The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold | I Was Told This Is Hobbesque
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- It is kind of Hobbesque, but I do have to say, is a lot tighter, because this is one of the tightest novels I have ever read. Thanks to everyone who told me this novel is good, cause it definitely is.
It fits right into the category of a lot of my favorite series. Where it is clearly an adult fantasy novel, but also it is definitely not grimdark. Yay for hope.
My goodreads : / truthless_of_shinovar
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Bujold books seem so under discussed, she has written some of my favorite books.
I’d like to point out that there are 9 novellas and an additional novel in this universe (World of Five Gods) other than the three you mentioned. They all follow a sorcerer and his Demon and I reread them regularly. Highly recommend.
I will definitely read them all eventually. Been in a bit of a slump lately, but definitely want to get back to more Bujold this year. A lot more. She is brilliant.
When I get in a slump I reread her novellas lol
She is my all-time favorite author. No one holds a candle to Lois. She is a phenomenal writer.
Reread this a dozen times. We are used to reading stories where ""spoiled oy looses everything and gains manhood in the journey". But [spoiler alert] Bujold takes a character who has lost everything and rebuilding him to greatness"
You mention the Bujold's description,, yes she is sparse with words, rich in imagery.
I've lost track of how many times I've reread it.
She's brilliant. She's been my favorite author since I started her Vorkosigan series back in the 90s. I'm glad you'll be reading more of her work. I hope you like Miles as much as I do.
I hope so as well. I have been in a slump lately but am excited for Vorkosian
Yay! As I've said before, one of my favourite books & I ❤️ Caz. I have a thing for loyal characters like Caz.
He is so great, nice to have someone I can really root for, who also totally feels like a person
Excited to get to this next year, Bujold sounds excellent!
Good to hear, she is
Bujold IS excellent!
Bujuold is great especially her longer scifi series the Vorkosigan saga
Thanks for talking about Bujold! She really is a master of the craft.
Bujold’s writings divide into science fiction and fantasy. She started in science fiction in 1986 with the Vorkosigan Saga, which went on and on, and came to include stories of many different kinds. Most but not all of them feature Miles Vorkosigan. The World of the Five Gods fantasy series started in 2001 with “The Curse of Chalion”; it consists of the first three novels with different protagonists, followed by the Penric stories, which all feature the sorcerer Penric kin Jurald. She also wrote the Sharing Knife fantasy series and the earlier one-off fantasy “The Spirit Ring”, which was relatively unsuccessful.
The Vorkosigan Saga contains some good and even very good stories, but it varies; I’m not keen on all of them. Also, while some people love Miles Vorkosigan, I find him a bit irritating. For me, the World of the Five Gods is more consistently good, and I get along more easily with all of the protagonists.
You should bear in mind that the Vorkosigan Saga started at the beginning of her career. She wrote well even then, but as time went on I think her increasing maturity and experience had an effect on her fiction, and on the whole I think it was a good effect. Many writers get worse with age, but not this one.
I agree with your take that most other authors would have made Iselle the main character, and that it was really neat that Bujold made Caz the protagonist instead
I love Caz.
I really liked this review. Bujold was on my radar but I never hear BookTubers talk about her. This book is definitely moving up my TBR now.
Thanks! I don't know why more booktubers haven't read this, cause it was really good.
I have heard some very positive things about this author outside of Booktube. It’s great to see somebody on Booktube talk about her. I hope to get to her books eventually. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I really got to read more of these. Have just had a bunch of stuff come up
I've recently started the Vorkosigan Saga and it's fire 🔥 so I'm excited to read her fantasy
I'm definitely going to start Vorkosigan in 2023, IDK how many of them I will read though
Great review. I read this earlier this year and loved the pervading underlying dry humour. Cazaril is so endearing as a hapless Fitz-esque hero. In contrast to Ms Hobb however, the writting is so much tighter. I will gladly read this again.
Thanks! Poor Cazaril and Fitz, although I think Hobb might be a bit meaner than Bujold
@@jakebishop7822 Yep, he gets more beat-up than Jim Rockford (ask your elders) and John Reese (ask your elder siblings) put together!
Really good point, about POS (potentially) spoiling "The Curse." (Sharp Reviever, here.)
Great review Jake! Thanks for putting Bujold on my radar 😊
Sounds good to me, I'll do you a deal, I'll add it to my list and read The Curse of Chalion when you read your first Charles De Lint novel. 👍
This seems fair
@@jakebishop7822 It's a deal then 🤝😀
A concise Hobb, I can’t get into Farseer because of how bloated it is. The Curse of Chalion is superb comparatively.
I am conflicted by this comment. I am happy Chalion is getting love, but you know....Hobb is my favorite author ever
Wow such a eloquent and smart young guy! Subbing automatticaly!
Thanks so much!
I really like your content Jake. However, if there was a contest on how many times you can use the word LIKE in a review, I believe you have won the grand prize! 😂
Hmm, what is that grand prize? Is it anything good
Hobbes? Hadn't thought of it that way but that's not a bad description.
Very in-depth analysis. Ty.
I have a ?.
I read Penric’s demon and felt that the setting, which is fantasy, was more of a stand in for the conflicts. The setting is not as important as the characters themselves. I hope I’m explaining myself if not just ask where you need clarification. The setting wasn’t that important, the characters’ feelings were what mattered more and was just a place holder with no real importance.
Once again, thx 4 the review.
That makes sense, and I think from Chalion would be partially true. The characters are definitely the main point of the story, but I thought the setting was still well done. I obviously don't know if that will be the case in Penric's Demon, but will see when I get there.
I'd say all of Bujuld's books are pretty character focused. But as novellas the Penric stories have to be more focused in general, so the end up being close to character only. In here full length novels there is more room for setting and plot and such
Definitely a good book, but what Bujold is really known for is the Vorkosigan saga, which has much better characters than the Chalion novels. Strongly recommend, just make sure that you read the books in their story chronological order, instead of real life chronological order.
I have heard this, and will do that!
I'm adding it to my list to get to at some point after I finish RotE.
I approve of RotE first
Good review. Don't really have anything to say, just want to comment to support Bujold content
This is a good cause!
Bujold is incredible, as is most of the Vor series. Miles Vorkosigan is probably my favorite protagonist from any genre. That said, her books have lately lost the hard edge that counterbalanced the lighter side of her style, and I’ve found them a bit too sappy. Many of her books read like YA and then, bam, sadistic torture, brutal violence, and rape. It’s never the point of the narrative, though.
That sounds not idea, but from what I hear I have a lot of really really good books before I get to that
I'm enjoying low magic, character-driven more realistic grimdark fantasy!
I would say that this is not grimdark, in fact the protagonist is pretty heoric, but it is character driven, low magic, and realistic
I wouldn't say any of Bujolds stuff is grimdark. Bad things including deaths happen but there is always optimism
@@bat9056 If story and characters are great it doesn't have to be grimdark! :)
You shouldn’t have to defend ratings. They’re fun.
Hold it ! You don’t know Miles? She is better than Hobbe. Read the Vorkosigan books from the beginning. Her characters in that series develop through the series as they age and as things happen to them and they interact with their surroundings, and challenges.
@@margiestevens2384 i can confirm this recommendation is really good, because I have read through Memory now, and yes Vorkosigan is amazing
This may be the first time that I strongly disagree with your assessment.
There is a lot that this book does well.
Unfortunately, what it fails to do well, is possibly the most important thing for me in a book: To not make their main character(s) boring goody two shoes. To make the main characters someone I find fascinating, or at least highly entertaining.
How I miss myself a good Kennit in this book.
Wouldn't even have to be a Kennit, I would gladly take a Gen, the whiny, self indulgent, witty titular character from "The Thief". Or a "The Blacktongue Thief". Someone who makes me laugh. Someone who has is both annyoing and charming. In a constellation with someone, that results in really fun to read banter.
Instead, I get a man in his mid 30s, whose main worry is if he is still attractive enough to land a young wife?
He does say clever things, I'll give him that.
It's not that I necessaritly mind battered characters, either, I can see how bein a gally slave would leave you with severe PTSD.
But in his case, this is just not someone that grips me and entertains me.
No zest, no verve, no craziness, no dreams / ambitions, no high spiritedness, no narcissism, no ruthlessness, no nothing.
Same for the two girls.
Let's make Caz's nemesis both greedy AND a bit of a coward? Come on.
For my taste, Crispin (of Sailing to Sarantium) is at the limit of being too boring / goody two shoe - esque / "not morally grey enough", but Bujold's characters in this book is way becond that line.
I guess, for me, being psychologically complex by itself just isn't enough. Give me something that grips my imagination. This is fantasy, after all. Give me some people that are larger than life, unusual, less common. Give me someone who is "living la vida loca".
Which is a pity, because there are so many things that she does well.
Like being invited to live in a place, where there is a mad / severly traumatized person.
I also love the fact that is low action, and low magic.
If only the characters weren't so damn ordinary.
BIG DISCLAIMER
I am writing all this after having read only the first third of the book, so maybe I will end up having to eat my words. Somehow, I highl doubt that.
I finished the book.
It gets worse, not better.
I had to laugh about my "I appreciate that it's low on magic / the super natural", in the last two thirds it almost becomes all about this.
I very much don't care for "make yourself the vessel of some deity" plots. Expecially if it's the main character.
To me, this is a trememdously naive book.
I kind of care for books where characters follow their own motivations, rather than everything being derived from how they can counter some absurd extremely contrived curse.
ok, I'm gonna stop hating on this poor book, that no one forced me to read.
I enjoyed this one but I think my biggest gripe is that there was just so little fantasy in it. Basically one thing and if that was removed, this was just a political drama. Well written though and I did enjoy the characters.
Definitely fair, as it is pretty low magic. Well, I guess except for the curse, but I know what you mean
This book dragged so much for me. Could hardly finish it. The characters were a little bland but mostly the plot was the issue. Moved at a snails pace and the resolution felt very forced.
It’s funny that you repeatedly describe this as a short novel because it’s only 450 pages long. There are plenty of novels that are 200 pages or less. “The Curse of Chalion” is what I’d call a solidly medium-sized novel. I suppose you must be accustomed to reading at the huge end of the novel spectrum.
As a primary fantasy reader I have an extremely skewed perspective for sure. I think the year i read this, the average book i read was close to 600 pages
@@jakebishop7822 According to Goodreads stats, last year I read 184 books totalling 51601 pages, which gives an average of 280 pages per book. Admittedly, some of those books were novellas, and I don’t know how to exclude them from the stats! I read mostly sf and fantasy, but I don’t seem to read the huge fantasies that you go in for.
The size of the novella seems to be creeping up. I suspect that some items marketed as novellas these days would be counted as novels by Hugo/Nebula Award rules.