Echoes of Betrayal

November 14, 2011
Paladins, insists one of Moon’s characters, “come into the world to change it, and that’s always trouble for someone.” The actions of Paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter in Oath of Fealty and Kings of the North have indeed left a legacy of change and trouble. King Kieri of Lyonya is preparing to marry Arian, his half-elven love, but the bones of Kieri’s family warn of danger and betrayal, possibly from the mostly absent elves. Dorrin, newly Duke Verrakai of Tsaia, remains an object of deepening suspicion even as she takes on a challenging task where either success or failure could damage her liege, young king Mikeli. Moon’s pacing is as leisurely as a snowball rolling down a mountain, and it leads just as surely to catastrophe; every crisis solved reveals two larger ones, and the intriguing characters must frantically build strength and courage to survive. Agent: JABberwocky Literary Agency.

December 15, 2011
The third installment in Moon's Paladin's Legacy series (Kings of the North, 2011, etc.) is a solid if unremarkable fantasy tale, with some rousing action and intriguing plot twists. The current series follows up on the author's Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy from two decades ago, and readers who aren't familiar with Moon's world will want to start at the beginning. But those who are already invested will find plenty to appreciate, even as the plot moves forward only incrementally. Nominal main character Kieri Phelan, who's found himself the king of Lyonya, a land shared uneasily between humans and elves, faces an invasion and a potential traitor from within. Elsewhere other characters encounter a powerful and aloof dragon; villains who can project their minds into others; and mages who heal by mixing humans with plants, like a sort of Tolkien take on the Swamp Thing. The range of characters can be dizzying even for series veterans, and many seemingly important players go missing for a hundred pages or more at a time. Although the book starts with a chaotic battle and ends with a shocking assassination, it feels at times like Moon is just spinning the wheels, resolving very little by the time the novel comes to a close. In between, though, she parcels out plenty of fascinating military detail (as readers of her many military sci-fi novels might expect) and gives a sense of the well-planned depth of the world she's created. At times a little formal and stilted, Moon's prose is very much in the established Tolkien epic fantasy tradition, and while it can seem staid, it's also comfortingly familiar. She's an old hand at the genre, and she knows how to deliver its most potent elements. Readers hungry for more dragons, elves, mages and gnomes will find exactly what they're looking for.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2011

The Eight Kingdoms face a new crisis as the forthcoming nuptials between King Kieri of Lyonya and the half-elf Arian elicit predictions of treachery from ancestral spirits. In Tsaia, meanwhile, King Mikeli's nobles hover on the brink of rebellion over his decision to grant a title of nobility to the female magelord Dorrin. Complicating an already explosive situation, wild dragons arrive and create havoc. In Moon's third series installment (Oath of Fealty; Kings of the North), her military acumen ensures convincing battle scenes while her talent for character building makes for sympathetic and believable heroes and villains. VERDICT Fans of epic fantasy with an emphasis on military strategy should enjoy this series.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2012
The third book in a series based in the author's popular Parksennarion world starts out with an unusual situation: Arvid Semminson is outside in the freezing cold, naked, listening to some people sharpening knives in preparation for his death. With this compelling start, the reader is fully engaged, with the first question needing an answer: What did he do to get into that situation? From there, the book jumps to other areas and characters of that world, with no apparent ties between them. For a reader not familiar with the world of the series, this is not the book to start with. Each chapter jumps from one parallel tale to another, with little continuity from one tale to the other, but the experienced reader is never less than eager to find out what transpires next. The battle scenes are full of action, and the characters are likable, but the jumpiness of the story means this book is for those who have read the Deeds of Parksennarion or at least the first two books in that series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)