries on what can be fantasy - a fantasy novel can be set in the everyday world with a twist, a lost corner of history or a universe that is entirely other. So why is it so often done so badly?
Paladin of Souls is fantasy done right. I read it in two days flat. So that's good. And the writing most definitely is - Ms. McMasters Bujold avoids the overwrought style that often afflicts fantasy, but leaves the reader in no doubt that they are in the hands of a competent stylist. So that's a huge plus. Another is the characterization. The characters are not cutouts but interesting and unique - our protag is a bitter, lonely middle-aged noblewoman who feels trapped by her life and abandoned by the gods.
Oh, the gods. This is the central conceit of Ms. McMaster Bujold's fantasy world - that there are five gods (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall and The Bastard), they are real, and that they interact with humans and the physical world in very specific ways. In a way, this is just the author's particular system of magic, a la Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea system. But it works very well, and more importantly, it ties directly to plot and character. Our embittered heroine becomes an unwilling vessel of the gods when a dark evil invades a castle on the frontier of the five kingdoms. Whether or not she will put her life on the line to become the fulfillment of desperate prayers is a driving narrative force.
One little note on the plot - it is not particularly 'epic' or 'sweeping', and for this I applaud it. Not every fantasy novel needs to contain the ultimate showdown between good and evil within its covers. Sometimes the redemption of a character that resonates with us will do just as well. I don't mean to imply that the book doesn't have a grand sweep to it, but it doesn't feel the need to constantly impress upon us the Dire Import of events.
I'm not going to break the whole down for 'criticism'; instead I'll just say this book has a lot going for it - good writing, interesting characters, believable fantasy, and an engaging plot. I've already started in on the sequel.
posted by braun at 2:35 PM
3 Comments:
LMcMB is a fantastic author. I liked this book a lot, but it's not a top 10 for me. I much prefer her SF Miles Vorkosigan books.
Uh, Braun, did you read The Curse of Chalion? The series to date goes
The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt
You can read them out of order, but the first two are a little... connected.
Happy reading. Bujold is one of the best out there.
I did not read it. And yes, I pretty quickly realized I was missing a book! But I'm an experienced fantasy/sci-fi reader, I was able to hang with it and extrapolate what I was missing.
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