Paladins

by Joel Rosenberg

Book Overview

In the 17th century, in an alternative universe, Mordred defeated King Arthur and founded the Pendragon dynasty. The Order of Crown, Shield and Dragon has become a legion of special agents for the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743488512
• ISBN13: 9780743488518
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Baen Books
• Length: 455 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

One of Joel Rosenberg's Best

I'm about 2/3rd of the way through Paladins and this review does not give away any plot material. I've read all the "Guardian of the Flame" series, and while I always enjoyed them, I thought that the writing style and complexity were for a younger audience while the content was for a more mature audience (such as what really happens to a person's body when they die ... versus the sanitized description most novelists give). With "Paladins", Joel Rosenberg has married a writing style and complexity for adults with content for a more mature audience. "Paladins" takes a major step closer the "Tom Clancy" style of complexity within a novel.

I liked it!

There's a good story, characters that have more than one side to them, and best of all, it has an ending. Yes, this is a book in a series that you could pick up, read, enjoy, and not feel compelled to read the next one to find out what happens. While there are some loose ends (not wanting to spoil anything, it *is* a series), the book is written so that those ends don't need your reading to get wrapped up. Did I mention that he didn't explain *everything*? For me, that's a plus. He may explain it in later volumes, or maybe I can just use my imagination about what drove Arthur to start killing babies... It's a young-man-coming-of-age story, historical fiction, naval fiction (as someone pointed out, we get to see O'Brien's Aubrey after he's been forced into a desk job) and parallel universe all thrown in one.

A great addition to Rosenberg's body of work

I found this to be a great read, as is usually my experience with a Rosenberg novel. The concept of the 'live' swords is not fleshed out in minute detail, which allows the reader to fill in details from imagination. A similar treatment is used for the "alternate history" aspects of the story. I found myself stopping here and there while reading to wonder what bit of real-world research had just been alluded to. Notwithstanding those comments, the concepts are not the primary attraction for me. As is usual with a Rosenberg novel, the characters drive the narrative, with viewpoint switching from one to another as the story is developed. Paladins does not disappoint the long time reader in this aspect. And while the priestlike Order Knight characters are unlike any others in Mr. Rosenberg's work, I didn't find them to be either too alien or unsympathetic. The depictions of retired sea-captain Admiral DuPuy alone are worth the purchase price. Finally, I must disagree with the reviewer who wanted Mr. Rosenberg to immediately return to his older series, perhaps meaning the "Guardians of the Flame." While I've read that there is another book or two planned for the 'Guardians' and would delight in ordering them as soon as they were announced, the quality of this work is rock solid and well worth following.

More than just an escape

I read different mediums and genres for distinctly different reasons. I have typically read fantasy for pure escape, yet what piques my interest about Rosenberg's stylistic evolution is that, for me, it moves well beyond the genre's norm. Whereas I can for example find a youthfully narcissistic escape in the bent of Zelazny's Amber series (and I do!), or perhaps a suffering hero's escape in Jordan's Wheel of Time series -- both of which contain not entirely unsophisticated characters but definitely ones written with enough characteralogical simplicity that I can easily slip into them -- Rosenberg has come to write characters that are truly complex, unique and psychologically gritty like the worlds he creates. Thus they are to me less comfortable in the escapist sense. That said, if all he did was write increasingly complex characters, I would indeed wander off to read my U.S. News and World Report as the real world is already filled with this complexity. But he has become increasingly skilled at using these characters to intelligently explore fascinating psychological contrasts in particular and the interaction of vastly differing philosophies, value systems and worldviews in general, all within the framework of a well crafted adventure. Thus I may not be able to easily identify with (and slip into) his characters in Paladins, but I still find the story stimulating despite the loss (at least for me) of the usual escape mechanism because I have always found myself to crave greater perspective, and Rosenberg certainly explores human experience and provides new perspective against it even if he does so from a fantastical place. I found Paladins to be valuable in this sense and I look forward to where he takes the series.