Elizabeth Moon’s Oath of Fealty was the first entry into her Deed of Paksennarion universe in over two decades, and let me just point out for the purposes of this review that I have never actually read the Deed of Paksennarion. Oath of Fealty was, in fact, my first encounter with Moon. I’d heard the name before, of course, but up until this book, she was one of those authors I knew about, but had never actually read.

And let me just say, I loved this book.

It wasn’t what I expected when I first started reading it. I think, as fantasy readers, we’ve all been conditioned to expect that our books will take on the same sort of structure and formula. We meet the main character, the hero of the story. At some point, we are introduced to the villain. The story then goes on to some sort of linear progression where the hero gets stronger, gains the skills he needs, assembles his companions, and goes on to defeat the villain.

This book doesn’t do that. It starts out introducing someone that may be the villain, Duke Haron Verrakai, and proceeds to kill him off within the first few chapters. The book then goes on to show how each of the characters deal with his actions and with all the other events occurring across the world. It moves from Kieri Phelan, who has become king of the neighboring country of Lyonya and is now trying to deal with the country’s problems and its tensions with their neighbor Pargun, Jandelir Arcolin, who is now in charge of Kieri’s former Company and has to come to terms with his new authority, and Dorrin Verrakai, who has been appointed Duke after her uncle’s death and must now face her past and the things she left behind, and Mikeli, the crown prince of Tsaia, who is just trying to make the best decisions he can as he waits for his coronation. The book also reminds us towards the end that it is the first book of a series, and offers some tantalizing hints that make me wonder if Prince Camwyn or Matthis Stammel will take on bigger roles in later books. The book also contains several things that by now set off red flags for seasoned fantasy readers–elves, a half-elven main character, a pantheon of gods including an evil one, a paladin, and a secret heir to the throne.

And it does it well. Each character is unique and brings their own perspective to the story. The main characters are engaging, and easy to sympathize with. I found myself cheering for Dorrin and Arcolin and Kieri, and actually getting a little upset when the book changed POVs on me suddenly, because I wanted to know what happened next. Within the first chapter of Kieri’s story, I stopped caring that there were elves in the book, and actually remembered that, yes, I like elves. And the conflicts and alliances between the various gods were handled well, as well as the various conflicts within the cast.

The book is a bit of a slow starter if you haven’t read The Deed of Paksennarion before, because it assumes that you know who these characters are or are at least familiar with them. But once I kept reading and started learning more about each character, it stopped bothering me. I’d give this book a 4/5, and recommend it to all fantasy fans, especially those who like a little old-school fantasy. I will definitely be moving on to the next book in the series, Kings of the North once my copy arrives in the mail next week.

* * *

Elisa Bonnin is the author of Arbiter, a fantasy novel about a young girl named Rae Miller who gets drawn into another realm and discovers that she has the power to mediate between the High Court and Dark Court of the Ivali, a race of powerful creatures. The book was published by Vittoriosa Books on December 27, 2012, and is available on Amazon for Kindle. It can be found here.