title: Echoes of Betrayal: Paladin's Legacy
author:  Elizabeth Moon 
description: The third book in a series based in the authors 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
zlib_text: ![](index-1_1.png)
  
  
  **Once A Hero**
  
  
  **Elizabeth Moon**
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this
  book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely
  coincidental.
  
  
  Copyright (c) 1997 by Elizabeth Moon
  
  
  Once A Hero
  
  
  1
  
  
  
  
  
  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
  thereof in any form.
  
  
  A Baen Books Original
  
  
  Baen Publishing Enterprises
  
  
  P.O. Box 1403
  
  
  Riverdale, NY 10471
  
  
  ISBN: 0-671-87769-0
  
  
  Cover art by Gary Ruddell
  
  
  First printing, March 1997
  
  
  Distributed by Simon & Schuster
  
  
  1230 Avenue of the Americas
  
  
  New York, NY 10020
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  
  Moon, Elizabeth.
  
  
  Once a hero / Elizabeth Moon
  
  
  p. cm.
  
  
  "A Baen books original"—T.p. verso
  
  
  ISBN 0-671-87769-0 (HC)
  
  
  I. Title.
  
  
  PS3563.055705 1997
  
  
  813'.54—dc21 96-48176
  
  
  CIP
  
  
  Typeset by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
  
  
  Printed in the United States of America
  
  
  **Dedication**
  
  
  Elizabeth Moon
  
  
  2