That was coincidence, I think. The two ghosts were unrelated to the Death Magic, just took advantage of the empty bodies and moved in. And Penric seems to think that it was a sweetener to the Bastard that the timing of the ritual would leave her body free for the kid's ghost, giving him a chance to be found, I suppose. That whole business where if you don't get a funeral you'll be sundered seems harsh.

What I don't get is that part of the sacrifice is your soul getting carried off to hell in a demon's bucket, but maybe you can still be taken up by a god at your funeral? It's confusing.

It came up in The Curse of Chalion - early on, Caziel (?) takes the clothing from a man who'd done the death magic spell and died. Later on, he himself does the death magic spell but is protected by two gods and so has both the demon and the soul of the man he'd wished to death haunting him. I think the idea is a matter of balance - you summon a demon to take the soul of someone but have to give up your own soul to balance it. (If you haven't read the book, the problem is solved at the end.)

Hm. I reread that in the last couple of years but cannot recall any of the detail. Whenever I try to remember Curse of Chalion all I can come up with is actually from Paladin of Souls

ETA: thanks for the reminder, sumi! I have not been able to find the book to pre-order yet, have you?

Rereading Palidin of Souls and I just got to the part where a zombie rides out on a demon horse to decapitate sorcerers and it's striking me as much more Halloween appropriate than I had previously categorized it

I just finished reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which was my book club's pick this month. There was much I liked about it, including the structure and outcome. But I wonder if my taste in books has changed. I used to seek out 1000+ page sagas, or series; the longer I could live with a book the better. This time I found myself thinking the same experience could have been accomplished in 350 pages instead of 500. Not sure if it is me, or the book.

Ooh, I just realized I can cut the spoiler font & paste it in notes to Read!

And I must say I’ve completely forgotten that not of Paladin of Souls. . . Perhaps I should reread.

I think Paladin of Souls is my favorite (by a slim margin) of the Chalion books. And I read the latest Penric and Desdemona story and enjoyed it, although it was sad.

And I may be the only person who didn't really enjoy Mexican Gothic. It just ... didn't work for me.

Paladin of Souls is my favorite, but I do like them all, and more on each re-read, I think. I do particularly enjoy that the Penric & Desdemona novellas are novellas - quick reads and smaller stories (in that the problem they have to solve is not usually on the order of save an entire nation) and seeing more of the world as they move from place to place (although I do want the current settled domesticity to continue because I want the characters to be happy...). I would like to find out what happened after Paladin of Souls, though: did Chalion and Ibra successfully unite? How is Foix getting along with his bear (did he name it?), what do you do with all those Roknari if you *do* conquer their provinces, etc. Wouldn't mind the further adventures of Ista, for that matter.

t your spoiler font makes me go “gosh I need to re-read those don’t I?”

I found re-reading over the last week or whatever very rewarding, I had forgotten a lot! I'm into early Penric now and I had forgotten a lot of this, too

I do feel better about the death magic question that was bothering me before. Although I still wish there was a little more explanation in Penric's musings on despair and grace - I feel like I almost get it but not quite. Maybe if I finish rereading and give it another go I'll understand better...