No I'm typically into Science Fiction rather than Fantasy, but have read quite a bit in this genre as well. I thought the world created by Bujold to be well thought out and very enticing. The storyline more than held my interest - at points I couldn't put the book down. Bujold really hits it out of the park with the second book [Paladin of Souls] however. It's funny how each book in this series is really only related by the fantasy-world in which they are written - there's only a passing connection between the characters in this book and the next, so each may be read and appreciated as a stand-alone.read more

This was my first book by Bujold and after reading it I had to hunt up everything else she wrote I could find in stores or failing that borrow them from the library. This book earned a spot in my precious limited shelf space and I've read and enjoyed it more than once (and just writing this review makes me want to pick it up again). Bujold's an exceptional writer and I was pulled in at once; there was never a moment I wanted to put the book down. The protagonist, Cazaril, immediately gained my sympathies--a broken man, he goes to a noblewoman asking for any place in her household and winds up tutor to her granddaughter, Princess Iselle, and through her is thrown back into court intrigues. The setting feels like Renaissance Spain, and in fact I think I recall reading somewhere Bujold modeled Iselle on the story of Queen Isabella of Spain--it certainly has a subtly different flavor than the plethora of fantasies that feel like a pseudo-medieval Britain. Bujold creates an interesting blend of Pagan and Christian mythologies for her religious system in this novel--complete with a curse on Cazaril. I loved these characters and this world. I don't know what it is exactly at times what lifts a book from just a good read to one where at the end the characters feel like friends and the world one you want to enter again and again--but the book has it in spades. I loved the sequel to this book Paladin of Souls just as much--both books won Hugos.read more

Excellent start of a new series by Bujold. She is a masterful writer who creates complex worlds with living characters in them. She is particularly good with her female protagonists in this series.I've just reread this book and think this review is far to tepid. This is an exploration of prayer and the gods, and fate and madness and choice and curses. Really, it's one of the best fantasy books I've ever read and I love Caz as a character. He's just wonderful. I often read the first page of new fantasies and sigh, because I can already tell that they are not as good as the Curse of Chalion. It's the pinacle that all others must try to reach...read more