Yes, it’s the return of that semi-regular feature where I ‘fess up and tell you guys that I’m not as well read in the genre as I’d like to be... How could I be? The ever growing ‘To Be Read’ pile constantly laughs at my attempts to scale it and that’s not even counting the thousands of sci-fi/fantasy/horror books out there that I haven’t even seen yet. Oh well, half the fun lies in carrying on chipping away and seeing what happens! :o)
This time round it’s Elizabeth Moon in the spotlight. When all that business with Nightshade blew up the other week, Moon’s name was mentioned and it struck me that I’ve got a couple of books of hers on the pile that I haven’t read. Then it struck me that I haven’t read any of her books at all... So, what am I missing? Am I missing anything at all?
The books in question are the ‘Deed of Paksennarrion’ omnibus and the follow up ‘Oath of Fealty’. Mention of Paladins and Orcs put me off (slightly) in the past and it still sounds a little ‘D&D’ to me. These days, size is an issue (Stop sniggering! Oh, that was me...) and any book that weighs in at a mighty twelve hundred pages is going to slip down the list of priority reads. If it’s a good read though then that’s a different deal entirely.
Have any of you guys read the ‘Paksennarrion’ books? What did you think? Were they worth your time or did you find yourself skipping right to the end just to see how it all ended? Elizabeth Moon has written a whole load of sci-fi as well, anyone read any of these books?
Comments please!
10 comments:
I have read the Paks (I won't attempt to spell the whole thing or look it up because at the moment I'm being lazy) books twice, actually. I absolutely LOVED them the first time through and the second time through (about a year ago) I wasn't as impressed as I was the first time through.
That being said, I would recommend reading it. It's an engrossing tale, the writings pretty good and Moon does a great job at the whole military thing.
To be honest with you, the last time I went through it I wasn't as impressed with the writing as I was the first time through.
Anyway, I'm not sure if that's the kind of comments you were looking for but that's my two cents. You'll probably get a bunch of people who disagree with me. :)
I've read them a few times now. Though I would say the 3rd book is fairly predictable and is the weakest of the 3. Still worth a look though!
I've read one of her collaborations with Anne McCaffrey, but that's it.
I really enjoyed the Deed of Paksenarrion. The best way I can describe it is a cross between The Lord of the Rings and The Ten Thousand. The world is very Tolkeinesque with Elves and Dwarves but with heavy military influence. Just be warned that Paksenarrion was a farmer, so she is quite naive in the ways of the world and some readers had issues with this. Personally, I think it is realistic as she has lived on a farm all her life only to run away to join the army based on tales, so of course she has no idea what the real world is like.
I haven't read anything else by Elizabeth Moon, but I do have the first book of Vatta's War (Trading in Danger) on my to be read pile. I'm not a SF reader at all, but I was so impressed with Elizabeth Moon that I'm willing to give it a shot.
Jennifer
After a fairly steady recent diet of urban fantasy, I needed an antidote of science fiction and tried Moon's Vatta War series.
It was underwhelming, for reasons I imagine will also be present within anything else she writes. Characterization is a little overwrought, with the main character continuing to face the same two conflicts over the series of the books.
World building was interesting though, and you do want to know how things turn out.
I've only read Oath of Fealty and really enjoyed. It works well enough on its own without reading the original Paksenarrion trilogy.
I read the Deed of Pakseniarrion earlier this year. A little too simplistic good versus evil for my personal taste, but it is a good, decent heroic fantasy.
Above, Jennifer mentioned the naivete bit and I admit it did bother me a little. My take is that it was less to do with being a sheepfarmer's daughter and more that Moon was going for a simple and humble hero.
I've read all of the Herris Seranno books and loved them. They're what convinced me that maybe SF wasn't all bad (I used to be a Fantasy only kinda girl). I haven't read any of her other work, though the Vatta series is waiting on my TBR-pile. I do plan on getting stuck into the rest of her books at some point in the future. I have heard that her fantasy books are as good or better than the Herris books, especially the Paksenarrion books, so I'd be interested to know how you find them!
(Sorry about the delete, needed to edit and add some thoughts)
I read Oath of Fealty without reading the first one. It's average fantasy at best, I wasn't particularly engrossed by the story or the characters.
It's perhaps worth a read, but there are far better books out there that should have a higher priority.
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