Re: The Curse Of Chalion Pdf Download
Niki Wienberg
The Curse of Chalion is a 2001 fantasy novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold. In 2002 it won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus Fantasy Awards in 2002.[1] The series that it began, World of the Five Gods, won the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2018.[2]
Cazaril is a noble in the land of Chalion, but was betrayed and sold into slavery to the barbaric Roknari. The people of Chalion and neighboring lands worship five gods (Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and Bastard), while the Roknari deny the Bastard's divinity; each faith group considers the other to be infidels. After nearly two years as a galley slave, he returns to a regional court where he once resided and is hired as tutor to Iselle (second in line for the throne of Chalion after her brother Teidez) and her handmaid Betriz, to whom he is attracted. Iselle and Teidez's mother Ista also lives with them, but is considered mad.
Deceived by Dondo, Teidez destroys the menagerie and injures Umegat, but a wound he sustains in the process becomes infected and proves fatal. Orico collapses, leaving Iselle soon to ascend the throne, but the real power at court is wielded by Martou, who spreads rumors that she is unstable like her mother. Cazaril informs Iselle of the curse, and theorizes that since Ista married into the curse, Iselle might be able to marry out of it. She dispatches him in secret to arrange her marriage to the heir of Ibra, a neighbouring country. He speaks to Ista on the way, who tells him of a prophecy that the curse can be broken by a man "willing to lay down his life three times for the House of Chalion."
In Ibra, he finds that he and the heir, Bergon, have already met. They were galley slaves together, and he voluntarily took a severe beating meant for the boy. Informing Bergon of the curse, they convince Bergon's father to agree to the marriage. They return to Chalion, fighting through an ambush set by Martou. Iselle flees Martou's custody, and she and Bergon are married. To Cazaril's horror, he discovers that, instead of releasing Iselle, the curse has descended on Bergon as well.
Martou and his men try to kill Bergon and recapture Iselle. Cazaril fights them off, enabling the couple to escape, but is captured. Martou stabs him with his sword, hitting Cazaril's tumor and releasing the demon, which disincorporates the souls of Cazaril, Dondo, and Martou. Cazaril has a mystical experience where the Daughter reveals that his three willing deaths (taking the fatal beating for Bergon, invoking death magic for Iselle, and being stabbed by Martou) have made him a suitable vessel through which she can reach into the physical world and lift the curse. She then returns him to his body as the demon leaves with the souls of Dondo and Martou.
The Curse of Chalion and other books in the World of the Five Gods series are set in a world loosely based on southern Europe during the time of the Reconquista, or Spanish Reconquest. The states of Chalion, Ibra, and Brajar are fictional counterparts of Castile and Len, Aragon, and Portugal, respectively.[3] In Bujold's world,[4] these states are in conflict with invaders from the north, the Roknari, who correspond to the Moors of North Africa and al-Andalus.[3]
Characters in The Curse of Chalion also have historical equivalents. Iselle of Chalion is based on Isabella I of Castile, Bergon of Ibra is based on Ferdinand II of Aragon, and their secret marriage reflects the secret betrothal of Isabella and Ferdinand. The character Teidez corresponds to Alfonso Prince of Asturias.[3]
The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 2002 and "The SF Site" (Reader's Choice, Best Books of 2001). In 2002, it was nominated for a Hugo for Best Novel, and for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
Lupe dy Cazaril (called Cazaril or Caz for short), formerly a military officer in the service of Chalion, returned to the town of Valenda in hopes that the Dowager Provincara would remember him from his childhood days as a page and give him a job. He was emotionally and physically damaged from nineteen months as a galley slave, and mostly thinking of a job as a scullion. On the way to the castle at Valenda, he received an unexpectedly large amount of money in response to the simple task of giving directions; then he found the body of a merchant who'd died of death magic; he made sure the man was buried properly, prayed for him, and collected his robe. Maybe he could get a better job after all, once he cleaned himself up?
Upon arriving at the castle, the widow indeed remembered him and took him in. Acting as Provincara, a role technically held by her son Provincar dy Baocia, she had also been taking care of her daughter Ista (the Dowager Royina of Chalion) and two grandchildren by Ista, Iselle and Teidez, the royesse and royse. The Dowager Provincara gave Cazaril the job of secretary-tutor for Iselle. Spring and summer passed in the pleasant and not-too-demanding job of tutoring her in Darthacan, Roknari, geography, and various other lessons suitable to a royesse's education.
When autumn approached, so did a summons: Iselle and Teidez were to travel to Cardegoss to be presented to Orico, the roya of Chalion and their half-brother. At Cardegoss, Teidez was overwhelmed by the glitter and flattery around him; his own secretary-tutor - Ser dy Sanda - was unable to hold back the tide. Cazaril ensured that both Iselle and Betriz knew which courtiers were playing what games at what skill levels. They learned that the real power in the country was held by Chancellor Martou dy Jironal and his younger brother Dondo. Cazaril did not have fond memories of either of them; his time as a galley slave was Martou's doing, very probably at Dondo's urging. After a time, Orico declared that Dondo was to become Iselle's husband. She was horrified; he'd shown himself to be a corrupt and licentious embezzler as the Holy General of the Daughter's Order. As part of an attempt to force her agreement to the marriage, he threatened to rape her until she became pregnant; she responded by praying for his or her death, she didn't care which. Cazaril did care which; he decided to attempt death magic, so he gave it a try in Fonsa's Tower, an abandoned tower where death magic succeeded years before against the Golden General, currently given over to a flock of crows.
So Cazaril rode north-west, to Ibra. Upon arrival, he learned that Bergon had been his seat companion for a time as a galley slave. Bergon was deeply grateful to Cazaril for saving him from the attentions of the oar-master, and very pleased at the idea of marrying the Heiress of Chalion and breaking the curse thereby. They returned and met Iselle in Taryoon, a day's journey away from Cardegoss. The two of them married with great ceremony and pleasure; the locals were equally overjoyed and optimistic that better days would come.
The next day, Cazaril realized the curse had not lifted; instead it had spread to include Bergon as well. He was distraught; they were unhappy, but concluded they should keep moving forward with their plans. The following morning, Martou dy Jironal arrived with a company of soldiers and the news that Orico has died; the Royse and Royesse fled while Cazaril blocked the company at the Taryoon castle's courtyard gate. When Martou stabbed Cazaril in the belly, the Daughter of Spring released the death demon; it took Martou's soul instead of Cazaril's. At this point, the Daughter was able to reach into the world with sufficient cooperation from Cazaril to remove the curse from Chalion and its royal family. As a bonus, Cazaril survived the wound and was made Chancellor of Chalion by the new Royina Iselle and Royse-consort Bergon.
The novel begins with its protagonist, Cazaril, wandering the countryside of Chalion homeless and wearing rags. Charity and the death of a well-dressed stranger bring Cazaril a bit of coin and good clothing, and he uses these to make himself presentable to the provincara, a noblewoman whose household he once served, in the hope of earning a position with her and thus, some food and shelter.
I also think that Cazaril was almost too good and too fortunate. What spares him from the Marty Stu label is that he suffers, and that he has moments of wanting to be selfish, though he always ends up putting his duty to the royesse (princess) Iselle ahead of his personal wants.
I was a bit annoyed by the use of terms like roya and royina where perfectly sound words like king and queen could have served, or provincar in place of duke, but appreciated the promise of political intrigue, which I generally like.
I got used to the made up terms, and there was much more political intrigue in the latter two-thirds of the book than in the section I read a year ago. The plotting was impressive, with several twists and surprises, some of which I saw coming and others of which I did not anticipate at all.
The main problem for me was the pacing. This novel was slow. And when I say slow, I mean really slow. Court life was portrayed in painstaking detail with a lot of ominous goings on but few actual turning point events.
My other issue was the ending. Without giving too much away, I felt that Cazaril had a great deal of good fortune, and I might have found the novel more convincing had he died at the very end, after seeing the curse lifted.
I found Paladin of Souls (which I also listened to) to be even better but I think the experience was richer for having read Chalion first because Paladin has Ista as heroine and all the rich background in Chalion was great enhancement for me. I thought the narration for Paladin was even better and it is far more romantic. So it was a win all round for me.
Paladin of Souls is perhaps my favorite LMB book (and the Bastard my favorite among the pantheon). I think that Ista is perhaps the perfect heroine for older women: weary, wise, more tempered than damageded, more than a bit disillusioned, but still open to love (and sex!) and courageous in a way that (please forgive me!) the young heros never can be.
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