Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 448
Printing Date: 1901-08
Sale Popularity Level: 1343891
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A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is subsequent in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions.
But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge -- an act that will mark him as a tool of the miraculous . . . and trap him in a lethal maze of demonic paradox.
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Rated by buyers 
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Lois Bujold is a brilliant writer. I loved the characters, flaws and all I became wrapped up in their lives. While I was listening everything around me disappeared. The Authors descriptions say so much in so few words. The story just picked me up and took me along. There are such strong relationships between so many of the characters it seemed to add magic to the story.
I would have to say this story is now up there my favourites of all my listening.
Rated by buyers 
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I should preface my review with the fact that this is my very first reading of Bujold and that I had read many reviews about this book before picking it up.
I really enjoyed the initial setting-up of the story and the tone that was set. However, immediately after this came a 'stretch out' where the prose dragged down the pace and the story slowed with extraneous detail.
Other reviews had mentioned this, and it was because of those reviews that I was prepared for such style, and I finished the book undeterred - which I am glad I did. The storyline is great, but 100 pages less, and the book would have been a much better fit for me.
Rated by buyers 
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This book was well written and had a very well developed, fascinating culture and belief system. Cazaril was an intruguing character. But, by the end I was struggling to finish it. I thought the ending was pretty predictable, and overall the book was perhaps a bit too short on action and excitement.
Rated by buyers -
This is the anti-miles book. Miles does not participate, and the hero here seems to be almost his opposite in every way. He's painfully modest, and quite restrained. Fortunately, it turns out that this is one of the best books ever written by anyone. It totally rocks, in every way. If you've gotten this far, just buy this book now.
Rated by buyers -
Wow! Now THIS is a novel! After having just slogged halfway through and then abandoned an epic fantasy in which the "heroes" of the book are so unlikable and stupid and narcissistic that I was praying for the "bad guys" to win and slaughter them, The Curse of Chalion is immensely refreshing.
Likable main characters! Likable supporting cast! Beautiful storytelling! A mature and believable plot line! Solid world-building! Amazing!
I don't know how Bujold does it, but even the cliched parts are refreshing, and the evil villains are evil without my imagining them twirling their mustaches and tying damsels in distress to railroad tracks. The writing is superb, the characters so deftly drawn and handled. Each sentence is important, nothing is wasted.
This book shows how conventional elements can be taken and made into something new and fresh and exciting. The storyline itself is conventional: a battle-scarred, honorable man has been chosen by fate to save a kingdom from enemies within the royal court. And yet, at the same time, the storyline is not at all conventional: the hero is canny and circumspect, there are no raging battles, and except for the ending no spectacular mystical pyrotechnics.
The characters are conventional and yet not conventional. The usual cast of spies, kings, queens, princes, princesses, warriors, and "wizards" of a sort are all present, and yet each one is unique, fresh, original. These characters are ALIVE, they are real, they are themselves. The plotline makes sense, is not convoluted or inane.
Altogether, a wonderful book, wonderfully written, with an excellent, compelling plot, a satisfying conclusion, and marvelous and lovely characters. Wonderful book. I wish there were more out there like this one.
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