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reality can be a taste of pain
Feb. 2nd, 2011 02:00 amBujold, Lois McMaster
Title: The Curse of Chalion (2001)
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: e-book
Series: Book One
I read this book for the book club over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
calico_reaction. To be honest I was a bit apprehensive because I have had bad luck with book clubs/writing groups etc in the past. Not generally their fault..seriously bad luck. Cars breaking down serious illness sort of bad luck. Not so in this case, for which I am gladdened. SO, on to the book,eh?
I had not read anything by Ms Bujold. Nor do I generally tend to read what could arguably be called "High Fantasy?" No elves or such but there are castles aplenty and galleons,etc. But to be honest I would consider the book more of what I call a tweak story. That is to say, it could be a normal non genre piece except it was tweaked a bit. One could ALMOST easily slide religions from a roughly medieval time period into the story without altering it much. I say almost because I appreciated the development of the religions that she does have in her story, to the point that they are also characters of a sort in that they affect the plot and the individuals. There is more but I would be entering spoiler territory to bring them up.
There has been talk in the club about the slow beginning. Now granted, I read it in two sittings more or less because I had said I would read it. However, I did not find the beginning slow. Instead I was brought in immediately,first by the way the author drew the character, and then by the character himself. He is beaten down but not beaten. He has aged far more than he would have in peacetime. He has grown, perhaps even more than he realises at first. In short, he is real. Which in this type of fantasy is unusual. And for me a turning point of the story. Yes the love stories were all well done, and there are a number of them for a medium size book. And yes the characters were all quite believable, even the bad guys, who in fantasy more than other genres tend to be a bit two dimensional.
But Caz,albeit with the quasi-normal happy ending, is different. I say quasi because I did like him NOT falling for one of the main characters. He comes to us with his pain intact, he deals with that pain, he grows from that pain. People who go through what he has either break or grow. In the beginning of the story he is sort of on a fulcrum that can go either way, or so we think. As it transpires later, he has passed that point before the story has even begun and come out a survivor..and more.
In an odd way he reminds me of a combination of pretty much your average foreign war veteran, and Thomas Covenant. But without the emo edges because Caz is stronger. One of those rare characters..I would by no means like to have gone through what he has,but I would love for someone to say I had his strength of character. Well one can dream,eh? And that, after all, is one of the things books are for.
Title: The Curse of Chalion (2001)
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: e-book
Series: Book One
I read this book for the book club over at
calico_reaction. To be honest I was a bit apprehensive because I have had bad luck with book clubs/writing groups etc in the past. Not generally their fault..seriously bad luck. Cars breaking down serious illness sort of bad luck. Not so in this case, for which I am gladdened. SO, on to the book,eh?I had not read anything by Ms Bujold. Nor do I generally tend to read what could arguably be called "High Fantasy?" No elves or such but there are castles aplenty and galleons,etc. But to be honest I would consider the book more of what I call a tweak story. That is to say, it could be a normal non genre piece except it was tweaked a bit. One could ALMOST easily slide religions from a roughly medieval time period into the story without altering it much. I say almost because I appreciated the development of the religions that she does have in her story, to the point that they are also characters of a sort in that they affect the plot and the individuals. There is more but I would be entering spoiler territory to bring them up.
There has been talk in the club about the slow beginning. Now granted, I read it in two sittings more or less because I had said I would read it. However, I did not find the beginning slow. Instead I was brought in immediately,first by the way the author drew the character, and then by the character himself. He is beaten down but not beaten. He has aged far more than he would have in peacetime. He has grown, perhaps even more than he realises at first. In short, he is real. Which in this type of fantasy is unusual. And for me a turning point of the story. Yes the love stories were all well done, and there are a number of them for a medium size book. And yes the characters were all quite believable, even the bad guys, who in fantasy more than other genres tend to be a bit two dimensional.
But Caz,albeit with the quasi-normal happy ending, is different. I say quasi because I did like him NOT falling for one of the main characters. He comes to us with his pain intact, he deals with that pain, he grows from that pain. People who go through what he has either break or grow. In the beginning of the story he is sort of on a fulcrum that can go either way, or so we think. As it transpires later, he has passed that point before the story has even begun and come out a survivor..and more.
In an odd way he reminds me of a combination of pretty much your average foreign war veteran, and Thomas Covenant. But without the emo edges because Caz is stronger. One of those rare characters..I would by no means like to have gone through what he has,but I would love for someone to say I had his strength of character. Well one can dream,eh? And that, after all, is one of the things books are for.
