The Curse of Chalion

Returning home to Cardegoss after escaping slavery in the galleys of the barbaric Roknari, Lupe dy Cazaril, soldier and former slave, is appointed tutor and secretary to the Royesse Iselle, sister to the heir to the throne. Caught up in a web of intrigue, he resorts to black magic - and finds himself an unwitting saint. Now only he can remove the eponymous curse that haunts the royal line. This is what might once have been called 'low fantasy'. In other words, its atmosphere is gritty and dark; the characters are largely flawed or unscrupulous. The trappings of romance are conspicuously absent: there are no magic swords, dragons, dark towers, non-human races or spectacular displays of supernatural power. What magic there is, is understated - spells are miraculous interventions by one of five gods (who form a celestial family of father, mother, son, daughter and bastard), rather than a species of heavy artillery. Instead, it is a fantasy of rare emotional sophistication and depth whose atmosphere is reminiscent of the earthy Elizabethan bleakness of King Lear (right down to some infelicitous uses of cod-Shakespearean prose - 'bethought himself', 'very heaven'). Cazaril himself is an unconventional but sympathetic hero. A fully adult man, scarred both physically and psychologically by his past, competent without being exceptional, he finds himself the unwilling host to a supernatural power. Bujold captures nicely his sense of being powerless but experienced, confused but still perceptive. It is a shame that the book lacks the sense of joyous energy imparted to Bujold's space-opera writing by her best creation, military genius Miles Vorkosigan; but then, this is a slower book, which aims for a different and more serious tone, and by and large succeeds admirably. (Kirkus UK)