| The Curse of Chalion | |
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Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author(s) | 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) 502 pp (mass-market paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-380-97901-2 |
| OCLC Number | 44979697 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 21 |
| LC Classification | PS3552.U397 C87 2001 |
| 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, World Fantasy, and Locus Awards in 2002.[1]
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 contemporaneous novel that takes place to the south of Chalion and has its origin from incidents arising in the Weald, several hundred years before.
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Lupe dy Cazaril, a castillar (a knight or minor baron), returns home to the Royacy (Kingdom) of Chalion a broken man, though he is only in his mid-thirties. "Caz", as he is known to his friends, had defended a castle during a long siege, only to be ordered to surrender it. Afterward, a jealous enemy had seen to it that he was not ransomed (as were the rest of his men), but sold into slavery, spending 19 months as a galley slave before finally escaping.
His old noble patroness finds a use for him as a tutor for her granddaughter, the Royesse (Princess) Iselle, half-sister to the king, and her companion, Lady Betriz. Despite his ardent desire to live a safely low-profile, peaceful 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.
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.
Chalion is a looking-glass version of the kingdom of Castile and León, and the novel is loosely based on the lives of Isabella I 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 mirrored, north for south. Chalion is Castile; Ibra is Aragon and Valencia; South Ibra is Catalonia; Brajar is Portugal; the Roknari princedoms are Al-Andalus; and Darthaca is France.[2]
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