Awards
2004 Hugo Award for Best Novel of the Year
Synopses & Reviews
Follow Lois McMaster Bujold, one of the most honored authors in the field of fantasy and science fiction, to a land threatened by treacherous war and beset by demons as a royal dowager, released from the curse of madness and manipulated by an untrustworthy god, is plunged into a desperate struggle to preserve the endangered souls of a realm.
Review
"[R]ich in sumptuous detail and speculative theology....[H]igh fantasy fans should thrill at Ista's spiritual perils....This engaging installment of Chalion's mythical history whets the appetite for new marvels yet to come." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Bujold couldn't characterize badly if threatened with a firing squad, and what really keeps one turning the pages is the fascinating cast of characters not that the plot is anything to sneeze at." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Skillfully layered, the story offers suspense, romance, humor, and a touch of intellectual play....Superbly and smartly written, this novel will entice even those readers not traditionally drawn to fantasy." VOYA
Review
"The author of the popular Miles Vorkosigan sf saga demonstrates her storytelling skill and artful humor in an engaging fantasy that belongs in most libraries." Library Journal
Review
"Fresh, intriguing, and as always from Lois McMaster Bujold, superb." Robert Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of The Wheel of Time Series
Synopsis
This winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel of the Year takes readers to a land threatened by war and beset by demons.
About the Author
One of the most respected writers in the field of speculative fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold burst on to the scene in 1986 with Shards of Honor, the first of her tremendously popular Vorkosigan Saga novels. She has received numerous accolades and prizes, including the Nebula Award for Falling Free and three Hugo Awards for Best Novel: The Vor Game, Barrayar, and Mirror Dance; as well as the Hugo and Nebula Awards for her novella Mountains of Mourning she has, in fact, won more Hugo Awards for Best Novel than any other author with the exception of Robert A. Heinlein. Her previous novel, The Curse of Chalion, was on the final ballot for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel and it won the Mytheopeic Award. The mother of two, Bujold lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.