Books: Deed of Paksenarrion - Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon

[lyssie]

I was feeling cranky the other night, and realised I hadn't reread Paks in a while. A really long while, so I began reading about the girl who would become queen. Er, well, not that exactly. But she was a tomboy and ran away to become a mercenary, and eventually goes through peril dire and becomes a--you know, that might be a spoiler, I suppose.

Anyway. The book isn't all that bad, and while Paks skirts the edge of being a Mary Sue, she's also incredibly naive (almost too stupid to live, at times), sees the world in black and white, and wears her feelings on her face. She's quick-tempered (Saben has to tackle her at one point so she doesn't get herself killed. Sigh.), but fairly disciplined.

And she reminds me of Kara Thrace a great deal. Kara's much more... knowing, though. Kara is Paks the City Girl, not Paks the Country Girl. Although, Kara will NEVER EVER become a fucking paladin, or I will write angry letters. ANGRY, I tell you.

The biggest nitpicky thing about SD is that it needed someone editing for continuity and, er, cutting down on descriptions. I mean, seriously, I have no fucking clue if Arne is a man or a woman (and Arne is referred to as BOTH throughout the book), and quite a few of the characters are mostly ciphers and there as scenery and not as, well, characters. Then there's the words that got missed then with the 'n', that for this, etc. And the overloaded descriptions which are nice, and really paint a picture... But it would have been nice to make it up a little in my head.

All of that aside, I still like the book. I'm still yanked in and grieve alongside Paks and the others at times, and want to yell and cheer when they sack Rotengre. The author paints a fabulous other universe filled with seasons and places you can almost smell.

I still kinda want to be Paks.

But I'd rather fly a viper.

Comments

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

I read half that book, once... that's so weird that I can totally remember holding it in my hand at some swim meet. Flashbacks. Weird. *resolves to dig through shelves o' fantasy paperbacks* ... What are your other favorite authors along those lines?

I never read much Elizabeth Moon myself, but was a fairly avid fan of Mercedes Lackey, Tanya Huff and Tamora Pierce.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

One thing about Moon that is probably why I can't stop reading is that she's kinda... gritty. Bad Things happen, and the resolution isn't always sparkly clean. Although I'm beginning to really hate the ton of description. And it's not even important, in the long run...

Huff is good. Emma Bull, Esther Friesner, John deChancie (Castle Perilous is like the bad crack), Lackey and McCaffrey both fall into the pocornycomforty category (the Killashandra books are a bloody space opera, damnit). ...hrm. *goes to stare at bookshelf* Ru Emerson, Teresa Edgerton (angsty knights!), Patricia Wrede, and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake stuff (the first five weren't as painful as the later ones). For non-comfort, Charles de Lint and Barbara Hambly (even if Antryg and Joanna are so my favorite fantasy OTP).

..damnit. And now I want to reread books I don't have.

sigh. Oh well.

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

I heart the Killashandra books muchly - they're the only ones of hers I've ever been able to stomach.

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

Emma Bull! Teresa Edgerton! I'll add Lynn Flewelling for popcorn fun w/ a bit-o-slash. Wish they'd write faster!

Elizabeth Bear's Hammered is very good, her LJ is making me slobber for more of her stuff. And Will Shetterly just finished a draft of his latest and what I've had a chance to read is luscious.

[quietdarkness.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Moon is a very nice lady...I had the pleasure of meeting her last AggieCon. We ended up touring the Science Fiction collection at the Texas A&M library together.

Paul thinks very highly of her military science fiction books. I haven't read any of her work, myself.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Heh. Nifty.

I find her military SF really nicely done (plus, lots of strong women). It's a little on the popcorny side, but she does good political intrigue (which is present even in her fantasy work).

[katcorvi.livejournal.com]

Oh lord...I know I've read that book...it was probably 1988 or so...(eeep) I remember practically nothing about it, but I do remember liking it.

Barbara Hambly. Loved her, especially the series with the flying wraith things. I still check to see if she's got something new on the shelves, though I long ago gave up on Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey. I admit to having a crush on F'nor when I was 16.

The Arne Thing

[rexlapinii.livejournal.com]

There are actually a few different characters named Arne, or nicknamed it--there's actually a fair amount of name repetition throughout the books. So what might have happened is that there's a guy actually named Arne, and a girl either named or nicknamed Arne (her full name in the latter case might be Arianya, because the Marshal-General in the other books gets called Arne a few times and that's her full name) and either you missed the switch or Moon didn't make it particularly clear. I know I can get confused by the blizzard of minor characters in the mercenary company, it's not hard to do.

Arne's like Erin, basically. :)

Re: The Arne Thing

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know she has a problem with name repetition.

But there's an Arne that joins up at the same time as Paks (and a guy named Vik), and the inference all the way through is that this Arne mentioned in conjunction with Vik is the same one that joined up with her.

Re: The Arne Thing

[rexlapinii.livejournal.com]

Right. I think that Arne's a guy. But there's another Arne that Paks hooks up with . . . I think right after the training cohort rejoins the rest of the Company, and that Arne is a veteran (corporal?) in another cohort and also a woman. So the name confusion starts real early.