Curses have long plagued society across time, location, and religions. Classically, being cursed by the gods often destroyed great heroes’ and regular citizens’ lives in equal measure. Curses were something binding, inescapable, and punishing.
To be cursed was to be a living embodiment of pain and suffering. While curses are often a punishment for wrongdoing, there are many stories of people cursed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes, in the case of generational curses, that punishment is extended beyond an individual life, creating a chain of perpetual pain across families or nations.
Although curses throughout literature can carry different levels of moral weight, the act of telling stories about the kinds of people who end up cursed often acts as a lens for a societal view of fairness. If a curse can be broken, it was an unjust punishment; if a curse cannot, it is deserved.
In a continuation of that tradition, fantasy books about characters or civilizations experiencing the negative effects of curses have always been a popular way of unpacking justice. In the following novels, more often than not, characters are looking to break curses that harm the innocent more than they punish wrongdoing. Perhaps this is a reflection of our current view that heroism is enough to pay for past sins. Perhaps readers just like an underdog defeating impossible odds. Either way, we love to witness foul magic at work in these fantasy books about curses.
Daggerbound by T. KingfisherCursed to live in a blade for hundreds of years, beholden to the whims of his wielder, the Dervish is done with his doomed immortality. So, when bandits attack the scholar, Learned Edmund, and he draws his blade, the Dervish reluctantly saves him. This was supposed to be Edmund’s final task before leaving the temple for good, but he never could have imagined the relic he was delivering was a magical person. Now, Edmund cannot simply hand the Dervish over. Instead, the scholar and the warrior become unlikely allies and lovers as they travel through a countryside that is doing its best to kill them on the way. |
As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha SiegeIn 1592, when a witch makes a Faustian bargain with a demon, their lives become ruthlessly intertwined. Cursed to bring disaster to everyone around her, Cybil would do anything to escape her life. So, when a dark creature like Miriam offers Cybil a chance at reincarnation in exchange for her soul, she agrees. In every life, Miriam finds Cybil and Cybil finds an escape. But the demon knows how to break Cybil’s family curse, and the rules of the game change. Now Cybil has a chance to break their immortal dance, but she may have to confront the fact that life means nothing if Miriam isn’t with her. |
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