Echoes of Betrayal: Paladin's Legacy
The third book in a series based in the author’s popular Parksennarion world starts out with an unusual situation: Arvid Semminson is outside in the freezing cold, naked, listening to some people sharpening knives in preparation for his death. With this compelling start, the reader is fully engaged, with the first question needing an answer: What did he do to get into that situation? From there, the book jumps to other areas and characters of that world, with no apparent ties between them. For a reader not familiar with the world of the series, this is not the book to start with. Each chapter jumps from one parallel tale to another, with little continuity from one tale to the other, but the experienced reader is never less than eager to find out what transpires next. The battle scenes are full of action, and the characters are likable, but the jumpiness of the story means this book is for those who have read the Deeds of Parksennarion or at least the first two books in that series. --Rebecca Gerber