I am a big fan of fantasy novels especially if they are long and have several books in the series. I really enjoy a series of books that I can immerse myself in and this series allows me to do that. The story has many fascinating twists and turns and I find the characters to be very engaging. I first discovered these books years ago in a used book shop in Edinburgh and I have re-read them several times since. ( )

The last book offers even more of growth to Paks's character. We can finally see her settle into the role she was made for as well as change the world around her. There are graphic themes in this last installment though, so readers be warned.

But Paks brings with her a new light we merely glimpsed in previous books, and for that this book excelled. ( )

Paks is healed, becomes a paladin & restores Duke Phelan to rightful place as king of Lyona.

A bit disappointing that we gloss over the winter Paks spends in the depths of despair and jump in as she stumbles across someone to heal her. Fair enough that she's not in a mental state to heal herself or even seek healing I guess -- but having her be told what she's learned from the ordeal really felt a bit much: let her figure *something* out for herself! It felt a bit like the injury was put there to be a cliffhanger at the end of book 2, and resolved quickly in book 3 now that it was inconvenient to having adventures.

The final one of which dragged far too long: I guessed pretty much as soon as Paks was at the Lyonya court who their king was, and it was irritating that she was so slow on the uptake. It's different when you're living in the world, full of thousands of possibilities, rather than being fed the clues in a carefully edited trilogy, I admit. The author could have better simulated that though by feeding the clues more at the start of the trilogy rather than about three seconds before they became relevant.

Also the Passion of Paks was super heavy handed, I'm sorry but Jesus just ruined the trope for all future literature.

But I mean it's a very satisfyingly shaped, easy read, it's just that it was super predictable at almost every possible point. But sometimes that's what you want. (Just today it wasn't what I wanted is all.) ( )

Wow! What a fantastic book and the end to the first series. I can see now, having read the more recent books first, how they all fit into the world that she built when Paks was the main character. Again, there are instances where the geography takes a little bit of gliding over (I've always had to refer to maps in books) but her later books contain more complete maps so those helped me orient the events of this book.

Paks is recovering from a terrible set of experiences in the second book with the help of Master Oakhollow. He plays a very central role in her healing though he eases back in the character cast as Paks gains her strength. The relationship between her and Duke Phelan is much more fully explained, as is the tragedy that befell Tammarion and their children all those years ago. The military expeditions and fighting are, as can be expected with Elizabeth Moon, spot on; what fell apart for me was the reliance on invoking the names of dieties over and over again. "Gird's Grace" was used over and over again as a form of Deux ex Machina that seemed to be more of a way to move the action forward when little else would. But the set-up for future adventures by the additional characters, though unplanned 20 years ago, was all there, as was a fantastic series of books that were complete in themselves. ( )