Ratings27
Average rating3.6
Paksenarrion joins the army and begins an adventure that will transform her into a hero remembered in songs. She was chosen to restore a lost ruler to his throne.
Series
2 primary booksThe Deed of Paksenarrion is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 1988 with contributions by Elizabeth Moon.
Series
9 primary books14 released booksPaksenarrion is a 10-book series with 9 primary works first released in 1988 with contributions by Ari Marmell, Weston Ochse, and 15 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
Quit about a quarter in.
Here is the thing, I found this book incredibly boring. The beginning sold me on Paks becoming someone absolutely amazing. How did I think that happens? The fantasy novel way, of course, with her gong through amazing adventures, excitement, fantastic feats, becoming love and respected by the people around her for showing values worth it.
We have nothing like that. The events are not very monumental or even interesting, but boy, do we get to learn about new recruits doing basic, repetitive things. Sure, learning something IS like that. My life s like. Do I want to spend hours upon hours reading about the same sort of boring ass crap? No. The prose doesn't make it interesting either, because it's just some sort of clinical description of meaningless and boring things happening. There is just... so much nothing, talking about “and this person went there and then I handed him this object and then he ate his dinner”, just blabbering about NOTHING.
This is made even worse by the characters. Their names all sound the same and their personalities aren't much different either. We are supposed to feel time is passing and still no development happen on that front. They don't feel like comrades or friends, just people who arrived 2 days ago and are friendly to each other, but no even a little attached. Paks is the same. She has no personality, she is absolutely blank and we know nothing about her motivations or anything.
Maybe this is a classic and maybe I will try again later, but right now I'm way too bored.
Really strong opening. I like Moon's prose. After the first 1/3, the story loses all of its steam. I understand its intended to convey the viewpoint of a military grunt who doesn't know much abut the overall battle. They can only see what's happening right in front of them. But this makes it a bit boring. The training parts at the beginning and the parts where Paks is running through the woods to warn the rest of the army are the best parts of the book. I'll likely return to this series at some point as there was certainly enough good here that I have hope the final two books will improve on the first since she is no longer in the army.
Not your typical fantasy. There's barely any magic and no grand battles with millions of soldiers. But the foundation of ordinary serves to highlight the extraordinary.
It's not without its flaws, but overall this was one of the most interesting fantasy books I've read.
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