Limits of Power: Paladin's Legacy, Book 4 | |||||||||||
Elizabeth Moon | |||||||||||
Del Rey, 497 pages | |||||||||||
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A review by Sherwood Smith
Elizabeth Moon demonstrated a similar inspiration with her Deeds of Paksenarrion series, but she differed from the general run
of Middle-Earth-inspired epic fantasy by approaching the story not from the point of view of a hidden prince or a
hobbit-like being, but from the perspective of an ordinary foot-soldier. The reader followed Paks from her first days as
an awkward grunt to her apotheosis as a paladin.
Twenty years later, Moon revisited that world, kicking off a new series, Paladin's Legacy.
There is a short exchange near the end of the third volume, Echoes of Betrayal, that perhaps sums up this new series' arc:
"What?" That was not what Arvid expected to hear.
"You could even say the gods always cause trouble—certainly Gird did, though se celebrate the trouble he caused. Paladins,
though -- we don't really know how they started, but it's clear they come into the world to change it, and that's always trouble for someone."
The new series begins with Oath of Fealty whose opening pages put the reader inside the story hours after the last series ended.
Through this novel and the subsequent two volumes, Kingdoms of the North and Echoes of Betrayal, we follow
Kieri Phelan, who abruptly finds himself transformed from a duke in charge of a mercenary company into a king; we also follow
his captains Jandelir Arcolin and Dorrin Verrakai, who each get promoted into spheres they never expected. Phlegmatic Sergeant
Stammel has, if possible, an even stranger trajectory, as does Arvid Semminson, the thief-enforcer who rescued Paks.
We meet new characters, such as the new young king Mikeli of Tsaia, and his court; we meet elves again, but also gnomes,
kuakkgani, and a very strange being even older, as the world, its history, and its pantheon of gods are explored.
We also meet some familiar villains, and new ones.
Limits of Power begins minutes after the end of Echoes of Betrayal. The reader is plunged into the chaos after the
climax of that volume, without introduction of the characters. Though a new reader will find a helpful map at the beginning of
the volume, plus a Dramatis Personae, that does not explain who they are, how they are related, what they look like, and most of
all their very complicated back stories. I strongly recommend that the new reader begin with Oath of Fealty.
As with the previous volumes, the reader is shifted back and forth between all the main characters as the story builds
inexorably toward... the cataclysm promised in the next, and presumably concluding, volume.
The pacing through all four books proceeds at a steady march, with occasional charges at speed. Some readers might find that
stately deliberation slow; a characteristic of Moon's writing is the detail, especially of military movements, being vividly
and sometimes painstakingly described. Supplies are never forgotten. Animal care. Weapons care. Weapons practice. The importance
of regalia. The second reason the pacing can be slow, especially through the early volumes, is that there is a tendency
for the characters when reporting an incident to repeat it verbatim for different characters instead of summarizing. I noticed
that there was less of this in the present volume, and more summation, which tightened the sense of movement.
The details make the world seem real, lived in. There is a sense of accelerating change geographically, economically,
culturally, and also in religious matters. All these things are important to the characters and how change is presented,
and how characters react is individual and believable, adding to the verisimilitude.
Moon switches between locales and characters, managing to keep the timing flowing forward, so there is rarely a sense of
having to go back and catch up. While I find myself most involved in Duke Dorrin (who, though a woman, is not a duchess)
Verrakai and her complicated past, each character arc is complex, with its own dangers, triumphs, and goals. There is
enough communication between them to keep the overall storyline braided, so that it never seems to have sprawled out of control.
There has been a lot of debate of late about epic fantasy: what constitutes grimdark, what that means, fantasy written by
male and female authors, etc. Moon's series contains all the elements expected of epic fantasy: big battles, magic and
liminal realities and eucatastrophe, other races and cultural change, long views of time, tragedy both sharp and lingering
as well as moments of joy and laughter. If the reader has a taste for good versus evil, and a keelson of human decency
supporting the structure, then Moon's series should appeal.
Sherwood Smith is a writer by vocation and reader by avocation. Her webpage is at www.sff.net/people/sherwood/. |
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