The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

After volumes of violence-oriented fantasy, I may have found what I needed in The Curse of Chalion. There are fights and battles, sure, but they're short and free from the baggage of astute strategical analysis. Two sides fight, and the victories are always due to some intel the reader may have forgotten unless they were paying super close attention. That being said, the story isn't about battles.

It's about a curse, and royal politics. There's also a slow burning romance which gives us further cause to keep rooting for our hero, even when the best we can hope for our dear Lord Cazaril is a happy death. So I thought The Curse of Chalion was a good story, well told. But did it hit the spot? Maybe not for me. While every comfortable, beautiful place has plenty of room for darkness, I don't always connect with royal lives in predominantly royal places. That being said, I think every 'good' fantasy contains the things we readers like to imagine. So for some people, this might be the best of the best.