A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions. But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge -- an act that will mark him as a tool of the miraculous . . . and trap him in a lethal maze of demonic paradox. “Bujold continues to prove what marvels genius can create out of basic space operatics.” - Booklist "This is one of the great ones." - Science Fiction Chronicle Author's Note :   A Bujold Reading-Order Guide     The FantasyNovels   My fantasy novels are not hard toorder. Easiest of all is The Spirit Ring , which is a stand-alone, oraquel, as some wag once dubbed books that for some obscure reason failed tospawn a subsequent series. Next easiest are the four volumes of The SharingKnife-- in order, Beguilement , Legacy , Passage , and Horizon-- whichI broke down and actually numbered, as this was one continuous tale dividedinto non-wrist-breaking chunks.   What were called the Chalion booksafter the setting of its first two volumes, but which now that the geographicscope has widened I'm dubbing the World of the Five Gods, were written to bestand-alones as part of a larger whole, and can in theory be read in any order.Some readers think the world-building is easier to assimilate when the booksare read in publication order, and the second volume certainly containsspoilers for the first (but not the third.) In any case, the publication orderis:   The Curse of Chalion Paladin of Souls The Hallowed Hunt "Penric's Demon" "Penric and the Shaman"   In terms of internal world chronology, The Hallowed Hunt wouldfall first, the Penric novellas perhaps a hundred and fifty years later, and TheCurse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls would follow a century or soafter that.     Other Original E-books   The short story collection ProtoZoa contains five very early tales--three (1980s) contemporary fantasy, twoscience fiction--all previously published but not in this handy format. Thenovelette "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" may be of interest to Vorkosigan completists,as it is the first story in which that proto-universe began, mentioning BetaColony but before Barrayar was even thought of.   Sidelines:Talks and Essays is just what it says on the tin--a collection of threedecades of my nonfiction writings, including convention speeches, essays,travelogues, introductions, and some less formal pieces. I hope it will provean interesting companion piece to my fiction.     TheVorkosigan Stories   Many pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order inwhich to read what have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books (or Saga), theVorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names. The debate mainly revolvesaround publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internalchronological, with a few adjustments.   It was always my intention to write each book as astand-alone, so that the reader could theoretically jump in anywhere. Whilestill somewhat true, as the series developed it acquired a number of sub-arcs,closely related tales that were richer for each other. I will list the sub-arcs,and then the books, and then the duplication warnings. (My publishing historyhas been complex.) And then the publication order, for those who want it.   Shards of Honor and Barrayar. The first twobooks in the series proper, they detail the adventures of Cordelia Naismith ofBeta Colony and Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar. Shards was my very firstnovel ever; Barrayar was actually my eighth, but continues the tale thenext day after the end of Shards . For readers who want to be sure ofbeginning at the beginning, or who are very spoiler-sensitive, start with thesetwo.   The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game (with, perhaps, the novella "The Mountains of Mourning" tucked in between.) TheWarrior's Apprentice introduces the character who became the series'linchpin, Miles Vorkosigan; the first book tells how he created a spacemercenary fleet by accident; the second how he fixed his mistakes from thefirst round. Space opera and military-esque adventure (and a number of otherthings one can best discover for oneself), The Warrior's Apprentice makes another good place to jump into the series for readers who prefer a youngmale protagonist.   After that: Brothers in Arms should be read before MirrorDance , and both, ideally, before Memory.   Komarr makes another alternate entry point fo