Sheepfarmer's Daughter
Ratings46
Average rating3.5
Paksenarrion is the typical strong warrier woman in this fantasy novel that tries really, really hard to be epoch. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite make[return]it. I'm not saying it's a bad book, and if you enjoy epoch fantasy you'd probably get a kick out of it. However, by the end of the book it starts to feel[return]like the same old fantasy stuff that we've read time and time again, accept instead of a strong masculin male character it's happening to a strong masculine[return]female character. It's got battles, magic, and a main character who can do no wrong. If you enjoy that sort of thing, you'll find this the stuff of legends.[return]For the rest of us, it's an ok read...but you've probably got better things to do.
Not your typical fantasy. There's barely any magic and no grand battles with millions of soldiers. But the foundation of ordinary serves to highlight the extraordinary.
It's not without its flaws, but overall this was one of the most interesting fantasy books I've read.
Really strong opening. I like Moon's prose. After the first 1/3, the story loses all of its steam. I understand its intended to convey the viewpoint of a military grunt who doesn't know much abut the overall battle. They can only see what's happening right in front of them. But this makes it a bit boring. The training parts at the beginning and the parts where Paks is running through the woods to warn the rest of the army are the best parts of the book. I'll likely return to this series at some point as there was certainly enough good here that I have hope the final two books will improve on the first since she is no longer in the army.
Quit about a quarter in.
Here is the thing, I found this book incredibly boring. The beginning sold me on Paks becoming someone absolutely amazing. How did I think that happens? The fantasy novel way, of course, with her gong through amazing adventures, excitement, fantastic feats, becoming love and respected by the people around her for showing values worth it.
We have nothing like that. The events are not very monumental or even interesting, but boy, do we get to learn about new recruits doing basic, repetitive things. Sure, learning something IS like that. My life s like. Do I want to spend hours upon hours reading about the same sort of boring ass crap? No. The prose doesn't make it interesting either, because it's just some sort of clinical description of meaningless and boring things happening. There is just... so much nothing, talking about “and this person went there and then I handed him this object and then he ate his dinner”, just blabbering about NOTHING.
This is made even worse by the characters. Their names all sound the same and their personalities aren't much different either. We are supposed to feel time is passing and still no development happen on that front. They don't feel like comrades or friends, just people who arrived 2 days ago and are friendly to each other, but no even a little attached. Paks is the same. She has no personality, she is absolutely blank and we know nothing about her motivations or anything.
Maybe this is a classic and maybe I will try again later, but right now I'm way too bored.
it was enjoyable but i didn't get drawn into the characters much. I'm still going to read the sequel though!
I read this based on a recommendation from a Goodreads member. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't converted. The book is decent, but not especially interesting; most of it is things we've seen before. Paksenarrion (the protagonist) is likeable, but much of the book is a fairly mechanical look at her induction into a mercenary corps. There's quite a lot of detail, but much of it is shallow - it reads a bit like someone inserting research they've done into how armies work.
This book was written as part of a much longer work, and it shows, By the end of the 450 or so pages, I felt like I'd just finished an incredibly long prologue. Unfortunately, I'm not tempted to read the bulk of the book.
All in all, pleasant, readable, but not particularly striking.