The Deed of Paksenarrion
Elizabeth Moon is a fantasy author I did not know much about other than she wrote a fantasy story about a character who wants to define her own destiny.
With this little information, I started research Elizabeth Moon and the more I dug, the more interesting she became to me; for example, she has worked in the army. This information colors my expectations about the Deed of Paksenarrion: I believe that the series will be inspired from her experience in the army, adding realism and authenticity to a story starting on a premise that others have potentially covered. And yet, if it was covered (I can think about the Black Company by Glenn Cook, for example, or even Dune by Frank Herbert, clearly with a different spin), it has not been covered with a female protagonist and, almost more importantly for me at this moment, from a female perspective. And here we are with already two quite strong elements to this adventure: a woman in fantasy and writing about a strong female character as the lead.
And yet, this was not enough, there are more goodies to come for me that push the Sheepfarmer’s Daughter (book one in the Deek of Paksenarrion) at the top of my TBR list!
I recently watched a video by Brian Lee Durphy (fantasy author himself and very prolific BookTuber) reviewing The Sheepfarmer’s daughter. And he had very positive things to say about the book, including the fact that this is a vast world building that the reader slowly gets to experience with the protagonist. His videos are a bit of an experience themselves - not really having any editing but following Brian Lee Durphy’s train of thought and the videos are unique that way!
And while all of the above would be sufficient to put this series on my radar but the contributing factors pushing the series higher up on my TBR list do not stop here.
This is a series that squarely belongs to my ‘80s fantasy project (there will be a specific post about it in the next weeks to provide more context and more titles that belong to this project; for the time being, I speak about it in this 2023 plan post). While I was researching what books to include in this project, my attention was immediately caught by the Sheepfarmer’s Daughter and the coincidence just put a smile on my face. Good for me, something things will workout in your favor!
The final piece of the puzzle that pushed this title so high on my TBR list - and it has to do with my reading preference - is that the story is set as life in the military. I do not recall (but if you do, please comment below!) any female author venturing in the life in the army. And, going back to one of the first factor that brought me to including this series in my TBR, I am expecting Elizabeth Moon to bring in her experience to life (or better, to the page) providing a multifaceted story with unique takes about this style of life.
It also seems that there are going to be delicate (and potentially triggering) topics addressed in the story, such as sexual misconduct. Remember this book was written in the ‘80s when society associated significantly more shame on women for being victims of sexual abuse. I also assume that it was difficult, almost taboo, to talk about sexual abuse in the army. Hence, I am looking forward to seeing how this topic will be tackled in the book.
To summarize what caught my attention in this series and why it is so high into my TBR: woman in fantasy, writing about a female lead living the life of a soldier. Just typing these items down make me want to pick the book up immediately!
Have you read this series? Have you read other books by Elizabeth Moon (and I understand she also wrote sci-fi)? What about your thoughts about The Deed of Paksenarrion and / or Elizabeth Moon’s take on story telling?
If you have read the Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, feel free to comment with a sheep emoji! And if you read other books by Elizabeth Moon, comment by including a moon emoji down below!
