The Curse of Chalion

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The Curse of Chalion

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author Lois McMaster Bujold
Cover artist Doug Beekman
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Fantasy novel
Publisher Eos (HarperCollins)
Publication date August 2001
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback), E-book
Pages 442 pp (hardcover)
512 pp (mass-market paperback)
ISBN ISBN 0-380-97901-2
Followed by Paladin of Souls

The Curse of Chalion is a 2001 fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. In 2002 it won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.

Both The Curse of Chalion and its sequel Paladin of Souls (2003) are set in the landlocked medieval kingdom of Chalion. The Hallowed Hunt (2005) is a prequel taking place in Darthaca, a land to the south of Chalion, several hundred years before.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

The novel centers on Lupe dy Cazaril, a castillar (knight or minor baron) who returns home to the Royacy (Kingdom) of Chalion a broken man, after being betrayed and spending more than a year as a galley slave in a nearby land. His old noble patroness finds a use for him as a tutor for her granddaughter, the Royesse (Princess) Iselle, sister to the king. Despite his ardent desire to live a safely low-profile life, Caz finds himself drawn into a strange journey of dangers both spiritual and temporal as he seeks to dispel the debilitating curse that hangs over the royal family of Chalion.

[edit] Major themes

The Curse of Chalion is noted for its focus on religion and metaphysics. This is not only a novel about self-sacrifice and redemption, but also a piece of speculative theological fiction which closely examines the relationship between free will, fate, and divine intervention.

The Five Gods of the Chalion world are developed original characters that follow strict rules rather than abstract entities with nebulous powers. Because the Gods can work only through the will of a consenting human there is a complex consideration of the problems of free will.

[edit] Allusions/references to actual history and geography

Chalion is a looking-glass version of the kingdom of Castile and Leon, and the novel is loosely based on the lives of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the unifiers of Spain. However, the story of The Curse of Chalion is not simply a retelling of the lives of Isabella and Ferdinand, and Chalion is not simply Castile. The story takes quite a different path from the historical one, and the major characters are distinct personalities, not simply versions of historical people.

Iselle's mother Ista, heroine of the sequel Paladin of Souls, is based on Isabella of Portugal. Iselle's father Roya (King) Ias is based on John II of Castile, whose favorite Alvaro de Luna inspired Bujold's Arvol dy Lutez. Iselle's half-brother Orico represents Henry IV of Castile, who was called "the Impotent", and her full brother Teidez corresponds to Alfonso de las Asturias. The geography is likewise based on that of the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century—but flipped north for south. Chalion is Castile; Ibra is Aragon and Valencia; South Ibra is Catalonia; Brajar is Portugal; the Roknari princedoms are Moorish Andalusia; and Darthaca is France [1].

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ as shown on the map: http://www.dendarii.com/map.html

[edit] External links