Ahira's Hangar

This is the latest novel by Lois McMaster Bujold (best-known for her novels about Miles Vorkosigan) and the sequel to The Curse of Chalion.

I'm not coming into this story without prejudices. The fact is I loved Chalion as a well-written work with interesting characters, a rather refreshing setting (not a Celt in sight! ) as well as an attempt to treat religion seriously.

The sequel is not--quite--as good, honestly, but I still enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it. Its story focuses in on a supporting character in the previous novel--Ista, the dowager royina of Chalion. She is someone with a serious burden of tragedy, guilt and frustration, serious enough to hope she'll be one of the "lucky" few who know true oblivion when they die--bereft of all memory of their pasts. Her journey, which begins as a literal one following her mother's death, is to becoming a very different person.

Not wanting to spoil those who'll read the book, I won't dwell on the plot but simply point out that we meet many new characters and explore parts of this world we've not known before. Bujold has a genuine talent at world-building and having it all fit together, which shows very well here. The division between Quintarians (who worship the Five Gods) and the Quadrenes (who claim one of the Five is the equivalent of Satan) is really quite interesting, and makes for quite an echo of the differences between the two societies. Bujold, not surprisingly (if you know here works), focuses on a story of imperfect redemption. It makes for a bittersweet, but also very loving story, and reserves the greatest condemnation for those who refuse to bend. The villains of the piece never doubt, never feel guilt, never waver from the strict interpretation of their rules. In other words, they are so infused with their own arrogance they cannot grow.

Likewise the relationship between the Spiritual and Material is explored in a way that's genuinely inextricable from the story! Bravo! And all of this is tied up with a very human story of people who've tried, and failed, so now have to find the courage to try again.

What's not to like? Well, some will find the ending a little too neat. Myself, I thought there were details left unexplained that left me itchy--odd, because the same kind of details were left that way in Chalion and didn't bother me at all. And honestly, this tale proceeded at a much more breakneck pace, one I thought that distracted from the story in some ways.

But I strongly recommend the book anyway--a compelling read. "O let my name be in the Book of Love; if it be there I care
Not of the other great book above. Strike it out!
Or write it in anew. But let my name be in the Book of Love!"
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I enjoyed Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls. They were both well written, solid fantasy with characters you can care about...vintage Bujold -- characters who have been beaten down by life and have to fight to get back on track...both of the books have a nice Spanish sort of flavor to them, too...
The religion and the magic based upon it was very interesting, not at all your usual style...
Best of all, you could read either book as a stand alone -- a big plus when you are waiting for as many books in as many series as I am.
For those who might be interested in Bujold, who I believe has won as many or perhaps more Hugos than any other living writer, there is a thread devoted to her in the science fiction forum, as most of her work is that field. Chalion and Paladin are her first major forays into fantasy, though she did write one other fantasy book (which read like a fairy tale) some years ago...I think it was called The Spirit Ring... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell

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Perhaps I'll come for you myself some night. You ought to see me...my fur is white now, pale as snow,but the stature, the majesty, the power, those have not left me...We are the direwolves, the nightmares who haunt your racial memories, the dark shapes circling endlessly beyond the light of your fires.~George R.R. Martin<i></i>

I loved The Curse of Chalion, and I'm looking forward to starting Paladin of Souls - I have the enormous paperback stored under my bed until I finish Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, then I'll be reading it. <i></i>

I finished the book (turns out I have to wait two weeks for tGAT:SIEGE, so I had a lot of spare time) - great book. Personally, I'd like to see more Chalion books, whether Cazaril, Ista, or some new character. <i></i>

I would as well, Murrin. Bujold is a first rate author. I know you don't care for science fiction, but hers is very character driven and you might like it...start with Shards of Honor then Barrayar (you can get the two together in an omnibus called Cordelia's Honor as well)...if you ever try them I think you will be for a very nice surprise... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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