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A review by thedearest
Crown of Renewal by Elizabeth Moon
3.0
Full review is here: http://galactictidesx.blogspot.ca/2014/03/book-review-crown-of-renewal-paladins.html
Confession: I did not read the Paksenarrion series before getting this book. I'll confess to one more, I read the Paladin's Legacy series after realizing Crown of Renewal is not the beginning of a series but the end of it. I also committed the mortal sin of finishing the Vatta's War series first.
In some ways, that coloured my reading of Crown of Renewal. I was pretty familiar with Elizabeth Moon's writing although it took on an otherworldly style in Paladin's Legacy. And I was able to see the series as part of one cohesive story which helped me understand how it came together. This reminds me of more classic SF/F in that sense, because it most certainly isn't a self-contained story within a serial. If I hadn't read the foreword and all of Paladin's Legacy I would have been completely lost.
In a multiple viewpoint narrative, you run the risk of not liking a character. For me, that was King Kieri, as unpopular as an opinion as that may be. I cared more about what was going on around him than I did for him as a character. Those chapters dragged in contrast with every other viewpoint especially as there was action of course, but also speculation and discovery--in keeping with the classic SF/F. Couldn't bring myself to care but for the people around hi,.
Dorrin Verrakai was probably my favourite character. A mage-lord when most people hate mage-lords, from a family of evil body snatching mage lords that everyone hated? An unmarried female duke? A lord with a mess of an estate that is trying to kill her and too many enemies and talking magical items ? Talk about a hard life. But yet, she handled it with a blend of grace, loyalty and the kind of smarts that makes it evident she is a commander at heart.
In that vein of being told like old-school SFF is that I still don't understand the magic. At all. I have a vague understanding of the taig-sense as an elf-y sort of thing, and old humans and mage lords but there is no magical system to be understood with rules and laws. And sometimes this is infuriating because I want to understand what is and is not possible! But that sense of wonder is captured beautifully.
Many may dislike that it is not a neat ending, but I find it satisfying nonetheless. And there is most certainly room for a sequel.
Overall rating: 3/5.
Full disclosure: I received this book as a Netgalley from Random House - Del Rey Spectra in exchange for an honest review.
Confession: I did not read the Paksenarrion series before getting this book. I'll confess to one more, I read the Paladin's Legacy series after realizing Crown of Renewal is not the beginning of a series but the end of it. I also committed the mortal sin of finishing the Vatta's War series first.
In some ways, that coloured my reading of Crown of Renewal. I was pretty familiar with Elizabeth Moon's writing although it took on an otherworldly style in Paladin's Legacy. And I was able to see the series as part of one cohesive story which helped me understand how it came together. This reminds me of more classic SF/F in that sense, because it most certainly isn't a self-contained story within a serial. If I hadn't read the foreword and all of Paladin's Legacy I would have been completely lost.
In a multiple viewpoint narrative, you run the risk of not liking a character. For me, that was King Kieri, as unpopular as an opinion as that may be. I cared more about what was going on around him than I did for him as a character. Those chapters dragged in contrast with every other viewpoint especially as there was action of course, but also speculation and discovery--in keeping with the classic SF/F. Couldn't bring myself to care but for the people around hi,.
Dorrin Verrakai was probably my favourite character. A mage-lord when most people hate mage-lords, from a family of evil body snatching mage lords that everyone hated? An unmarried female duke? A lord with a mess of an estate that is trying to kill her and too many enemies and talking magical items ? Talk about a hard life. But yet, she handled it with a blend of grace, loyalty and the kind of smarts that makes it evident she is a commander at heart.
In that vein of being told like old-school SFF is that I still don't understand the magic. At all. I have a vague understanding of the taig-sense as an elf-y sort of thing, and old humans and mage lords but there is no magical system to be understood with rules and laws. And sometimes this is infuriating because I want to understand what is and is not possible! But that sense of wonder is captured beautifully.
Many may dislike that it is not a neat ending, but I find it satisfying nonetheless. And there is most certainly room for a sequel.
Overall rating: 3/5.
Full disclosure: I received this book as a Netgalley from Random House - Del Rey Spectra in exchange for an honest review.