The Curse of Chalion

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

Lord Cazaril has been, in turn, courtier, castle-warder, and captain; now he is but a crippled ex-galley slave seeking nothing more than a menial job in the kitchens of the Dowager Provincara, the noble patroness of his youth. But Cazaril finds himself promoted to the exalted and dangerous position of tutor to Iselle, the beautiful, fiery sister of the heir to Chalion's throne.

Amidst the decaying splendor and poisonous intrigue of Chalion's ancient capital, Cazaril is forced to confront not only powerful enemies but also the malignant curse that clings to the royal household, trapping him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death for as long as he dares walk the five-fold pathway of the gods.

©2004 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2004 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"Bujold weaves a convincing and captivating fantasy world, well researched, with magic that works and gods that live without destroying the balance of this medieval society....A finely balanced mixture of adventure, swordplay, court intrigue, romance, magic, and religion makes this book a delightful read." (School Library Journal)

What makes a hero... LMB knows

I have yet to read any of LMB's work that does not play the full range of my emotions. She has an incredible knack of turning a person cursed with seemingly unconquerable disabilities of the mind, body or/and heart, giving them an impossible set of tasks and turning them into a hero that takes the reader on a wonderful adventure.

I thoroughly enjoyed the world she has spun with the Chalion series. It does a brilliant job at showing the multi layers that make up each true humans.

Excellent Fantasy... Epic in feel, finite in pace

Although "Paladin of Souls" ties to this book and thereby engenders the label "series", the satisfaction of completing this well told tale with an actual ending cannot be denied. In the genre of Epic Fantasy with it's continuing storylines and characters, "The Curse of Chalion" encapsulates that flowing grandness into a single volume and deservedly leaves us wanting more. Not needing it, wanting it. That being said, Bujold's mastery of her craft is evident here with an intruiging deep portrayal of her protagonist, Caz. His journey is profound and heartfelt as it winds it's way along it's surprising path. The reading is excellent and kept me immersed throughout.

Well done by all.

Brilliant in every respect

When if first heard the voice of the protagonist, Lord Cazaril in The Curse of Chalion, I thought oh brother, this is not going to be good. Was I ever wrong. The narrator Lloyd James was brilliant. This is one of those rare books where the hero is about as reluctant or prepared as one can be to be a hero. But quite the spectacular one he is. This is the perfect fairytale.

While only middle-aged, in those days (whenever that was), he is certainly not young and virile. No, he is beaten-down and crippled by years on a slave ship. But his heart is strong and his mind is as sharp as ever and he rises to every occasion to meet and successfully deal with adversity. Adversity does not often come in the form of knockdown, drag out, hand-to-hand combat or epic wars but skillful and intelligent (often in spite of himself) dealings in royal politics and usually not so adroit magic. And this is a magical story.

While not originally drawn to the book by the court intrigue and romance, what the magic and even religion contributed, it all worked to draw me in deeply to a captivating world and a very sweet story. This was another example of a narrator adding a whole other dimension to the book. I loved it.

Action, Magic, Romance = Absolute Heaven!

A grizzled galley slave turns out to be a hero, and a very high magician. And that's just the beginning!

For anyone looking for a new series, or a new brilliant story teller, or a great reader -- look no further. Curse of Chalion is brilliant. I promise you will fall in love with the characters. LMB has a unique ability to create a world that comes alive. I enjoyed every minute of my time in Chalion, and know I will revisit it over and over again.

Also: Do NOT miss the sequel, Paladin of Souls. It is every bit as good. And when you've finished both of them, start the Sharing Knife series. It's exquisite, too! Then, it's on to the Vor books!

Please redo this book with a different narrator

I am sorry to say this, but the narrator ruined this book for me. I am maybe a quarter way through and I have to stop. His narration is so distracting that I am continually being pulled out of the story. The problem is that he constantly pauses where there should not be a pause in a sentence. For instance, he stops and takes a breath right in the middle of a phrase -- not after it, mind you, where a comma might be, but right in the middle. And then his voice will speed up as he finishes the sentence. In addition, he sometimes mispronounces words - "memory" as "men-O-ry". What?? It makes me think he's not in the story while reading, but rather letting his eyes stream over the words on the page and speaking them as words, rather than forming logical sentences with proper phrasing. I've listened to a lot of books, and this is one of the most unpleasant I've listened to. It's a shame because I really like the story. I am returning this book and will read a hardcover copy from my local library instead.

The narrator ought to be shot

The Curse of Chalion is one of two of Bujold's books that I truly love, the other being its sequel Paladin of Souls.

Lloyd James has Murdered it. When 'Teidez' is pronounced "tee-DEHZ' and 'Lupe' 'LOOP-ay', I can write it off as creative license, despite the shudder going down my spine. But when 'Betriz' is pronounced 'bee-TREHZ', alarm bells start ringing at deafening tones. The characters' accents are cliche, and sadly, adhering to the wrong stereotypes for the respective characters. There are random halts in the middle of sentences, and he insists on pronouncing 'wh-'s as 'hwh-'s, e.g. 'wheezing' as 'HUH-wheezing'. PLUS you can hear him swallowing his spit and drawing breath between chapters and sentences.

To sum up - EURGH.

Best non-epic fantasy in existence

Cazaril is my homeboy!

Seriously, this book is awesome. I first listened to it about 5 years ago and I still find myself coming back to it every few months for a re-listen.
I've read plenty of epic fantasy and sword and sorcery type stuff. This is neither, but, whatever it is, you should read it.

Everything about this one is a winner. Cool, cool story, super characters, nicely built world and wicked finish. There's something about the maimed, self-effacing hero that Bujold got so right in this book.

This is one to recommend to anyone from 13-93.

An Original Metaphysical Historical Fantasy

This is an original, well-conceived, well-written, exciting, and unpredictable historical-fantasy novel, featuring an unusual protagonist in Lupe dy Cazaril (Caz for short), a thirty-five-year-old ex-soldier who has been physically and emotionally damaged and wants only to live out his days quietly and out of sight, preferably working at menial tasks for charity, but who finds himself caught up in the complicated and dangerous political and spiritual affairs of his home state of Chalion. Bujold takes genre conventions like the weak king, the evil counselor, the innocent princess, the weathered hero, the dire curse, and the set of patriarchal and bickering medieval states and develops all of them in unexpected and satisfying ways, partly due to how carefully she works out her secondary world's religious system and gods so as to make the reader think in new ways about fate, free will, divinity, heaven, matter, and spirit. And she tells a good story with believably human characters we care about.

As for the reader, I came to enjoy Lloyd James voice and mannerisms very much, his hesitations, laughs, accents, all work (even when he seems to don a southern accent for an old former court woman), and he infuses the story with extra wit, humor, emotion, and intelligence.

All in all an enjoyable book difficult to turn off.

Perfect storytelling

The Curse of Chalion by Louise McMaster Bujold

This was my most recent Audible listen, and is most definitely one of the best single (non series) audiobooks I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.

This book is not epic fantasy, high fantasy, or dark fantasy, it falls somewhere in what I would call middle fantasy.

It has a low-magic feel, and is more character driven than any other fantasy piece I can remember. It would definitely appeal to mainstream fiction fans. I don't have any negative comments on this book, it was a fine example of what a fantasy novel should be.

This book gets a perfect 5 from me, and that's saying something, because I don't think I've ever given a perfect score to a fantasy novel before, not even to Tolkien, sorry.

Good, solid read

This book hasn't changed fantasy fiction forever, but I definitely enjoyed reading it and would read another book by this author. The world-building isn't amazingly cutting edge, but it's solid and internally consistent. The protagonist isn't utterly unique in the genre, but he's sympathetic, and the supporting characters serve their intended purposes. The plot is relatively straightforward, though there are a few delightful little twists. The writing style relies on a lot of internal monologue and narrative exposition, but this is hardly the only book in the genre to do so, and I've seen many books that did it less successfully. The narrator does a good job distinguishing the voices of the fairly large cast of characters.

In all, I was completely satisfied with this book and its presentation.

Consider this an investment in pleasure

For brevity:

Very cleverly constructed, balanced and interesting plot, enlivened by complex, humorous, often humane characters and pleasant dialogue.

The reader is a pleasant surprise and the pace of the book is well done.

In greater depth:

It is always a pleasure to see such tightly plotted stories working so finely as a composition of ideas, characters and narrative. There were several moments where I was able to delight in the pleasure of an event subtly foreshadowed, the soft click of apparently random puzzle pieces clicking together. While the story is not as convoluted as an epic, or as meticulously involved as a character study, it certainly is witty and intelligent writing amongst the best in fantasy.

A charming and sympathetic male protagonist written with great panache is also a rare present to cherish and here, as with other works by talented novelists, is another to join the stable of memorable characters in fantasy literature.

A wonderful, absorbing book...

Well - now what do I do? I've been captivated by this for the past few weeks, rationing myself to only listening while I'm at the gym to make the tedium of the treadmill bearable, and boy, did this book help!
I thought this was beautifully read, and I didn't find any of the problems mentioned by other reviewers. The narrator deals with several principal characters well, coping with males and females, and I loved the way he allowed the principal character Caz to develop slowly through the book.
Problems? The names are all slightly Italian'ish, and didn't sit well in my head, so I spent a fair bit of time unsure as to who was who, but I did get there!
This is a lovely, slow measured build of a book, that holds the attention, never drags, and totally absorbs. Well worth the listen!

My Favourite Bujold Fantasy

Cazaril, once courtier, courier/spy, captain and castle warder, now homeless, hungry and ragged, is a broken man, physically and mentally, seeking only a quiet refuge in a place in which he was once happy. To his surprise and extreme gratitude he is installed in the household of the Dowager Provincara, charged with the task of being tutor-secretary to her granddaughter Iselle, lively sister of the heir to Chalion's throne.



Thus begins a sequence of events that takes Caz back to the capital, a seething hotbed of poisonous intrigue with a weak and sickly ruler and an ambitious chancellor. Murder, greed and betrayal are commonplace, but there are unexpected allies as well. A shadow hangs over the ruling house, also threatening Iselle and her brother. Gradually Caz unravels the origins of a curse, but not without deadly danger and drawing the attention of the Five Gods down on himself.



Why do I like this book so much? Though it has plot in spades, the characterisation is what lifts it above the ordinary. Caz gradually rebuilds himself throughout the book despite, or perhaps partly because of being an unwitting tool of the gods. He never sees himself as extraordinary, even though he does extraordinary things. He retains integrity and honour and has a deep internal moral compass, yet he's not stuffy and owns a wry sense of humour.



There's a love story in this too: true it's very subtle and on first reading you hardy notice it, but it plays out well.



The story is a study of how one quiet but determined man can effect great change. It's a dialogue between free-will and divine intervention. Where does one stop and the other start?



Bujold never disappoints, and of all her books this is my favourite. I wasn't sure I liked Lloyd James' narration to start off with (the American accent jarred a little) but it quickly grew on me. Highly recommended in both written and audio format.

a story which develops well

I've read this as a book, so the plot was no surprise, but even so I took pleasure again in the development of our knowledge of the main character, Caz and of the world he lives in. What at first appears a simple medieval style fantasy novel of a world with it's own theology becomes deeper, more complex and a very satisfying story.
I have marked it down slightly as I sometimes found the narrator's voice too intrusive, but I always find it a mark of a good book that I'll go about the house listening to the book rather than switch the radio on, which I certainly did in this case.

Great book, reading a bit patchy

I love this book and the sequel, Paladin of Souls. Mostly the reading is very good, and does capture the emotions well. However, sometimes he does voices/accents which are a bit overdone, eg the "yokel" accent near the beginning of part 2. And, annoyingly, the reader occasionally stresses or breaks up the sentences in a way that makes a nonsense of what is being said - I'm not clear why as mostly it's good. As I say, a very good book, but not the ideal reading of it.

Gripping from beginning to end

This is the first book by Lois McMaster Bujold I've listened to and I am now a fan. She has created a cast of believable characters for an intriguing story set in a world that has depth and colour. Lloyd James does a great job of the narration.

wonderfully complex

Bujold creates a complex mythology to frame this fantasy world. No details in this story are superfluous or inconsequential. Everything proceeds from one event to the next as logically as they are unpredictable. The narrator differentiates between voices very well and I found his voice pleasing to listen to. Definitely recommend.

Really enjoyed it!

Absorbing and riveting, with a protagonist who is heroic in a realistic way. The narrator was also very engaging.

An old favorite presented anew

Ok a minor explanation, have read this book a couple of dozen times over the years.

When I saw it on Audible I had to buy it. Took a few days to finish it as not able to spend all time listening. A good book, presented well and with decent characters.
Those who don't know the world of Chalion its a good introduction, not leaving the reader confused. Most of the characters are fleshed out enough to identify with or dislike. A few I would have liked to be presented better but minor characters hardly of note.

Would recommend giving this one a try. Now to search for the others in the series....

Very beloved by many. Adult twist on a fairytale.

Very beloved by many. Adult twist on a fairytale. I found it quite a tame read, nice enough, and not at all grim. I didn't agree with the hype this book has got, I didn't find it brilliant, just very good. Well worth the read/listen.