Sheepfarmer's Daughter (The Deed of Paksenarrion, Book 1), by Elizabeth Moon

[rachelmanija]

Though set in the most unimaginative world possible-- Dungeons and Dragons with the serial numbers still on*-- this fantasy novel about a female mercenary gets a huge boost of interest from its unusually realistic and believable depiction of life in the military. Moon was a Marine for several years, and the good use she makes of her real-life background compensates for the clunky prose, the largely undifferentiated supporting characters, and the eeeeevilness of the eeeeevil villains, who dress in black, torture people, and use spiked and barbed weapons because that is what eeeeevil people do in the D&D-verse.

*There are clerics, paladins, elves, dwarves, and orcs. I fully expect a gelatinous cube to turn up later.

Paksenarrion, nicknamed Paks, is a big strong farm girl who runs away from her boring village life and arranged marriage to join a mercenary company. I should probably note right here that I love training and boot camp sequences, and the long section in which she learns to be a soldier was my favorite part of the book. She trains, has her first battle, besieges a fort, is stuck inside a fort during a siege, loots towns, and paticipates in several harrowing missions. The meticulous detailing of the practicalities of military life from a regular soldier's point of view caught and held my attention.

But Paks is not just an unusually skilled and dedicated soldier. She is being groomed by Gird, the patron saint of warriors. Though the stolid and not-terribly-bright Paks is still in denial, her black-and-white view of morality, righteous character, asexuality, fighting skills, and protection from above via a magic medallion seem to the marks of a warrior saint -- a D&D paladin.

Since what I liked about this was the military details, should I read the sequels? Or do they abandon that in favor of all magic, all the time?

Comments

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Moon went to Rice! I always saw her books in the campus bookstore.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I'm remembering now why I didn't make any great effort to find the sequels, and the unoriginal worldbuilding that you mention is the reason why. So I'm also curious as to whether the military details continue to show up in the rest of the trilogy.

[hossgal.livejournal.com]

Military details remain strong in the rest of the books. There is less of the recruit training, though, as Paks is no longer a recruit. There is not a lot of magic, but the action does turn towards quest-type activity.

*thinks* The military details are stronger in Huff's Valor series, and characterization wise, Moon's later works are stronger.

- hg

[astolat]

See, I dig this series BECAUSE it has the serial numbers on. To me what is so cool is how she told the story and built the character while coloring inside the lines. It's a bit like a sonnet to me -- it's about what you can do while following the rules of the form. I kind of love that I can see Paks gaining experience levels. ♥

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I agree with this totally. I loved the series because for the first time, Moon made the whole D&D thing come to life for me. I loved Pak all the way through to the (quite harrowing) end.

[cofax7]

I would agree with Hossgal that Moon's later work is better. The Paksenarrion novels are a bit paint-by-numbers; I rather prefer the space operas she's been writing more recently. Still lots of military detail, still interesting female characters, with the occasional misstep (there's an entire novel about evil patriarchal misogynists kidnapping beautiful blonde rich girls for breeding in there).

But the Familias Regnant series and the ongoing Varta series do have some good stuff, and the writing is rather less clunky. I liked Remnant Population, too, although I haven't gotten around to reading Speed of Dark.

[sister-ananke.livejournal.com]

I adored Speed of Dark and quite liked the space operas.

[seshat.livejournal.com]

I remember reading those in high school, but I honestly couldn't say how the later ones play out. They all started blurring together after a while. Her Herris Serrano books (and sequels) were far better written, and even they got tedious after a while (when she hit the world reset button and started telling the same story all over again with the THIRD heroine, I threw the books against the wall).

For my guilty military fiction reading, I tend to go for Mary Gentle, who understands medieval combat like few others. Her novelette, "The Road to Jerusalem" is probably hands down one of my favorite short stories ever.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Isn't Ash fantastic? Never have several thousand pages flown by so fast!

Thanks for the link-- I haven't read that one.

[seshat.livejournal.com]

I adored Ash, it made my inner history major/archaeologist go all pitter pat.

Road to Jerusalem was originally published as padding at the back of Left to His Own Devices which was the last Valentine and Casaubon story, and never really got printed in the US. (Warning: Amazon link includes picture of the cover art which may contain spoilers if you haven't read it before).

It's odd - generally I despise short fiction, because you never get enough time to get to know the characters before the story is done. Mary Gentle is one of the few authors whose short stories I like, and I adore hers.

EDIT: Corrected typos. :P

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Have you read Ilario yet? It's set in the Ash universe fifty years earlier, though not a direct prequel (crossover characters if you squint hard, yay).

[seshat.livejournal.com]

I haven't! Life's been topsy turvy, so I haven't had time to pick it up yet.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I tried to read this a few years ago, on a friend's rec (and after absolutely LOVING Moon's "Heris Serrano" space operas), but bounced right off after a chapter or two; after wallowing in the genre over-much in my schooldays, I seem to have developed something of an allergy to generic fantasy settings.

(If you haven't read them, I would recommend the Heris books...haven't picked up the later stuff in that series focusing on other characters, but the first three were love.)

[larryhammer]

It's not a great spoiler to say that the military training completely changes, because she leaves the mercenary company at the start of the second book. The second book is even more paint-by-numbers as it's focused (insofar as there's a focus) on her paladin training; it's largely forgettable* except for the last handful of chapters, which suddenly ratchet around to the same level of realism as the company training of the first book. The third book goes loopy; I don't mind the sojourn among the elves, as they at least have character, but while the climactic battle is good military stuff, a miracle gets pulled out of a hat to set it up.

That said, I've reread the triology a couple times. For all its flaws, quite satisfying.

* There's even not one but two dungeon crawls.

---L.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

I read the first one, tried to read the second, and got bored. The second one is very, very similar to the first one. And Paks doesn't really get any more subtle.

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

I'm a Moon fangirl. I also have an Allergy to Epic Fantasy, so... The Paks books aren't my thing. They are very good if you like Epic Fantasy. Just... I don't.

If you also have an Allergy to Space Opera, she is probably not the author for you.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I was expecting more character development (i.e., GROWTH) than I got by the time I finished the books, but it's still the best depiction of a paladin ever.

[mattador.livejournal.com]

The rest of the Paks books are still military and, in my opinion, even better- the prequels about the life of Gird, on the other hand, were a waste of time.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

There's still military foo.

There's also a lot of angst and, at various points, torture.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Here via oursin's friendspage, had to stop and add my two bits' worth - hope you don't mind!

I did try reading those books - I'm a scholar of fantasy lit, so I thought I should - but they didn't take. Mostly I just got irritated with Paks and Moon both. There are so very few genuinely asexual characters out there, I couldn't help being disappointed that one of the first obvious ones was such a monumental bore (not to mention being loaded up ridiculous amounts of with Pure Virgin imagery)...

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I tried to read her series about trading in space, and couldn't really get into it (maybe something to do with my aversion to even mildly hard sci-fi). But I do love training sequences, and I know less than nothing about D&D, aside from that five minute I watched of the film.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the second and third as much as the first. The third especially got a bit mythic, which is Not My Thing.

My favorites of hers are REMNANT POPULATION, which has an old heroine, and THE SPEED OF DARK, which to me is far different from her other work, and possibly her best book.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

I read these a bunch of years back, and I remember loving the military details all the way through.

Have you read her science fictionny military serieses? I quite like those. Very military, very detailed--they feel real in places.