cover image Echoes of Betrayal: 
Paladin’s Legacy

Echoes of Betrayal: Paladin’s Legacy

Elizabeth Moon. Del Rey, $26 (480p) ISBN 978-0-345-50876-8

Paladins, insists one of Moon’s characters, “come into the world to change it, and that’s always trouble for someone.” The actions of Paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter in Oath of Fealty and Kings of the North have indeed left a legacy of change and trouble. King Kieri of Lyonya is preparing to marry Arian, his half-elven love, but the bones of Kieri’s family warn of danger and betrayal, possibly from the mostly absent elves. Dorrin, newly Duke Verrakai of Tsaia, remains an object of deepening suspicion even as she takes on a challenging task where either success or failure could damage her liege, young king Mikeli. Moon’s pacing is as leisurely as a snowball rolling down a mountain, and it leads just as surely to catastrophe; every crisis solved reveals two larger ones, and the intriguing characters must frantically build strength and courage to survive. Agent: JABberwocky Literary Agency. (Feb.)