A very compelling read. The story of Paksenarrion is long and involved, but ultimately quite compelling. The promise at the start of the book is never really fulfilled, but that's probably why this is "book 1". I'm sure the following books eventually bring the story of Paks to a close.

What I liked: a strong female central character, and compelling relationships with other warriors. I also like the slow learning of the world's mysticism --- that really did seem like how someone from a backwater village would learn about "greater mysteries".

What wasn't so great: The last half of the book was primarily about one military campaign, and I got lost amidst all the allied groups, both friend and foe. Moon was trying to describe something grand, but the (probably authentic) chaos in such a situation wound up in the writing as well.

Overall: well worth reading, especially if era-of-swords military adventure is your thing.

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The storyline is consistent and the characters believable. The first 100 pages hooked me right in and I was engrossed. My only problem is that the book is quite repetitive with the main character going from seige to seige and battle to battle. The book probably could have shaved about 100 pages without losing much real content. Still, the writing is quite good and I enjoyed the story.

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