Sheepfarmer's Daughter (The Deed of Paksenarrion, Book 1)

published	2000 by Baen
binding	Mass Market Paperback
isbn	0671319647 (isbn13: 9780671319649)
pages	512
date added	02-12-07 edit book

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Jeff rated it:

03/09/07

bookshelves: fantasy

recommends it for: fantasy/military enthusiasts

The first of a series of books set in this world, Sheepfarmer's Daughter is a fine example of "bottom up" storytelling, and an excellent look at medieval military life from the ordinary soldier's perspective.

Beginning the tale of the protagonist, Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter (and what a freakin' Nordic mouthful that is), as she runs away from home to join a mercenary corps, Eliabeth Moon's crafting of this first book of her epic is first rate.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter is th...more The first of a series of books set in this world, Sheepfarmer's Daughter is a fine example of "bottom up" storytelling, and an excellent look at medieval military life from the ordinary soldier's perspective.

Beginning the tale of the protagonist, Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter (and what a freakin' Nordic mouthful that is), as she runs away from home to join a mercenary corps, Eliabeth Moon's crafting of this first book of her epic is first rate.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter is the story of the transformation of ... well, a sheepfarmer's daughter into a mercenary soldier in the service of Duke Phelan. Paksenarrion, or "Paks" to her friends in Phelan's military corps, experiences training and fighting that is rarely written about in this genre in such tactical and logistical detail.

The slow transformation of Paks from novice bumbler into hardened warrior is a pleasure to witness. Her ambivalence toward religion and magic is slightly evocative of (and perhaps a sly nod to) Howard's Conan. Characterizations of major players throughout are solid, however villains tend toward the one-dimensional, especially the chief antagonist; more could have been done with this character I thought without endangering the "grunt's point of view" the author is careful to maintain. Detailed descriptions of events come directly from Paks's point of view - we get to experience this strange world for the first time through her eyes.

One quibble I had with the set up of her world - and it's not exclusively a problem with Moon, as I've seen this done by other authors in comparable "period" fantasy work - is the seeming acceptance by what is essentially a feudal society of a rough sort of women's lib. Moon gives us the usual caveats about how "other" societies of her world don't guarantee the rights of women to the extent of the society that Paks finds herself in; nevertheless the historical record of sexual apartheid that "our universe's" western feudal age practiced (even up until mid-industrial age western society) belies the relatively easy sexual assimilation with which Paks works her way into her military milieu.

All in all, Sheepfarmer's Daughter is a worthy start to Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion cycle....less

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Sheepfarmer's Daughter (The Deed of Paksenarrion, Book 1)

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