Reviews

Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon

ianl1963's review against another edition

2.0

Series ruined for me, by second part of the third book.

Start of the slippery slope, the preachyness of the main character.

Then book goes all Joan of Arc, with gratuitous violence; author demures from gratuitous sex.

But the inevitable ending comes about, after a convenient saving and the high lords intervention.

Maybe such endings come to you when singing in the church choir.

lakesbecky's review against another edition

3.0

The least strong of the trilogy. I liked it but was more predictable. Paks discovers her full powers as paladin and lots of her previous adventures come together.

bookworm5732's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

mbs1236's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

eososray's review against another edition

4.0

I was not always sure that I was going to like this series. I very much objected to what I thought of as pushy Girdsmen trying to convert innocent people. And the typical snotty elves were super annoying. But I should have trusted the author to bring it all together, she has a talent for writing a good female hero that doesn't always take the road most traveled.

gay's review against another edition

adventurous

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

laperfettaxx's review against another edition

5.0

Overall, a good finish to a fantastic trilogy. Would recommend to friends and family.

breadgirl2's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

gmvader's review against another edition

3.0

I think Elizabeth Moon has a strange dichotomy going on in her books. For the vast majority of the time they feel like idyllic pastoral pieces about a woman learning magic. Then the climax comes and they go from quaint children-appropriate fantasy to something dark and sinister and violent and maybe even a little disturbing. It becomes jolting when Paks – the main character – spends the entire book on a quest talking to glowing elves and wandering through forests and visiting with lords who all tend to kind of see things her way and are pretty nice folks and then gets captured and tortured in explicit detail for two chapter.

I don’t know then if I should say that this book is boring, or disturbing or… something else entirely. I don’t really know. Each of the other books in the series had the same sort of experience that made them seem like better books than they actually were. Moon tackles some heavier subjects than most fantasy is willing to do but she does it from a distance. It’s like instead of examining the effects of depression on a person who is expected to be a Paladin (a proverbial ray of hope to those in need) she stands back a bit and looks at somebody experiencing it. Everything feels remote.

What I’m getting at is that I think these books fail at trying to address the questions that they raise. I can heartily recommend The Speed of Dark – one of the best books I’ve read – and I really enjoyed most of her science fiction books. These fantasy books, however, left me feeling really… meh.

ana3333's review against another edition

3.0

Unfortunately, this was the weakest book in the series for me. I loved the first half, watching Paks come into her powers and slowly grow in her faith. But the ending absolutely ruined it for me.

First of all, watching Paks figure out the identity of the true king was tooth-grindingly slow. Sure she's not known for her intelligence, but she had all the very obvious pieces of the very clear puzzle and still just wandered around for days without a single inkling of who it could be. Second of all, the super intense torture/rape chapter came out of nowhere, killed the whole vibe, and was fairly unnecessary. Finally, after the big battle and all that, the book just abruptly ended without resolving the whole "Paks' family gets her sword and hears she no longer needs it" setup from the beginning of the book.

Altogether, it felt like an incredible fantasy epic was kneecapped in the last quarter of the final book, with a clunky plot and rushed ending.