Review: The Deed of Paksenarrion

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I started this book, I did not realize I had purchased a bundle of the first three books, so it took me much longer to finish than I had anticipated. However, I am glad I read all three stories together, had I just read the first book, I would have been somewhat disappointed. The best parts of the story do not come until the second and third books.

This is a pretty standard fare heroes journey story, while it is well written and has some interesting character development and world building, it relies too much on medieval fantasy tropes to be a truly great book. In fact this book read a lot like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, which does not particularly bother me, but the author seems to go out of her way to describe in story the powers a Paladin has in the game and at times this felt awkward to me. Elizabeth Moon knows how to write a good fight scene, this to me is a big plus for me, however she also knows how to write a good torture scene, which does not particularly appeal to me at all, thankfully she skips describing the rape in any detail.

Overall a pretty good book, I am not sure I would recommend it to everyone, but if you are a D&D player and want a good story about the rise of a Paladin, this will suit you very nicely. In fact reading the book makes me want to play a Paladin in the campaign I play in.

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