"I liked the two Penric and Desdemona novellas I read, but I wasn't wowed by them. This was so much better. The longer story allowed Bujold to stretch her legs, so to speak.

Cazaril is a great POV character. He's newly freed after being sold onto a slave ship, and he's trying to put himself and his life back together. He finds himself a tutor to the royal princess, and despite some apprehension, he and the princess quickly bond. There's also the titular curse on the royal house of Chalion that Cazaril gets entangled in and has to help break.

The writing is great, the characters are well-written and engaging, and the plot kept me engaged even when it dragged a bit here and there. I was rooting for Cazaril to bring his enemies to justice and to break the curse. The only thing that didn't work for me was the "romance" between Cazaril and his love interest, whose name I already forgot because of how little she mattered to the plot. The whole basis for their "romance" was that she was pretty and Cazaril thought about her lots (because she's pretty) while he was enslaved. 🤷🏻‍♀�� Considering there was another "romance" that was far more convincing in far fewer pages, it's even more baffling that this one didn't work at all.

The narrator did an excellent job with the story and all the characters, and especially with Cazaril. "

"I relistened to this once. The narration is pleasant and I like we only have one point of view. But I miss the arc. This is just River thinking about sex, having sex and talking with an unpleasantly sex obsessed friend. Rinse and repeat.
Any tension, drama, uncertainty or slightly interesting occurrence, you have to make up yourself.
One plus: the characters are very well developed."

"Fitting End

4.25 stars

This one was a lot like the first book and it took me ages to read.

The first part was the hardest as Joron and the crew of the Tide Child wreck havoc up and down the coast in their search for Meas. I felt for Joron during this time. The crew are gossiping that he is the son of Meas and in a way he regressed to the Joron we first met as he turns to the alcohol to help deal with her loss. He doesn’t fully regress as he runs his crew as Meas has trained him and they show him the respect he deserves. He is brutal in the way he deals with the towns people after he takes a town and it was hard to read this section of the book, both Meas and Joron had previously had the high ground as they were working for a chance at peace, but in this I felt Joron lost his way and no longer had the higher ground. That being said I understood that Joron was doing everything he could think of to rescue Meas.

The rescue of Meas was well done and also so very heartbreaking s we lost one of my favourites. But I liked that she got the chance to talk to her mother and in some ways they were able to finally connect.

The second half the book really picked up for me, as we return to the sea with the crew of the Tide Child back with Meas as their ship wife. Meas still had her scars from the torture she had suffered as well as coming to terms with the betrayals. They start a race to get their people to safety and a new life as Meas and Joron use their wits and the bravery of their fleet to try and defeat the Isles. This part of the book worked for me even as it broke my heart as favourite characters lost their lives. There were also reveals that made me cry as we found out about previous characters.

I loved the ending even though I read it in tears. From starting the series with Joron afraid of the Gullaime, the friendship they formed was pure joy to witness and he in the end stood up for her when she gave everything for the friends she had made. I get why at least in regards to Joron it had to end as it did but was happy for the future we glimpsed.

I can’t wait to listen to this one on audio and pick up the things that were missed in this read
"