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mtvesselAug 2009
Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold - Voyager, 2004
* * *
Fantasy sequels are two-a-penny and are almost never as good as the original. One mistake is effectively to re-tell the original story with the same or different characters (David Eddings' Malloreon, Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy). Another is the "what happens next" scenario for the protagonist, which must piggy-back on the world-building of the original and tends to be either dull or inconsistent (Stephen Donaldson's Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy). Lois McMaster Bujold, talented writer that she is, has successfully circumnavigated these traps in this, her sequel to The Curse of Chalion. However, her choice of character and subject matter has made plain the holes in her world-building.
The protagonist of The Curse of Chalion, Cazaril, does not appear in person. Instead, Bujold shifts the viewpoint character to Ista, the mother of the new Queen of Chalion, who was a secondary but important presence in the previous book. This is a clever move - Cazaril sends her a message early on which creates a frisson of recognition in the reader, but his backstory and baggage can be safely discarded and Ista's character developed.
The motivation for this story is boredom. Ista wants to get away from her luxurious but enervating existence as dowager royina, and hits on the idea of undertaking a pilgrimage despite her less-than-cordial relationship with the gods, who have used her previously for their own nefarious ends. She accumulates a party of characters including the two strapping fighters Ferda and Foix, a go-getting female courier called Liss, and dy Cabon, a portly divine of the Bastard (the outsider in the family of gods). The first 150 pages or so are fairly uneventful as the pilgrimage gets going, but then her party is attacked by invading Roknari and she is captured. She is rescued by a handsome hero called Arhys, with whom she reluctantly starts to fall in love. Fortunately the possible Georgette Heyer rabbit hole is avoided as Arhys turns out to have an over-protective wife, a brother in a coma and a small medical problem, issues that only Ista, it appears, can sort out.
My problems with this book started with Ista herself, who is too much of a poor little rich girl. It is difficult to sympathise with someone who has everything she could possibly need and is being waited on hand and foot, albeit in a rather repressive fashion. Her elevation to viewpoint character status has also caused her to undergo an awkward transition from the rule-breaking, borderline insane woman of The Curse of Chalion into a more conventional follow-the-rules-but-subvert-them lead character here.
This transition is necessary because of the god plot that is at the core of the novel. In Bujold's world, the gods consist of an archetypal nuclear family of father, mother, son and daughter and a fifth deity called the Bastard. Bujold's religion is an attractive fusion of Christian and Graeco-Roman elements, with the conventional power structures of the family undercut by the disruptive presence of the Bastard, allowing for alternative lifestyles and relationships (it is telling that the Roknari villains also believe in the four main deities but consider followers of the Bastard to be heretics who must be killed. The strong implication is that their society is intolerant of gays and others who do not conform to the family stereotype).
It's a brave choice to foreground religion so prominently in an American fantasy novel - the majority of writers downplay the religious element of mediaeval societies so as to avoid alienating sections of their audience, but with the result that their worlds feel unconvincing. Quite simply, feudalism needs a strong religious institution to remain stable. There have to be reasons why the majority of people accept its grotesquely unfair distribution of wealth and power. In history this was a combination of the religious hierarchy backing up the political one and the mafia-like protection racket that mediaeval knights and barons appear to have operated. In Bujold's world it is less clear-cut - Liss, for example, seems quite happy to accept her inferior position as lady's maid to Ista, but it is not clear why she does this given the absence of any obvious divine right of kings in the theology of the Five or might-makes-right coercion. There is a nasty unexamined assumption that people have a place, with some born to lead (and be rich) and others to follow (and be poor). Which, come to think of it, is also present in the Barryaran society of the Miles Vorkosigan books.
Another problem for a story set in a world with active gods is the clash between mystery and moral responsibility. On the one hand, gods are supposed to be powerful and mysterious beings whose ways are not fathomable by mere human intellects. On the other, apparently arbitrary divine interventions can make the decisions of the human protagonist inconsequential. In resolving the agonising and genuinely interesting conundrum that drives the second half of the book Bujold tries to plot a middle way, but for my money the result is disappointingly arbitrary.
God plots are incredibly difficult to do, and the fact that Bujold didn't quite succeed with this one is no shame. The book is still an enjoyable and addictive read and feels considerably shorter than its 600-odd pages. Which is more than can be said for most fantasy sequels.
Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold - Voyager, 2004
* * *
Fantasy sequels are two-a-penny and are almost never as good as the original. One mistake is effectively to re-tell the original story with the same or different characters (David Eddings' Malloreon, Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy). Another is the "what happens next" scenario for the protagonist, which must piggy-back on the world-building of the original and tends to be either dull or inconsistent (Stephen Donaldson's Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy). Lois McMaster Bujold, talented writer that she is, has successfully circumnavigated these traps in this, her sequel to The Curse of Chalion. However, her choice of character and subject matter has made plain the holes in her world-building.
The protagonist of The Curse of Chalion, Cazaril, does not appear in person. Instead, Bujold shifts the viewpoint character to Ista, the mother of the new Queen of Chalion, who was a secondary but important presence in the previous book. This is a clever move - Cazaril sends her a message early on which creates a frisson of recognition in the reader, but his backstory and baggage can be safely discarded and Ista's character developed.
The motivation for this story is boredom. Ista wants to get away from her luxurious but enervating existence as dowager royina, and hits on the idea of undertaking a pilgrimage despite her less-than-cordial relationship with the gods, who have used her previously for their own nefarious ends. She accumulates a party of characters including the two strapping fighters Ferda and Foix, a go-getting female courier called Liss, and dy Cabon, a portly divine of the Bastard (the outsider in the family of gods). The first 150 pages or so are fairly uneventful as the pilgrimage gets going, but then her party is attacked by invading Roknari and she is captured. She is rescued by a handsome hero called Arhys, with whom she reluctantly starts to fall in love. Fortunately the possible Georgette Heyer rabbit hole is avoided as Arhys turns out to have an over-protective wife, a brother in a coma and a small medical problem, issues that only Ista, it appears, can sort out.
My problems with this book started with Ista herself, who is too much of a poor little rich girl. It is difficult to sympathise with someone who has everything she could possibly need and is being waited on hand and foot, albeit in a rather repressive fashion. Her elevation to viewpoint character status has also caused her to undergo an awkward transition from the rule-breaking, borderline insane woman of The Curse of Chalion into a more conventional follow-the-rules-but-subvert-them lead character here.
This transition is necessary because of the god plot that is at the core of the novel. In Bujold's world, the gods consist of an archetypal nuclear family of father, mother, son and daughter and a fifth deity called the Bastard. Bujold's religion is an attractive fusion of Christian and Graeco-Roman elements, with the conventional power structures of the family undercut by the disruptive presence of the Bastard, allowing for alternative lifestyles and relationships (it is telling that the Roknari villains also believe in the four main deities but consider followers of the Bastard to be heretics who must be killed. The strong implication is that their society is intolerant of gays and others who do not conform to the family stereotype).
It's a brave choice to foreground religion so prominently in an American fantasy novel - the majority of writers downplay the religious element of mediaeval societies so as to avoid alienating sections of their audience, but with the result that their worlds feel unconvincing. Quite simply, feudalism needs a strong religious institution to remain stable. There have to be reasons why the majority of people accept its grotesquely unfair distribution of wealth and power. In history this was a combination of the religious hierarchy backing up the political one and the mafia-like protection racket that mediaeval knights and barons appear to have operated. In Bujold's world it is less clear-cut - Liss, for example, seems quite happy to accept her inferior position as lady's maid to Ista, but it is not clear why she does this given the absence of any obvious divine right of kings in the theology of the Five or might-makes-right coercion. There is a nasty unexamined assumption that people have a place, with some born to lead (and be rich) and others to follow (and be poor). Which, come to think of it, is also present in the Barryaran society of the Miles Vorkosigan books.
Another problem for a story set in a world with active gods is the clash between mystery and moral responsibility. On the one hand, gods are supposed to be powerful and mysterious beings whose ways are not fathomable by mere human intellects. On the other, apparently arbitrary divine interventions can make the decisions of the human protagonist inconsequential. In resolving the agonising and genuinely interesting conundrum that drives the second half of the book Bujold tries to plot a middle way, but for my money the result is disappointingly arbitrary.
God plots are incredibly difficult to do, and the fact that Bujold didn't quite succeed with this one is no shame. The book is still an enjoyable and addictive read and feels considerably shorter than its 600-odd pages. Which is more than can be said for most fantasy sequels.
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Date: 2010-01-25 12:54 pm (UTC)The plot appears to be, "Everything you do will fail. Until you do what God (a.k.a. 'the magic') tells you. Then everything will be sorted out for you."
And it results in an even more implausible "native peoples win out" scenario than in Avatar (I am sure you're read my comments on that movie).
Loathsome. And somehow, I find Hobb's technical skill as a writer makes the whole experience worse, because I got initially fished in to the characters and setup before realising that the story was a pile of crap!