The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Bulfinch Encyclopedia of Mythology states that the twelve most illustrious knights of Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire were called Paladins. Lois McMaster Bujold took this term and applied it to the hero of her 2003 book, The Paladin of Souls, for which she got her fourth Hugo Award. 

Paladin of Souls is a fantasy work set in Chalion, a land where religious practice is split among the Five Gods: Father of Winter, Mother of Summer, Son of Autumn, Daughter of Spring, and the Bastard (God of Death). The Five Gods put a curse on Chalion a long time back, and people still suffer from the after-effects. The mythological world-building in this book is absolutely gripping.

The Plot

Ista, the middle-aged widowed queen mother, hates the Gods but takes on a phony holy pilgrimage to escape her confined life in the palace. While on the pilgrimage, Ista takes shelter at the castle of Lord Arrhys, and finds that his brother Illvin has been in a mysterious coma. There is clearly demon mischief afoot. Demon magic in this world is contractual in nature, bargain-based, and needs a host to proliferate. The Five Gods want Ista to look into the matter, which threatens to snowball into all-out war. Ista is NOT happy. She knows that gods test in enigmatic ways, and she is really done with that.

On the Magic Systems & Characterization

The magic used is more of a spiritual nature, and plays upon the relationship between human and god– human as a pawn for the gods’ grand design, human as a vehicle of the gods’ whims and fancies, human as a channel for gods’ miracles. Ista’s bitter disillusionment with the gods, followed by her eventual surrender to their call to become the paladin of souls — is both sad and exhilarating, and is the major turning point of the book. 

Ista is a very strongly-drawn character. Seldom is the protagonist of the book an older female, and definitely not one so likable. Her wry wisdom is from personal experience, and mixed with subtle snark. It is her no-nonsense practicality that wins her the loyalty of her companions, Ferda and Foix, Arrhys and Illvin. 

Overall

Paladin of Souls remains one of my all-time favorites. I recommend it highly for the world-building, excellent prose, and one of those startling climax scenes that leave you also with a sense of marvel in the miraculous.

He was fatter, brighter, whiter. Faintly androgynous. Did that flesh swell as if to contain the uncontainable? His garments were spotless—by that alone, Ista might have known the difference—and luminous as the moon. Above the creases of his smile, cheerfully echoed by the curves of his chins, the god’s eyes glinted at her. Wider than skies, deeper than sea chasms, their complexity bent inward endlessly, each layer a lamination of other layers, repeated into infinity, or the infinitesimal. Eyes that might simultaneously contemplate each person and living thing in the world, inside and out, with equal and unhurried attention.
My Lord Bastard.
Ista did not speak His name aloud, lest He mistake it for a prayer. Instead, she said lightly, “Aren’t I a little overmatched?”
He bowed over his immense belly. “Small, yet strong. I, as you know, cannot lift a leaf. Nor bend iron. Nor your will. My Ista.”
“I am not yours.”
“I speak in hope and anticipation, as a suitor may.” His smile bunched his fat face tighter.

Have you read Paladin of Souls? What did you love best about it? Are there any other books on mythological fantasy that you’d recommend?