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Title: Oath of Gold
Author: Elizabeth Moon
Genre: Epic fantasy (third of three)
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: Traumatized by a training mission gone horribly awry, Paksennarion must recover her courage to accomplish her dream of becoming a paladin.
Thoughts: More of the great re-reading kick. I've re-read this trilogy a couple times--this time, I just skipped to my favorite book of the three.
Paks is a fabulous character. She's incredibly human--her strengths and flaws are far more subtle than most authors manage to accomplish. She grows up over the course of the three books, but keeps her essential nature. She's loyal and good-hearted, but headstrong and not exactly the cleverest. Not annoying dumb, but she has a certain simplicity that begins as naivete, turns into willfulness, falls into devastation, and finally is burnished into wisdom. If she were a D&D character, I'd say that her intelligence score stays as a 7 for the duration, but her wisdom goes from a 6 to a 20.
This particular book begins with her as a PTSD-plagued hobo an inch from suicide. It charts her slow recovery of herself, and how she turns her own weaknesses into strengths. It's both one of the most quiet, thoughtful books I've read and also one of the most violent. There are certain passages that still choke me up every time. Moon has a tendency to close chapters on an unexpectedly soft note that reinforces that careful pacing. But near the end, there's an extended torture scene that's hair-raising but anything but gratuitous. It's a painful but necessary development of character, the moment that Paks' entire life has been leading towards. The joyous, hopeful ending is a counterpoint to the angst that the novel begins with, balancing beautifully. This trilogy is one of my favorite works of fantasy.
Author: Elizabeth Moon
Genre: Epic fantasy (third of three)
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: Traumatized by a training mission gone horribly awry, Paksennarion must recover her courage to accomplish her dream of becoming a paladin.
Thoughts: More of the great re-reading kick. I've re-read this trilogy a couple times--this time, I just skipped to my favorite book of the three.
Paks is a fabulous character. She's incredibly human--her strengths and flaws are far more subtle than most authors manage to accomplish. She grows up over the course of the three books, but keeps her essential nature. She's loyal and good-hearted, but headstrong and not exactly the cleverest. Not annoying dumb, but she has a certain simplicity that begins as naivete, turns into willfulness, falls into devastation, and finally is burnished into wisdom. If she were a D&D character, I'd say that her intelligence score stays as a 7 for the duration, but her wisdom goes from a 6 to a 20.
This particular book begins with her as a PTSD-plagued hobo an inch from suicide. It charts her slow recovery of herself, and how she turns her own weaknesses into strengths. It's both one of the most quiet, thoughtful books I've read and also one of the most violent. There are certain passages that still choke me up every time. Moon has a tendency to close chapters on an unexpectedly soft note that reinforces that careful pacing. But near the end, there's an extended torture scene that's hair-raising but anything but gratuitous. It's a painful but necessary development of character, the moment that Paks' entire life has been leading towards. The joyous, hopeful ending is a counterpoint to the angst that the novel begins with, balancing beautifully. This trilogy is one of my favorite works of fantasy.
