Liar's Oath

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 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.

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.

I loved The Deed of Paksenarrion. I thoroughly enjoyed Liar's Oath. There's a definite difference. I found Luap to be an insightful main character. I disliked him, as I do many people in the world today, but that made the book more realistic. After all, important things happen to less-than-perfect people. I felt that the story dragged in some places, but all in all rate it as a worthy prequel to The Deed of Paksenarrion.

I'll agree that Liar's Oath is not the pinnacle of Elizabeth Moon's fantasy novels, but it tells a very important story, and a lot of people don't like it because they don't realize until the end that this story is a TRAGEDY. Yes, Luap is a flawed, unworthy character who leads his followers to disaster. His story is a warning, and Moon tells it with all the style and bitter realism her fans expect from her.

Nitty Gritty Realism.... This seems to be the area that Ms. Moon gets complemented on the most for her other novels. Perhaps that is why readers seem to have such a love-hate relationship with this novel. Here we are confronted with a protagonist that is not larger than life, as are Gird and Paksenarrion, but rather is all too human. Very Real. You've heard the expression, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"? Well, Luap has the right to wear the "Been there, done that!" T-shirt. Paks's decisions may not have always been easy, but she had the light of Gird within her to guide her along her path, thus making those decisions seem easy and foregone. This is the story of one man who tries to fake that inner light and all of the chaos that comes about from his continual striving to do what is right without having a clue. I think that this story is a good balance to the Deed, as well as filling in past history that I was curious about