Book Review: The Hallowed Hunt SPOILERS!

In 2005, Lois McMaster Bujold returned to her speculative fiction world in the Chalion Trilogy to write the conclusion that ignores the other two entries and adds a slightly new taste to a stale plot. Synopsis: Prince Boleso is dead--slain by a nobelwoman he had intended to defile*. Lord Ingrey kin Wolfcliff has been dispatched to the remote castle of the late, exiled, half-mad royal to transport the body to its burial place and the accused killer, the Lady Ijada, to judgement. Ingrey's mission is an ugly and delicate one, for the imminent death of the old Hallow King has placed the crown in play, and the murder of his youngest son threatens to further roil already treacherous political waters. But there is more here than a prince's degenerate lusts and the fatal retribution it engendered. Boleso's dark act, though unfinished, inadvertently bestowed an unwanted mystical "gift" upon proud, brave Ijada that must ultimately mean her doom--a curse similar to one with which Ingrey himself has been burdened since boyhood. A forbidden spirit now inhabits the soul of Ijada, giving her senses she never wished for and an obligation no one sane would desire. At once psychically linked to the remarkable lady and repelled by what she carries within, Ingrey fears the havoc his own inner beast could wreak while on their journey, as he fights a powerful growing attraction...and an equally powerful compulsion to kill. The road they travel together is beset with dangers--and though duty-bound to deliver Ijada to an almost certain execution, Ingrey soon realizes that she is the only one he dares trust. For a malevolent enemy with designs on a troubled kingdom holds Ingrey in his sway--and without Ijada's aid and love, the haunted lord will never be able to break free and realize the great and terrible destiny bestowed upon him by the gods, the damned, and the dead.

And there's no longer any reason for me to review this book. I mean she just tells you what happens in the synopsis on the cover--okay, well, I'm looking at the hardcover edition. It may be something different on the paperback edition. Anyway...

The novel starts just like above. Boleso is dead. Ingery must return his body and Ijada to Easthome. Both Ingrey and Ijada have animal spirits trapped in them--Ingrey's from childhood, Ijada's from Boleso and a mystery sorcerer from Ingrey's past. Along the travel back, Ingrey feels compelled to kill Ijada and each time manages to save her from his possessed body. Ijada notes a second presence in Ingrey (yeah, that's gonna get annoying after a while; the in Ingrey, I mean) and has him stop along the path to find her friend Hallana who is a member of the Bastards Order who has a demon living inside her. Hallana tries to break it and succeeds much to the cost of freeing the trapped wolf-spirit in Ingrey. Well, not free from the body, more like free from the chains Ingrey and others placed upon it since childhood. They learn that there is something calling the two of them and in a dream Ijada notes that it has something to do with her lands and dead people that were once known as Wealding sorcerers and soldiers. Ingrey's comrade, Wencel, points out how dumb and stupid this seems (much like the rest of us).

Once at Easthome, Ingrey talks to Sealmaster Hetwar and Prince Biast of his events and they agree to postpone Ijada's execution until after the funeral. During that funeral, Ingrey and Ijada fall asleep and meet the Son of Autumn who commands Ingrey to free Boleso's animal spirits from Boleso so he can take him, which Ingrey does, though he believes that Boleso doesn't deserve it. After the funeral, Ijada and Ingrey tell Lewko--a member of the Bastards Order--about the dream/vision thing. The three find out that a servant, Cumril, is the sorcerer who placed the animal spirits in Ingrey and Ijada. They interrogate him and learn that Wencel is behind the whole damn thing. Ingrey confronts Wencel and learns that the spirit of Audary inhabits Wencel and has eradicated Wencel and survived like this for the last few centuries, passed from Father to Son down the ages. Ingrey reports this to Biast, Hetwar, and Lewko; they reach an agreement that Ingrey will play the role of bodyguard to Biast's sister, Fara, in case Wencel tries to kill her. Wencel, in paranoid delusion, kidnaps Fara and Ingrey and takes them to Ijada's land, Bloodfield. Fara is forced to kill Wencel and Audary tries to take over Ingrey but fails when Ijada shows up and helps Fara and Ingrey break the banner carrier's flagpole. Audary dies along with Wencel and Ingrey releases the trapped spirits one by one, using Lewkow for the Bastard, Biast for the Son, and three others for the Mother, Daughter, and Father. At the end, Ijada is pardoned by Biast now that the threat is over. She marries Ingrey off screen and together they train under Lewkow.

All in all, a piss-poor finale for a novel trilogy. Too much time was spent getting to Easthome and on long inane conversations that do nothing for the overall story. I don't recommend this novel for any readers of the Fantasy genre. Bujold just fails to captivate and hold one's interest.

Book Review: Honor Harrington: The Honor of the Queen SPOILERS!

In June 1993, David Weber produced his second novel in the Honor Harrington series: The Honor of the Queen. At a total of 422 (mass market paperback), this novel does not disappoint. Synopsis: Right Woman, Wrong Place. It's hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards war as the necessary prelude to conquest, and a sneak attack as the best means to that end. That's why the Kingdom of Manticore needs allies against the so-called "Republic" of haven--and the planet Grayson is just the right strategic place to make a very good ally indeed. But Her Majesty's Foreign Office had overlooked a "minor cultural difference" when they chose Honor Harrington to carry the flag: women on the planet Grayson are without rank or rights; Honor's very presence is an intolerable affront to every male on the planet. At first, Honor doesn't take it personally; where she comes from gender discrimination is barely a historical memory, right up there in significance with fear of the left-handed. But in time such treatment as she receives from the Graysonites does become wearing, and Honor would withdraw if she could--but then Grayson's fratricidal sister planet attacks without warning and she must stay and prevail, not just for Honor's honor, but for her sovereign's, for--The Honor of the Queen.

The novel starts off with Captain Honor Harrington at a party--something she dislikes as much as politics--when her former academy instructor, Admiral Raoul Courvosier, tells her about a diplomatic mission to the chauvinistic, male-dominated world of Grayson in the Yeltsin System where the Church of Humanity Unchained is the law and religious zealots appear to run the place while the women are property and have no vote within the Graysonite system. Grayson has problems with its fratricidal sister planet, Masada, in the Endicott System, problems that the Havenites are exploiting, trying to get Masada on their side--though they'd rather have Grayson. Reginald Houseman, a smug and cowardly politician who hates the military, is Courvosiers aide. Honor's role is to escort supplies past Grayson after a few days in the system. Houseman wants to screw the military mission and force Grayson and Masada to put aside their "silly religious difference" and trade with each other instead of fight, something that Honor points out is illogical with the animosity between the two planets. Matthew Simmons of Masada tells Havenite Captain Alfredo Yu about the Manticoran delegates arriving. In Yeltsin, High Admiral Bernard Yanakov greets Courvosier with respect and is repulsed by Honor being a woman in uniform. The Havenites try and exploit this for all its worth. Yanakov lets Benjamin Mayhew IX, Planetary Protector of Grayson, know how the direct view of Honor is blowing downwind.

Negotiations begin and, except for Houseman trying to raise his topic once to no avail, things seem to be going smoothly until the Masadans and their Havenite allies launch a surprise attack from Blackbird and destroy the ships Courvosier and Yanakov are on, killing them. Honor returns from her escort duties and learns of Courvosier's death, something that shocks Honor considering that Courvosier was like a second father to her. Houseman threatens Honor when she refuses to abandon Grayson and slaps him once (Houseman, for the rest of the series, continues to bitch about this). Honor demands to meet with Benjamin, something that doesn't sit well with his cabinet. Benjamin agrees and during their talks, a group of assassins working for someone called "Maccabeus" attempt to assassinate Benjamin and frame the Manticorans. Thanks to an early warning from her telepathic treecat Nimitz, Honor defeats them and ends up with a dead eye and broken face, things that will be fully repaired once she returns to Manticore. Grayson witnesses the events on the news and throws its support behind Manticore. It turns out hat Jared Mayhew, a cousin of Benajmin's, was Maccabeus and behind the whole coup attempt and has since been dealt with.

Admiral Matthews (Grayson) and Honor attack Blackbird and penetrate its defenses. During the roundup of Masadans, Honor, Lieutenant Scotty Tremaine, and Petty Officer Horace Harkness find survivors from the attack that killed Yanakov and Courvosier; the female survivors were all raped and tortured and some even dead. In anger, Honor tries to kill the Masadan base commander but Scotty manages to stop her, saying that Benjamin and therefore Grayson will handle the punishment. Alfredo Yu and a young officer named Thomas Theisman surrender and tell Honor that, though they knew things were bad, they didn't realize things were this bad. Simmons, meanwhile, has stolen a Havenite ship and imprisons the Havenites while taking the ship into battle. Honor faces off against him in space and destroys his ship while Admiral Hamish Alexander, White Haven, of Manticore arrives to help subdue Masada personally and Grayson signs the alliance with the Star Empire of Manticore. As a reward, Benjamin makes Honor a Steadholder of the new city called Harrington Steading and awards her the Star of Grayson. To match this, Manticore makes Honor a Countess, though it's significantly below the rank of Steadholder.

All in all, a great novel in the Honor Harrington series. Full of wonderful characterizations and prose and world building, it drives home the point that David Weber knows excellent sci-fi military drama.

Book Review: The Vorkosigan Saga: The Warrior's Apprentice SPOILERS!

The third novel in the Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold continues the tale, but this time the series will follow Miles life from age 17 to whenever. Synopsis: First he had to conquer himself. After that, the universe would be easy. Discharged from the Barrayan Military Academy, Miles Vorkosigan chances on a jumpship with a rebellious pilot and arranges to take over the ship. Events escalate from there, and soon Miles is commander of a mercenary fleet and reinvents himself as Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Mercenary Army.

So the novel opens with Miles, now 17, failing the physical test to get into the Barrayan Service Academy. He returns home and tells his parents, Cordelia and Aral, about his failing and his grandfather dies because of old age. Miles, with Sgt. Bothari and Elena, heads to Beta Colony for relaxation. Upon arrival, Miles agrees to help a desperate pilot, Mayhew, out of trouble. They travel to Tau Verde IV, specifically the country of Felice, with Baz, a former Barrayan engineer, and Carl Daum, the guy who originally wanted Mayhew for the job of dropping cargo off and both Baz and Daum believe Miles leads a merc fleet calling itself the Dendarii Mercenary Army. Through sheer bluffing and luck,  Miles ends up taking over the entire mercenary groups working in Tau Verde space, something that seemed impossible for Miles and his mere crew to do. Most of the other mercenaries join the Dendarii Mercenaries but one, Ky Tung, holds honor above the whole thing and escapes. After a short amount of time and no payment received, Tung comes back and joins the group because Oser violated the contract Tung's former crew had signed. Bothari dies during the scheme by Elena's mother, who wanted revenge for Bothari being drugged and forced to rape her. Ivan Vorpatril, Miles' cousin, shows up with the news that the Council of Counts is screaming for Miles' blood for acquiring an army to defeat Gregor; Miles has no such thing planned and attests to this in front of the Council after leaving the Dendarii in the capable hands of Baz and Elena Jesek (Baz and Elena fall in love, something not seen in the entirety of the novel due to Bujold's horrible tendency to never leave Mile's Point Of View for any reason in the entire book). After presenting and boistering in the meeting, Miles uncovers a plot by Count Vordrozda to have Aral killed and take over the Regency posting and then the entire planet. Emperor Gregor, nearly the same age as Miles, and after hearing how Miles accidentally created the Dendarii Mercenary Army and took over a bunch of merc groups, pardons the whole thing, which ends with the Dendarii becoming an unofficial part of Barrayan Intelligence. Gregor pulls strings and gets Miles into the Barrayan Service.

All in all, a decent novel that's short and easy to read. Some good character arcs and decent prose. It's not the best Bujold can do, but then nothing can top Paladin of Souls in her Chalion Trilogy.