Sheepfarmer's Daughter

The Deed of Paksenarrion, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Refusing to marry a pig farmer and joining the army, even if it means never seeing her family again, Paksenarrion begins an adventure that enables her to restore an overthrown ruler.

©1988 Elizabeth Moon (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Mundane

An amazing story told a little too harshly making it come across a bit too ordinary and military which was not all the written words held. A bit of a disappointment since I love this book. The narrator makes this book seem military which is great but looses the more than ordinary aspect to it making it seem too mundane and without feeling.

Love this book!

Love this book. Paks is a very strong and brave character. Wish more books than three were about her deeds!!

Great Book!

This is the kind of book that due to the names of the characters and places, I would have put away because I have a hard time figuring out how to pronounce them. Having this book in audio showed me what I was missing out. The characters in this book were very likeable and the reader made them even more so. I am looking forward to the next book...

Good story, kept me interested

If you could sum up Sheepfarmer's Daughter in three words, what would they be?

Steady forward movement

What did you like best about this story?

The protagonists were good people, the bad guys were very bad. The story kept me interested throughout, to know what would happen. While it didn't have big surprises, I still enjoyed the escapades of Paks, and plan to get the next one.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Speak naturally. Her pauses were in the wrong places, putting emphasis where it needn't be.

A classic - why did it take me so long to read?

Great narration. Elizabeth Moon offers so much more than a typical sword and sorcery. This book is all heart and honor and lots and lots of fighting. The protagonist is humble and doesn't end the book a Great Hero, or even promoted. Love it.

Heroes-visions of courage-good vs evil-brilliant!

What did you love best about Sheepfarmer’s Daughter?

What’s wrong with a great book filled with heroes, visions of courage and the immortal fight between good and evil?

What did you like best about this story?

Now, imagine such a book written with knowledge of military strategy, feudal campaigns, logistics, the training of peasants and the young in general, and the impact of magic and leadership on troops and strategy. Intrigued?Even if that were not enough, imagine such realism combined with yet another coming of age story… but this one combines the growth of wisdom that comes with age with the growth of a solder from an 18 year old run-away to a veteran campaigner. We the reader feel like we’ve grown up with her – as her shadow.O.K. So far we’ve got: a great story line, a youth with enough raw talent that we all can (or want to) relate to, believable battles and a universe populated with a culture that ties together so well with the story line that you can feel you to are the common solder – right down to the dust on the road pebbling your skin, the taste of the sand in your mouth, the stone in your boot and the sun beating down on you as you stand in formation, shivering before your first battle. I admit it. I’ve read The Deeds of Paksenarrion many, many times. I’ve given it away to friends, I’ve read it aloud to my children, I’ve had the books swiped from me by each of my children as they’ve grown up and established their own families. (I’ve swiped the books back with malice and forethought, too – playing the continuous family game of who took my Elizabeth Moon/Neal Stephenson/Orson Scott Card/Martha Wells/Walter Jon Williams/Robin McKinley….etc)
But what about Jennifer Van Dyck, the Narrator?
She is soooo good, she makes my head swim. Please believe me, Paksenarrion is a close family member in our household. Jennifer treats Paksenarrion with joy, respect, vibrancy, and cunning interpretation. She never, ever, pulls you out of the story due to over acting, underacting or a false interpretation that doesn’t ring true. Lovely and satisfying.

Which scene was your favorite?

Paksenarrion speaking with the Duke for the first time was a lovely scene.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The deeds of Paksenarrion gets listened to in the car, in my office, as I do dishes, as I get dressed and and any other time it is possible - because it is so hard to put away!

great read

I have read this series an untold number of times. I remember buying the books as they were released and reading them till they fell apart, then I bought the omnibus. There were times i started over as soon as i was done with the third book.

I still have the omnibus from some time in the 90s and needed to replace it but couldn't find another copy. I checked and found the audio book and love it. It is also great that she came back after 20 years and continued the series.

For those that like to nit pick there is some inconsistency with the world, primarily with how characters state how things are and how they actually end up being.Other than that it is a great read. A little slow to build at times but worthy of reread multiple times for me.

not bad, but the narrator is not the best

Where does Sheepfarmer's Daughter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Of the few books I have listened to so far this was by far the worst and would give it a rank of 3/10

How did the narrator detract from the book?

the story in itself was not bad, however the narrators performance was so annoying to me, she made Paks seem dimwitted at times when she was learning

Always a pleasure ......

to re-visit a previously read and enjoyed favorite.
Great book back in1988 and still worth the read (listen) now.
While reading the book I imagined how the various names of people and locations would be pronounced. The narrator's choices were utterly different from what I had imaged. I got over it.
Harder to stomach was the lack of distinction the narrator made for different voices of different characters. I guess I should resign myself to the fact that this is a rare ability in narrators overall.

One of the best book series ever written!

An epic fantasy world as seen, ground up, through the eyes of a common sheep father turned mercenary. Excellent narration, Recommend!