Myth WeaverOk, I just finished reading Book 4 of Elizabeth Moon's 'Paladins Legacy' series.
Now...I *liked* the 'Paladin' series itself, a trilogy chronicling the career of a young woman who goes from a raw recruit in a mercenary army to a paladin.
The first book is part boot camp, and part campaign against a suitable villian, and while not central to the overall campaign, her acts are noteworthy.
In the second book, she goes freelance, tackles a couple of major foes pretty much by herself with implications she does not grasp, goes to 'paladin school'...and fails.
Third book, she becomes a paladin and among other things locates the rightful heir to a distressed kingdom.
Each of these books had well done characters and goals that were...clear enough.
Afterwards, Moon wrote two prequils to the series, accounts of the lives of near legendary early heroes describing a successful revolt against an evil mage empire and the consequences thereof. Again, these books, overall, were pretty good.
So a couple years ago, when the first Paladin's Legacy book came out, I thought why not? There were five pretty good earlier books, and the way the Paladin series ended, I could see room for one or two books to properly wrap things up. Instead, its been four books...and not much has happened. The first one started off promising enough, with an inexperienced character finding himself king of a nation he'd barely visited in the past, but since then...well, each book begins with action. Something always happens in each book, be it a dynastic crisis or an abortive invasion. But nothing really changes. Mostly, its just characters of minor interest traveling to this or that town and talking or dealing with other characters of minor interest. The villian managed to remain offstage for all of the first three books, and truth be told, he ain't that impressive. He just sort of lurks offstage, sending out minions so minor they don't even rate names. Get right down to it, all four of the books in this series could have been reduced to one book without loosing anything...and likely making for a more interesting tale.
This, along with the 'Rain Wilds' thread and some other things I've read, got me to wondering:
'Yes, Hobb and Moon and some others are professionals, with successful past series. But, even so, how do they get these padded books published? Didn't anybody at anypoint in the publication process go 'not much there?'' I mean, some of the books I've seen by 'unknowns' the past few years are better than this stuff, at least from where I'm standing.
Now...I *liked* the 'Paladin' series itself, a trilogy chronicling the career of a young woman who goes from a raw recruit in a mercenary army to a paladin.
The first book is part boot camp, and part campaign against a suitable villian, and while not central to the overall campaign, her acts are noteworthy.
In the second book, she goes freelance, tackles a couple of major foes pretty much by herself with implications she does not grasp, goes to 'paladin school'...and fails.
Third book, she becomes a paladin and among other things locates the rightful heir to a distressed kingdom.
Each of these books had well done characters and goals that were...clear enough.
Afterwards, Moon wrote two prequils to the series, accounts of the lives of near legendary early heroes describing a successful revolt against an evil mage empire and the consequences thereof. Again, these books, overall, were pretty good.
So a couple years ago, when the first Paladin's Legacy book came out, I thought why not? There were five pretty good earlier books, and the way the Paladin series ended, I could see room for one or two books to properly wrap things up. Instead, its been four books...and not much has happened. The first one started off promising enough, with an inexperienced character finding himself king of a nation he'd barely visited in the past, but since then...well, each book begins with action. Something always happens in each book, be it a dynastic crisis or an abortive invasion. But nothing really changes. Mostly, its just characters of minor interest traveling to this or that town and talking or dealing with other characters of minor interest. The villian managed to remain offstage for all of the first three books, and truth be told, he ain't that impressive. He just sort of lurks offstage, sending out minions so minor they don't even rate names. Get right down to it, all four of the books in this series could have been reduced to one book without loosing anything...and likely making for a more interesting tale.
This, along with the 'Rain Wilds' thread and some other things I've read, got me to wondering:
'Yes, Hobb and Moon and some others are professionals, with successful past series. But, even so, how do they get these padded books published? Didn't anybody at anypoint in the publication process go 'not much there?'' I mean, some of the books I've seen by 'unknowns' the past few years are better than this stuff, at least from where I'm standing.
Auror
