Paladin of Souls

But how could she gain the road? Roads were made for young men, not middle-aged women. The poor orphan-boy packed his sack and started off down the road to seek his heart's hope...a thousand tales began that way. She was not poor, she was not a boy, and her heart was surely as stripped of all hope as life and death could render it.

As Ista herself points out in the first few pages of the book, this should not be her story. At least not traditionally. According to all the tales, Ista is done. She was raised a princess and married a king. She lived to see her husband and son die and her daughter ascend to the throne. She has recently celebrated the birth of her first grandchild and is now mourning the death of her mother, making her officially a member of the older generation. Now it is time for her to sit quietly in her castle and live out her days, content with the life she has left.

But that's not what Ista wants, and it's not what the gods have planned for her. So when she undertakes a religious pilgrimage, mostly as a means of escaping her confinement for a few months, she finds herself starting off on an epic adventure. Ista defies what all of the stories say she should do, and realizes that it's not too late to seek out a more fulfilling life.

Apart from the refreshing uniqueness of Ista, this book is packed with fantastic characters. Even the bad guys manage to be sympathetic. Especially Cattilara, the young wife of a lord who wants nothing more than to be a good wife and mother and will do absolutely anything to live out that dream.

With all the great characters, an exciting plot, and a bunch of thrilling action scenes, it's really no wonder this book won a Hugo the year it was released. As sorry as I am to leave this characters and this world behind, I am excited to dig into Bujold's other work, especially her sci-fi series.