Synopsis:
As former military hero Duke Kieri Phelan ascends the throne in half-elven Lyonya, the neighboring realm of Tsaia faces a threat from the long-forgotten blood magery of the Verrakai family.
Review:
Oath of Fealty follows directly after the events that concluded Elizabeth Moon’s Deed of Paksennarion trilogy, and as such is a bit tricky to synopsize, particularly [...]

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Synopsis:
The seventh son of a seventh son, Alvin Miller is destined for greatness if he can only survive the plots of the Unmaker who stalks him.
Review:
I loved the alternate America created by Orson Scott Card in Seventh Son, where folk magic abounds and George Washington had himself executed as a traitor after liberating the colonies. [...]

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Synopsis:
Nostradamus and his assistant, the dashing Alfeo Zeno, solve a politically motivated murder while keeping their alchemical doings from being discovered by the reigning powers in heavily Catholic 16th Century Venice.
Review:
I listened to The Alchemist’s Code on audiobook, and wasn’t aware that it was a sequel until looking up the publication date to craft this [...]

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Synopsis:
In her final adventure, soldier turned coward turned paladin Paksenarrion finds herself on a quest to crown the true king, a quest that will bring her face to face with darkest evil.
Review:
Oath of Gold concludes the Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy in a most satisfactory manner, no matter how trite my one-liner may seem. (Have [...]

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Synopsis:
A free lance after leaving Duke Phelan’s company, Paksenarrion finds high adventure and faces an evil that changes her irrevocably.
Review:
Divided Allegiance was much darker than Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, with Elizabeth Moon taking Paksenarrion to some very dark places. Yet Moon never loses her connection with the ideals of goodness, courage, and loyalty that made Paks [...]

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Synopsis:
A country girl enlists as a recruit in a band of mercenary soldiers, where she excels–and may be receiving supernatural aid from a saint she doesn’t know about or believe in.
Review:
Oddly enough, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter reminded me a lot of Battlestar Galactica, with its preoccupations over military honor and what makes for goodness in wartime. [...]

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Synopsis:
Young Bard-in-training Hem finds himself in the midst of a war, recruited into a vicious army of children enslaved by evil magic.
Review:
The Crow got off to a very slow start, but once it got going I was enthralled by the uniqueness of the world and the beauty of the writing. I fell in love [...]

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Synopsis:
Maerad of Pellinor heads north in pursuit of the Treesong as the Winter King threatens her at every turn.
Review:
I was so glad to see Alison Croggon leave her Tolkien influences behind in The Riddle, the second book in her well-told story of Pellinor, which started out as just your typical fantasy country beseiged by the [...]

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Synopsis:
A slave discovers that she is The One prophesied by the mystical race of Bards.
Review:
It really is all about execution when it comes to epic fantasy. I mean, that one sentence synopsis of The Gift could pretty much describe about a zillion other books, many of them truly dreadful. In fact, I was [...]

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Synopsis:
On his quest to the Dark Tower, Roland the gunslinger and his companions move through a ghastly post-nuclear landscape in search of a train that is certainly alive and not certainly safe.
Review:
Whenever I start reading The Waste Lands, my heart aches waiting for Roland and Jake to be reunited. In my opinion, Jake is [...]

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