This reader's personal opinion, ©2015, all rights reserved, not to be quoted, clipped or used in any way by Google Play, amazon.com or other commercial booksellers* 

Shock and awe.  I absolutely love this series--and am not likely to be able to write a coherent review, any attempt at even starting to talk about what happens is likely to be just a series of spoiler tags.  In fact, if you haven't read the earlier works, read no further.  I think I managed avoiding spoilers for this particular book except as tagged; but, it definitely contains series spoilers.

 

Glad I held off reading until last hours of Saturday's Dewey's Readathon -- both because easily kept me reading and because the book hangover of this world staying with me would have made reading another book immediately after very difficult. 

 

Starting with the aftermath of last book's ending:

This reader's personal opinion, ©2015, all rights reserved, not to be quoted, clipped or used in any way by Google Play, amazon.com or other commercial booksellers* 

I'm not ready to start another book yet.  Major book hangover from this one.  I know I stayed up way too late reading when I open to find things I highlighted/noted for this review and the text on ereader had been enlarged to a huge size.

"And as Paksenarrion is there, perhaps she will ride back

with me to Fin Panir to see the necklace."

This series is one of my favorite to read; this series is one of my least favorite to review.  Just hard to explain exactly why such a favorite.  I doubt any if my reviews for this series make a lot of sense. This one had more gnomes.

 

1/4/14 ** Re-reading the set as I get ready to read the 4th (out of 5) in this companion series in the Paksenarion world. This is my first book for the new year. :)

9/15/12 ** Still wanted comfort food for the beginning of the school year. Picked this up from my shelf even though it is the 2nd in the series. Must buy the first. Then, I discovered that the third in this trilogy cam out this year and there are copies available at the library. Guess where I'll be at 10:00 Saturday (tomorrow) morning?! Writing, cooking, cleaning, grading papers??? Hmmm - perhaps those are all overrated.

4/10/11 ** This volume is the 2nd in an anticipated trilogy set in Paksenarion's world; it follows the lives of those who shaped and guided Paksenarion on her journey from being a sheepfarmer's daughter to being a paladin.
As the first book, Oath of Fealty, Kings of the North contains an ensemble cast, changing perspectives every few chapters. I did find myself cheating on this first reading of the book, flipping ahead to follow one story-line, because I wanted to know immediately what had happened with a particular character. The downside to this is that the various story-lines are interwoven so carefully that I found I was missing key details that had been revealed in someone else's story line.
This book, more than the first seemed to explore the theme of unintended consequences and the pitfalls that can come when trying to judge others on the basis of one's own cultural norms. The long-time enmity between those from Tsaia & Lyonya with those from Pargun was explored in more depth. Parallels could be drawn between Moon's world and our own regarding the West's beliefs about the Middle East, and vice versa. Moon seems to be giving a clear warning about making assumptions about others.

This reader's personal opinion, ©2012, all rights reserved, not to be quoted, clipped or used in any way by Google Play, amazon.com or other commercial booksellers* 

For 90% of the thing, Paks was Paks and my enjoyment of story had its ups and downs. Ups with the story progressing, Paks finally on way to serving Gird, learning more of Paladins and various races; downs with one too many mysterious underground choose-your-door things, companions often untrustworthy, and way too many encounters with godlike beings, good and bad, with blurry to outright loss of memory.

 

Then a cliffhanger ending with Paks no longer the character whose story I was reading a somewhat formula (but well written) fantasy to follow. And, what was up with all the blonde talk and how hair-up meant soldier and down meant frail female or potential rape victim?

12/25/13 ** I absolutely can't believe that this book is not part of my GoodReads collection. I seriously don't know how many times I've read it. As part of my "get ready to travel" routine, I looked for books to download from my library's ecollection, and I realized that there is a new book out in the Paladin's Legacy series. Thus, I NEED (word choice?) to read all the other books in the series. Since the first Legacy book begins concurrently with Oath of Gold, I decided to go back an re-read this.

High fantasy with a military twist. Paks no longer fights with her mercenary infantry company. In this volume, her understanding of her faith and prayer has intensified. I appreciated the author's reminder, near the end of the book, that when the God(s) intervene in the human world, they routinely have more than one purpose.