The Curse of Chalion

I was still pretty ambivalent about this halfway through, but by 70% the plot just turned in a very satisfying way, and then the whole book just landed for me. Especially really enjoyed how the religion/magic system pivoted from 'yes that's a logical way that you could imagine a coherent society with a single religion working' to 'oh but what if it was .' And really an incredible episode of 'metaphysical ecstasy / transformation', that seems very difficult to do.

Noted on October 28, 2025

Picked this up because I read in a different book review that THIS was the best version of 'how would religion work in a fantasy novel'. I started off pretty lukewarm on this: a competently done castle-fantasy thing, with no magic (refreshing) and some politics (yawn?), but a great central character (approved!). And then the magic... happens! I am halfway through now and I do really appreciate how the religion is sketched out and the way it gets lived by the characters really does seem like a REAL practice. Good work Ms Bujold!

Noted on October 23, 2025