![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Oath of Fealty
Apr. 10th, 2023 08:07 pmI first came across The Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy by Elizabeth Moon sometime in the mid to late 90s and remember loving the tale of the sheepfarmer's daughter who joined a mercenary company and had many amazing adventures. I listened to the audiobooks in 2010 and 2011, probably because they were read by an excellent narrator, Jennifer Van Dyck, I'd discovered through Sharon Shinn's audiobooks.
So, I was delighted when I discovered a few weeks ago (randomly browsing the SFF section in Waterstones in Piccadilly) that Moon went back to the world of Paksennarion (also in 2010) and has written five more (very chunky) books about those characters. Even better, the audiobook of the first one was still read by Jennifer Van Dyck.
So, nearly thirteen years since the last time I visited this world, I was back - and with the same voice giving life to the excellent prose and all the wonderful characters. There's an author's note at the start that gives a brief (and very welcome) summary of the events of the original trilogy - but also says it's not necessary to have read those to enjoy this new series. While I suppose that's technically true, I think my enjoyment of Oath of Fealty was tremendously enhanced by already being familiar with and heavily invested in the three characters the story follows - Kieri Phelan (the duke of the mercenary company) and two of his captains, Dorrin Verrekai and Jandolir Arcolin. They are all thrown into unexpected situations because of what happened at the end of the last book and I think it would be pretty difficult for new readers to get to grips with all the ins and outs of the world and its various realms and factions.
Not only that, but Dorrin in particular has to face some very tough decisions, and I'm not sure how much I would have been attached to her without prior knowledge of her background and character. There's also something that happens to Sergeant Stammel partway through the book, which wouldn't have had nearly as much significance if he hadn't already been one of my favourite characters (since he's not really in this book that much).
Anyway, that aside, I absolutely loved heading back into this world and spending time with these people. There's a huge amount of information about governance and logistics (as there always was in the previous series) but somehow Moon manages to make it all fascinating. And there's also plenty of intrigue, high stakes, mortal danger and court politics to keep you desperate to find out what's going to happen next.
I've been out for multiple long walks in the last two weeks, purely so I could listen to more of this book. And, even after 17+ hours, I'm planning to go straight into the next one, rather than taking a break, like I usually do with series.
So, yay for more Paksenarrion books!
So, I was delighted when I discovered a few weeks ago (randomly browsing the SFF section in Waterstones in Piccadilly) that Moon went back to the world of Paksennarion (also in 2010) and has written five more (very chunky) books about those characters. Even better, the audiobook of the first one was still read by Jennifer Van Dyck.
So, nearly thirteen years since the last time I visited this world, I was back - and with the same voice giving life to the excellent prose and all the wonderful characters. There's an author's note at the start that gives a brief (and very welcome) summary of the events of the original trilogy - but also says it's not necessary to have read those to enjoy this new series. While I suppose that's technically true, I think my enjoyment of Oath of Fealty was tremendously enhanced by already being familiar with and heavily invested in the three characters the story follows - Kieri Phelan (the duke of the mercenary company) and two of his captains, Dorrin Verrekai and Jandolir Arcolin. They are all thrown into unexpected situations because of what happened at the end of the last book and I think it would be pretty difficult for new readers to get to grips with all the ins and outs of the world and its various realms and factions.
Not only that, but Dorrin in particular has to face some very tough decisions, and I'm not sure how much I would have been attached to her without prior knowledge of her background and character. There's also something that happens to Sergeant Stammel partway through the book, which wouldn't have had nearly as much significance if he hadn't already been one of my favourite characters (since he's not really in this book that much).
Anyway, that aside, I absolutely loved heading back into this world and spending time with these people. There's a huge amount of information about governance and logistics (as there always was in the previous series) but somehow Moon manages to make it all fascinating. And there's also plenty of intrigue, high stakes, mortal danger and court politics to keep you desperate to find out what's going to happen next.
I've been out for multiple long walks in the last two weeks, purely so I could listen to more of this book. And, even after 17+ hours, I'm planning to go straight into the next one, rather than taking a break, like I usually do with series.
So, yay for more Paksenarrion books!
