Elizabeth Moon

I started reading Elizabeth Moon with the compiled version of The Deed of Paksennarion, fairly standard fantasy trilogy. At least on the surface. It is the tale of a girl who runs away from home to be a mercenary soldier, then a knight, before finding her true destiny as a Paladin. It sounds very cliched, and in some ways it is, but the characters and writing make it stand out from other books in this vein.

The next novel of hers that I read was Hunting Party, an excursion into space opera and military SF. More uneven than the Paks books, but still entertaining, and when I got to the end, I hoped there would be more with the same characters. Elizabeth delivered more, and added more fascinating characters with every book.

That is what keeps me coming back to her books, her complicated, intelligent characters. She takes them and puts them into dark and desperate places, then lets them get out. But when they do, they have to face the consequences of whatever methods they used. That may be getting court-martialed, a psych evaluation, or thrown out of the service they are in, but they face it, usually in some way that comes out of left field for the reader.

The Vatta’s War series shares some concepts from the Serrano (Familias Regnant) series, but it is completely separate. It has ended with book five, so no more adventures in that universe. Of course, the Paksenarrion series is over too, but she is working on more stories of Paks and friends. So who knows where she will take us next.

While best known for the series she creates, Moon also writes stand alone novels and short stories. She has had several stories in the Chicks In Chain Mail series. And she has a couple of collections, Moon Flights being the most recent.

Elizabeth Moon is just an all around excellent writer, who does a good job keeping her readers entertained.

• Familias Regnant
• World of Paksennarion
• Vatta’s War series