Elizabeth Moon

THe Deed of Paksenarrion — (1988-2011) Author's Description:  Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter, headstrong daughter of a sheep farmer on the north edge of the kingdom, dreams of being a hero out of legend, of fame and magic swords and great deeds. When her father tells her she must marry the neighbor's son, she runs away from home to join the mercenary company her cousin told her about. But military life and warfare aren't anything like her daydreams... yet she holds to both her duty and her dreams. In the end, she pays the price that heroism demands and becomes the paladin who saves a kingdom... but the journey is longer and darker than she ever imagined. She has to confront and overcome her strengths as well as her weaknesses... and her triumph redeems more than herself.
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The Deed of Paksenarrion

A work of grand scope, Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion features the heroic journey of a girl named Paksenarrion — from sheepfarmer’s daughter to paladin of the light. Though this work is frequently called an heir to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, there are a few differences I'd like to point out. While these are both epic journeys, both in size and scale, Moon’s is the journey of a single hero rather than a group, and is character-driven, rather than being about the world and the journey to return the One Ring, which drives the action in LoTr.

Secondly, The Deed of Paksenarrion is not primarily a work of high fantasy. If anything, it's military fantasy. Moon served in the Marine Corps, and that military training shows. There are mythical and fantastical creatures, both good and bad, but they serve a secondary purpose and do not populate the world to the degree that is found in Middle Earth. That said, I’m still trying to figure out how to turn the Kuakgan into a Dungeons & Dragons class so I can play one if I ever do another campaign.

Moon is a gifted writer. In less masterful hands, this story would have been nothing more than a formulaic Hero’s Journey trope grafted onto a rebellious teenage girl in a coming-of-age story, but Paks lives and breathes on the page. She's a strong, stoic female discovering a calling. (My male friends find her unrealistic or nonsexual, but none of my female friends do). You know that Paks won't die, but some of the situations she gets into are very stressful nonetheless. There are scenes in The Deed of Paksenarrion that are almost physically painful to read. Moon does not shy away from the harsher aspects of life for a female soldier, or about the evils she must fight.

The plotting of the story is not surprising, given that it is a heroic epic. At times the story drags, especially with the plethora of unimportant details in the beginning, but Moon’s writing gets stronger as the story progresses. The amount of detail about her world can be a bit overwhelming (you will learn a lot about life in military units), but it serves to underline the main character's transformation from farmer to paladin.

Also, there is a little too much drawing on Dungeons & Dragons cosmology and character creation for Moon to be taking credit for the whole world she has written. If you have played D & D, you’ll notice what she has done, but if you haven’t, you won’t be lost. According to an apocryphal email exchange with the author, the inspiration for the series arose out of her disgust with how people were playing paladins in the Dungeons & Dragons setting. Since she was not a gamer, she wrote these books to explain how they should be played.

Elizabeth Moon is definitely finding her voice as an author here, and it's a very strong voice.
—Ruth Arnell

Sheepfarmer’s Daughter (audio)

Brilliance Audio has recently been putting together some fine productions of many classic fantasy novels that deserve to be heard and I, as a reader, couldn’t be happier. I don’t have much free time these days, and most of my reading is now done by audio, so I was thrilled to find that I could finally listen to The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. The first novel, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, has just been released, and the rest are following quickly.  (By the way, if audiobooks are out of your budget, ask your public library to order them — my library has ordered several that I’ve requested with their online form.)

I enjoyed this story about Paksenarrion (Paks) who, to avoid an arranged marriage to a farmer, runs away to join a mercenary force. It’s not that she knows there’s a future Mr. Right out there, or even that she knows there’s some great evil in the land to be vanquished, but rather that she just isn’t interested in being married or being a farmer’s wife. Of course, life as a mercenary isn’t exactly what she expected, but Paks is honest, competent, and hard-working, so she does pretty well at her new job and we can easily foresee that she’s developing into a future leader.

I had no trouble believing in any of Moon’s characters or their relationships with each other. It didn’t take long for me to find myself rooting and caring for Paks and I was really affected when some of her friends and allies were injured or killed.

Elizabeth Moon’s military experience is evident and she writes believably about the daily minutiae of being a soldier. There’s more time spent marching, eating, waiting, exercising, and being stuck in the mud than fighting. This is very realistic, I’m sure, but it makes the novel move rather slowly at times, and gives it a didactic flavor. I think that readers who haven’t read as many coming-of-age-in-an-army stories as I have will not be so impatient.

Jennifer Van Dyck was a terrific reader with a pleasant voice which effectively portrayed both men and women. There were times when I didn’t care for the over-eager wide-eyed country girl voice that she used for Paks (couldn’t a few of those Yes, Sirs been a little less enthusiastic?), but it’s hard to tell if that was her interpretation or the author’s intent. Overall, Ms. Van Dyck is a reader I’ll be watching for in the future, and Paksenarrion, the sheepfarmer’s daughter, is a heroine whose story I’m looking forward to hearing. —Kat Hooper

Divided Allegiance (audio)

I have previously reviewed Elizabeth Moon’s The Deed of Paksennarion, the trilogy of which Divided Allegiance is the middle book. Brilliance Audio sent us a copy of their audio book version of the story, and I was planning on listening to the first CD or two to review the quality of the production since I have read the whole series probably ten times now. But that is not what happened. Not only did I listen to the whole book, I broke out book three and read that as well.

I have always been pleased with the quality of Brilliance Audio’s recordings. Jennifer Van Dyck’s narration is excellent, with easy shifts of tone and accent between characters that keep the reader entranced in the story without having to struggle to figure out who is speaking. I particularly like that Brilliance Audio indexes the story about every fifty seconds, which makes finding your place very easy if you are swapping back and forth between the audio and a text. Additionally, they repeat the last track of one CD at the beginning of the next CD, so you can get back into the story easily when you switch CDs.

Not only is the production quality excellent, the story is great as well. This middle book covers the story of Paks from her leaving Duke Phelan’s company, training to become a paladin, and then being broken, mentally and emotionally, from an attack by the dark elves. The story ends with Paks in a horrible situation, and if you are like me, you will not want to wait to find out what happens next, especially since Moon has no problem killing off her characters, or having other nasty things happen to them. Even though I knew what would happen in book three, I still felt compelled to read the next book in the series, just to make sure that everything still worked out okay.

Moon has a great deal of military knowledge, but is also able to write characters that you will care deeply about, and place them in a world that feels as real as the one you live in. Divided Allegiance is highly recommended for all fans of epic high fantasy. —Ruth Arnell

Oath of Fealty

At the end of The Deed of Paksenarrion, the mercenary Duke Phelan discovered that he’s the heir to the Lyonan kingdom — the only kingdom jointly ruled by humans and Elves. As Oath of Fealty starts, he has to give up his dukedom and he recommends his captain Arcolin to be elevated in his place. To make things even more interesting, one of his other soldiers, Dorrin Verrakai (who had fled her family legacy decades earlier), has been called back to claim leadership of the evil Verrakai dukedom which had been seized by the king of Tsai when the previous duke tried to assassinate several members of the ruling family. As she struggles to root out the blood magic that has tainted her family holding for centuries, Stammel discovers dangerous signs that evil is encroaching on another front, far to the south, through mysterious tainted weapons and possessed followers of an evil god.

Elizabeth Moon writes epic fantasy and her Deed of Paksenarrion is frequently hailed as an heir to The Lord of the Rings because she is as interested in building a world as she is in telling a story. As Oath of Fealty starts a new trilogy in the world of Paksenarrion, it assumes a familiarity with the world and its history. Oath of Fealty actually starts before the action in The Deed of Paksenarrion ends, but retells that action from the point of view of the smaller characters who will take center stage in this installment. Therefore, a lot of the major plot points are recapped without an infodump.

Moon excels at writing real characters. As you read, you follow the characters as they react to the huge shifts in their roles and responsibilities with understandable frustration, trepidation, and pride. She crafts her work with such loving detail that the reader emotionally attaches to the characters. As well, she manages to create several distinctive cultures and societies with an attention to detail that makes them all vibrant and individual.

Oath of Fealty has a bit of FBITTSSAT syndrome — First Book In a Trilogy That Serves as a Sequel to Another Trilogy. But even with the obvious structural limitations placed upon this book by its location within the storyline, it is still an eminently well-crafted book. Reading Oath of Fealty is like watching your grandmother set out the antique chess set you have played on for years and then having her explain the new powers that all the pieces have acquired. Dukes are now kings, sergeants are now dukes, and captains are now sergeants. And Paksenarrion… well, she’s barely in this book at all.

This is a beautiful chess set, but shifting all the characters into new roles and responsibilities means that not a lot of plot happens; however, I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed reading an introduction this much. This is the work of an artist and storyteller. Moon sets up the action and intrigue to sustain an epic trilogy while still having a complete story arc within this volume. If you have not read The Deed of Paksenarrion, I would recommend starting there. If you have read it, you will find yourselves happily slipping back into this world with no problems.... Pawn to c8. —Ruth Arnell