My oh my... Oh my oh my oh my.When I started reading this, I thought I was going to love it. It had come with such high recommendations, and it sounded like it was right up my alley. I was so excited to finally have time to dive into it! Unfortunately, I was ultimately disappointed. It just didn't work for me... Try as I might, I just couldn't make myself like it.It was just so boring. It literally put me to sleep whenever I tried to read it. Which was great for those late nights that I just cou...

Note, March 30, 2017: I've just edited this review to reflect a change of perspective on one point, brought about by being exposed to new factual information in the four years since I wrote it.My wife and I are reading the entire trilogy that this volume opens together; and since I have at least one Goodreads friend who's curious about my reaction, I thought I'd review the three novels as we finish them, rather than as an omnibus volume at the end (though we're reading the omnibus volume). [Note...

I like the main idea for the book: to see a rise of the main character from nobody to a legend in great details. From these details comes the first problem: nothing at all happens in the first half of the book, just the military training in more details than I ever cared about, like how to march with a spear. In the second half of the book some excitement finally comes up as well as another problem. The book is written from the main character's point of view (BTW, I challenge everybody to recall...

3.5 starsI really wanted to like this tale more than I actually did. It had moments of greatness—as when Paksenarrion fights off her father and leaves home to join the army. (Although, as the daughter of a pig farmer, I will tell you that there are worse men that you could end up married to). I read this book while on holiday and it always seemed that I was interrupted right in mid-battle, left wondering for many hours how things would turn out! That said, the battles were certainly not gritty l...

This one is old school military fantasy: we open with a young adult dreaming of a career as a soldier, signing up in a mercenary squad, and what follows is a lot of drilling, marching, sieging and fighting. I will admit to reading very fast over some of the fighting scenes, because they weren’t always very interesting. But some of the things that happened in between did hold my attention.There is a lot of foreshadowing on who/what Paksenarrion will become. We open with her father telling the tal...

This book (the first in a trilogy, which is also collected in an omnibus) is interesting to me primarily for its description of the main character's military training. The author is a former Marine, and as such, her creation of a female warrior has more credibility than most. However, as technically accurate as this series may be in terms of military training and strategy, it is seriously lacking in emotional resonance. The main character, Paksenarrion (Paks), never really connects emotionally w...

Notes:The idea seems great but the actual plot progress was underwhelming. The intro was nice but it is followed by boring description of training and then smashes flat into a brutal beating. Descriptions sound like she was raped but that was denied later in the story, but the details of the investigations make it pretty clear she was raped. Then a healer checks her physically and states that she was not raped. Hmm, blood on thighs. Ok. There's a hint of a great story but it doesn't get a lot of...

I needed a change of pace so I decided to read the first book in a three book fantasy series that I have wanted to read for a long time. I do want to make a quick note that this is not lesfic since that is what I mostly review on Goodreads. The main character appears to be asexual so there were no romances only friendships in this book. The story is about a young woman name Packs who escapes her family that expects her to marry the local pig farmer. Packs is really tall and had built up alot mus...

4.5 stars. An excellent beginning to what looks to be a superb epic fantasy series. Elizabeth Moon writes a great story with well-drawn, interesting characters and a tightly focused plot that grabs you from the beginning of the novel and never stalls. That is tough to do in a 500+ page book, but I was engaged the entire time. Highly recommended!!!Winner: Compton Crook Award.

Like a microscope on a game safari, Sheepfarmer's Daughter focuses on exactly the wrong details. The classic epic fantasy is notable for a common-born female lead, Paks, and the focus on her life after she joins a private military company. I enjoyed the writing style and the quality, but felt I would have liked a little more character development: the times we hear Paks' inner dialogue are too far apart, and there is too much description without reflection. I can appreciate that the lavish detai...

This is the first book in a trilogy, and it's a realistic depiction of military life in a fantasy world, with just a few hints of magic and evil forces at the end. We follow Paksenarrion (Paks for short) for about three years of her life, from she runs away from home at 18, until she's a veteran soldier in Duke Phelan's mercenary company. This was a long awaited re-read for me, I first read it when I was 14 or 15, and loved it. The reviews here on GR seems to be quite mixed, and (as usual) I rea...

I love Elizabeth Moon's chill style writing. It's all wonderful and detailed. Her heroine never does anything idiotic. But, that's not to say she doesn't find herself in 'situations'. She is sweet, but not a walk over. She is tough, but not Kate Daniels. Honest and humble, she should be boring. But she really isn't. Sheepfarmer's Daughter tells the story of a girl who ditches home to join the army after her father tries to marry her off to a pig farmer. There is a lot of marching, and fighting,

5 stars - English hardcover - I have dyslexia - Read this book while on holidays in England. It was raining cats and dogs, so a great escape for me to find another heroïne going her own course. 😀🍀😀🍀

I really, really liked this book when I read it in high school. I loved the idea of a history of a hero, from her humble beginnings on through her greatest deeds. I remember Pakse and her companions so well, and I thought the descriptions of army life: recruitment, arming, training, were well done, with just enough detail to be thorough, not enough to drag the story down. There was no rush to spit the story out, it had clearly been plotted for three books, and I looked forward to two and three.

I have read and reviewed the text version of this book. My daughter got me this (and the next 2 parts of the trilogy) for Christmas this year (2010). I want to review this in that a wonderful book can be read by a "not so wonderful reader" and be then in audio form...not so wonderful. That isn't the case here. While not the best reader I've ever heard in an audio book Jennifer Van Dyck does a fine job on the book and only in a couple of places does she miss a cue or fail to carry over the emotio...

After a promising prologue geared me up for a rousing adventure, I was massively disappointed by how dull this book ultimately was. It was the worst kind of dull, in fact, given that it wasn't due to nothing happening, but rather to how the events that did happen were related.In short: the prose of this novel has all the spirit and passion of a grocery list. And to go along with that the main character, Paks, is painfully flat and uninteresting. She's a naive (nearly to the point of stupidity) a...

I’m reading this in the omnibus edition, entitled ‘The Deed of Paksenarrion’, but I’ll review each of the the three volumes separately, for convenience. The series tells the story of Paksenarrion Dorthansdottir, or Paks for short, who runs away from her humble home to join Duke Phelan's army as a way of avoiding a marriage being forced on her by her father. This first book is about her training, her first battles and her involvement in the Duke's various military enterprises, and although it sta...

First half low to mid three stars.Second half mid to high three stars.I liked it. It just wasn't a book that "spoke" to me. I found it a little clinical. Cold. Paks wants to be soldier with every fiber of her being but I never once felt that desire. None of the characters really came to life for me.I did like that this book's heroine was a strong young woman who knew her own mind. If it had been written today she would have followed her first love into the army where she would meet another young...

4 stars--I really liked it. This is classic high fantasy, and I'm not sure why it's not more popular. Moon writes assuredly about military life and battle, and this book focuses on action: training, marching, and fighting. Paksenarrion is a fantastic hero--noble and good, but with the flaw of recklessness. She also has an awkward side that makes her relatable.There is an incident of attempted sexual assault that seemed out of place to me, though I understand this is a facet of military life. It'...