Book Review: Paladin of Souls SPOILERS!

Quite possibly the best novel written by Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls takes what was wrong with all her previous novels, including the boring sci-fi series The Vorkosigan saga, and turns it into gold. Here, her flaws are her strength. Synopsis: Three years have passed since the widowed Dowager Royina Ista found release from the curse of madness that kept her imprisoned in her family's castle of Valenda. Her newfound freedom is costly, bittersweet with memories, regrets, and guilty secrets--for she knows the truth of what brought her land to the brink of destruction. And now the road--escape--beckons.... A simple pilgrimage, perhaps. Quite fitting for the Dowager Royina of Chalion. Yet something else is free, too--something beyond deadly. To the north lies the vital border fortress of Porifors. Memories linger there as well, of wars and invasions and the mighty Golden General of Jokona. And someone, something, watches from across that border--humans, demons, gods. Ista thinks her little party of pilgrims wanders at will. But whose? When Ista's retinue is unexpectedly set upon not long into its travels, a mysterious ally appears--a warrior nobleman who fights like a berserker. The temporary safety of her enigmatic champion's castle cannot ease Ista's mounting dread, however, when she finds his dark secrets are entangled with hers in a net of the gods' own weaving. In her dreams the threads are already drawing her to unforeseen chances, fateful meetings, fearsome choices. What the inscrutable gods commanded of her in the past brought her land to the brink of devastation. Now, once again, they have chosen Ista as their instrument. And again, for good or ill, she must comply.

 The novel opens with Ista trying to run away from her mother's place in Valenda and she meets pilgrims, one of whom is a divine of the Bastard's Order, dy Cabon (who, for some reason, I keep remembering as dy Bacon). Ista's escorted back to Valenda by dy Ferrej and meets Ferda and Foix dy Gura, sent to Ista because Iselle, Bergon, and Cazaril heard she wants to go on a pilgrimage. Annaliss, a courier, stays with Ista on Ista's command as she's lonely for company. Chivar dy Cabon arrives to oversee the pilgrimage and Ista takes Annaliss as her lady-in-waiting and groom. After planning, the pilgrimage leaves the following morning. Along the pilgrimage, Ista tells dy Cabon about the (former) Curse of Chalion. Later, during a fight with an elemental-possessed bear, Foix kills it and, in turn, receives the elemental, which is an escaped demon; Foix now has said creature living in him. The Jokonans attack and Ista is captured then rescued by Arhys dy Lutez, March of Porifors, who, as it turns out, is already dead and cannot die--kind of like Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood. Arhys' jealous wife, Lady Cattilara, killed a demon-ridden woman trying to seduce Arhys and killed them both and took the demon into Cattilara to keep Arhys alive while sacrificing Arhys' half-brother, Ilvin, who was also present in the room during the murder and was wounded by Cattilara trying to stop her from performing said murder. It's all very straight forward in the novel but comes off as confusing and stupid when summed up like this. Don't worry, Ilvin's still alive, kinda... mostly just sleeps so the demon can use the life force to keep Arhys going, barely letting Ilvin eat to keep him alive because Cattilara is so damn demanding.

Ista tries to get Cattilara to let Ilvin go and let Arhys die, but even after the brothers agree, Cattilara refuses and tries to flee. Luckily, Ista, Annaliss and Foix capture her and, when Arhys "wakes up," hatches a plan to beat the Jokonan forces led by the son of the Golden General, Sordso, who, it turns out, is also possessed by demons. Yes, you read that right. Sordso's possessed by dozens of demons because his mother, Princess Joen, won't give up the former war. It turns out that Joen has been implanting demons in her family and servants and sorcerers/sorceress's to win the Golden General's war. Both the Bastard and the Father of Winter want Ista to free the men and demons; the Father want's Arhys to come home because, for some reason, he's been dead for the last three years and can't find his way up the path. Ista does after the first attempt fails when Arhys is butchered, his head placed on a spike, I recall. The demon in Cattilara is freed by Ista after it makes Cattilara attempt suicide. In a false surrender, Ista, with Foix and Ilvin, "devours" the demons and Joen's soul using the powers the Bastard gave her. As a result, Sordso, in an attempt to strike back at his mother, repeatedly stabs Joen's body even though she is dead, and so does everyone who was imprisoned by her. The entire curse is finally lifted and as an odd result, Foix's elemental merged with him and the two have become, for better or dementedly worse, one. Ilvin's neice inherits Porifors as he doesn't want it and marries Ista. They plan to travel the country side with the warriors fighting against the Jokonans, seeking more elementals and demons to send back to the Bastard. Annaliss and dy Cabon and Foix agree to go with them.

All in all, a great novel from Lois McMaster Bujold. She combines her knowledge of history and storytelling to create one heckuva novel. Great character arcs, great drama, great prose.

Review: Doctor Who: Touched by an Angel SPOILERS!

Doctor Who: Touched by an Angel by British author Jonathan Morris, is about a man who is sent back in time to try and save the one he loves but runs afoul of the Doctor, his companions Amy and Rory Pond, and a race of deadly assassins known as the Weeping Angels. In 2003, Rebecca Witaker died in a road accident. her husband Mark is still grieving. He receives a battered envelope, posted eight years ago, containing a set of instructions with a simple message: "You can save her." As Mark is given the chance to save Rebecca, it's up to the Doctor, Amy and Rory to save the whole world. Because this time the Weeping Angels are using history itself as a weapon. It's a thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the [Eleventh] Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.

The novel does exactly what its synopsis says. But in the course of the novel, the Weeping Angels are using the technique that was seen in the Series 5 episode The Time of Angels: five Weeping Angels are trapped in a surveillance system and are stalking Mark on TVs. The Doctor, Amy and Rory warn him not to move or blink but Mark doesn't listen and tries to make a run for his house. A sixth Weeping Angel wastes the last of its life to send Mark to the past with a letter of instructions for him to do. As it happens, the letter is [supposedly] written by Mark's future self. The Doctor and his companions intercept him and, through the years, keep an eye on Mark as he relives the years leading up to 2011. They prevent him from interfering with the past except at key moments in his life that his future self said needed to be completed. He watches his younger self marry Rebecca, a young woman whom he was fond of and so was she. They never followed on this feelings until they broke up with their ex's and went for it (not quite how it happened, but I am summarizing).

After years of following the rules and bending a few, with the consternation of the Doctor, Mark comes face to face with himself. Specifically, his younger self seeks him out and demands answers. This causes time to burp and the Doctor, Amy and Rory appear, as well as an older version of Rory, try to contain things. Mark becomes distraught because he needs to save Rebecca from her death. The Doctor tells him no, but Mark tries. The Angels attack and send the younger Rory into the past. Now all caught up, Mark drives a truck over a spot in the field where the zapped-back-in-time-Rory had placed a button to activate lights and a camera and TV set. Five of the Weeping Angels are caught on tape and become trapped in a quantum lock because they are all looking at each other and, since they're stone, they'll never blink. The Doctor takes Mark back in time once and has him talk to a young college freshman named Rebecca who tells him that he should let go and move on, cause if it was her he was mopping over, she'd want him to live his life. The Doctor drops Mark off home, as Rebecca (in the past) meets a nerdy freshman called Mark and they bond in friendship.

All in all, a very well told story set in the amazing universe of Doctor Who. I could visualize the actors as well as the main characters and see the story unfold. Jonathan Morris has captured the feel of the DW universe and he's nailed it.