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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780671721176
ISBN number: 0671721178
Label: Baen
Manufacturer: Baen
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 480
Printing Date: May 01, 1992
Publishing house: Baen
Sale Popularity Level: 155461
Studio: Baen
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Rated by buyers 
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This is the second half of the prequel to the "Deed of Paksennarion" trilogy, which also comes around at the end and bites it's own tail. Where Surrender None was about Gird and the peasant revolution he led against the mage-lords, this one begins with Gird's death (just before it, actually) and focuses on Luap, previously "the luap," Gird's assistant and sort of aide-de-camp. Luap is half-mage himself, the bastard of one of the kings before the one Gird killed, and he's infected with a lingering sense of entitlement that will eat away at him all the rest of his long, long life. He's not evil, just weak -- just human, as Gird was, but in a much less heroic way. Moon gradually builds multiple character portraits with her rather slow-moving narrative, including those of the very first two proto-paladins, an aging mage-priest, and a large supporting cast. None of this will make a bit of sense unless you've read the previous volume -- and preferably the whole trilogy -- so don't even think of starting here.
Rated by buyers -
I liked so much about this book! I wanted it to be a 5 star review. I can't do it.
It's well written and interesting. The characters matter and their lives matter. It should be five stars but it is not because the story does not support the rest of the excellence.
The story actually begins with a short prolog involving Paksennarion and Duke Phelan, a thousand years or more after the "time" of the story. They are discussing the mysterious fortress found in the DEED OF PAKSENNARION trilogy. From there, the story goes back to the time of Gird. In that sense, it begins before the previous story ends because Gird is still alive. He is not the central character, however. The main guy is Luap, Gird's sometimes trustworthy assistant.
The problem is the distrust between the peasants and the mage born. Luap has found a magic portal to a mysterious palace far in the west and wants to move the mageborn out there to allow them to safely train their powers. In his heart, though, he looks forward to the opportunity to set up an independent fiefdom. The palace he found was actually built by dwarves and elves. They do not use it but are reluctant to let humans in there. They warn of a grave danger but refuse to specify the nature of that danger. Luap moves out there with his people anyway and for a while they are happy but there is a great danger. It is the dark elves who delight in evil. Luap's presence has freed them and they are biding their time to make a bloody mess.
All of this reads well. The suspense is gradually built up along with good characterizations. Where the book falls down is in the climax. The dark elves are on the march and everything is resolved in a few pages with the intervention of Paks and Duke Phelan from the future. Luap gets his comeuppance and they all go about their business.
Its too pat.
Still, the book was worth reading. I just wish it had been worth ending
Rated by buyers 
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I discovered Elizabeth Moon when she wrote Sassinak. I loved the Deed of Paksenarrion and have have mixed (but mostly positive) reactions to the rest of her books. This, though...this was a bitter disappointment.
I love psychological studies. I usually like books with unlikable main characters. But there must be a point to the book. It must GO somewhere or DO something. This book promises and teases, but in the end, there is nothing.
This is a book that needed a fight. This book was desperate for a climax, a turning point, some action. Whether political or physical, this book just flat needed a real conflict, not the mess of never-resolved semi-conflicts with a weak deus ex machina device at the end.
This book needed a story, but it had none. It was too toothless for a tragedy, too wandering for a saga, too diffuse for a character study.
What a disappointment. I can't believe I bought this new. Never again! Elizabeth Moon is going firmly into my "used only" category until I find something of hers to be a lot more enthusiastic about.
Rated by buyers -
This book is a sort of a history or background of the world as Paksennarion knew it. It may be perhaps a bit dry a times as most histories are. But its a good story.
Rated by buyers 
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This novel was so bad that I threw it away after reading it and was furious that I wasted so much time. It dragged throughout the book entire. The story line just was not interesting,
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