Book thirteen of the celebrated Deverry series, an epic fantasy rooted in Celtic mythology that intricately interweaves human and elven history over several.
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What Jill does not know is that her life is inextricably bound up with that of the Dweomermaster Nevyn. Long ago, Nevyn was once Galrion, a Prince of the Realm, but youthful impetuosity led to his exile, and more importantly, to the deaths of several innocent people including his royal fiancee, the Princess Brangwen, Jill's preincarnation. Brangwen's tragic death caused Nevyn to take a rash vowto live until he had undone all the wrong he'd caused.
Kerr tells the long tale of Brangwen and Galrion in what amounts to a series of short novelettes-within-the-Deverry-novels. Along the way, Kerr fleshes out her colorful, lively universe, which is populated not only by the Deverrians, but by Elves and Dwarves, among many other beings.
The warlike Horsekin, driven by their increasing religious fervor for the Alshandra Cult, have built a fortress right at the place where Horsekin lands, Gel Da'Thae lands, Elven lands, Dwarven lands, the Kingdom of Deverry and The Rhiddaer all share their borders, essentially dominating Annwn with the ability to strike in any direction. The fortress must be destroyed. After the death of Branoic the Silver Dagger, Nevyn has been searching for Brangwen's latest reincarnation, and finds her.
Her name is Morwen, and she is Jill's immediate preincarnation.
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Abused, mocked and feared as a witch for having a harelip, Morwen's only real happiness in life is being nursemaid to Salamander, who is her young, half-elven nephew. When Salamander's Elven father comes to take him away from his neglectful mother, Morwen happily goes with them. She befriends Loddlaen, the son of Nevyn's old apprentice, the dweomermaster Aderyn and the Elven dweomermaster Dallandra.
Not even a formal apprentice himself, Loddlaen, unbeknownst to anyone else, recklessly decides to teach Morwen dweomer. During the assault, Salamander discovers a "shewstone" that holds the secret to the Silver Wyrm's transformation back into a man. If you haven't read Katharine Kerr's "Deverry" books, you will find that very, very unlike Tolkien's Middle Earth, Annwn is rather tumbledown and casually violent. The stink of horse manure fills the air of the towns, roadside inns crawl with lice, ale, the universal drink, is dipped from open barrels flies and all , drunken men with swords go to war over herds of pigs and cows or an inflated sense of ego disguised as honor, rape and robbery are commonplace, illegitimate children, though scorned, are ubiquitous, and the Deverrian tongue is replete with curses, most of which cannot be reprinted here.
Kerr seems to delight in coming up with more and more outrageous expletive phraseology, my favorite of which is, "By the scaly underside of a dragon's Tolkien wrote like the restrained University Don he was. Middle Earth has the vertical intellectual airiness of the dreaming spires of Oxford. Kerr writes like the Rust Belt native that she is. Working-class Deverry spills horizontally off the pages in an entertaining flood, which is why it took fifteen full novels to tell the tale.
The individual plotlines of the Deverry storylines are straightforward rather than rococo, with just a few curves here and there. There's not a lot of mystery here, not a lot of unanswered questions, and any resolution of suspense tends to be pretty much what you'd predict. In the end, the reader has to keep track of more than enough incarnations and karmic twists that the addition of diversionary plot elements within the stories themselves probably would have had the average reader screaming.
In reviewing the earlier Deverry novels, I noted that Kerr's writing was often unpolished and rough-edged despite the incredible energy of her storytelling. Kerr's introductions of new characters and plot twists always seemed to have an odd sense of afterthought about them. Since the series is written non-linearly, Kerr was able to plug in elements as needed to move the storylines along, but these plug-ins sometimes seemed sloppy, as when unforeshadowed events suddenly troubled preincarnated characters we already thought we knew well, throwing the basis of their storylines a bit out of balance.
The volumes of "The Silver Wyrm" Cycle "feel" different than the rest of the Deverry Saga; there is a sense of completeness to them that the earlier volumes simply didn't have. This is not merely because the story is drawing to its close. Rather, the books feel more self-contained. Kerr's authorial voice is stronger than it has ever been.
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In describing Morwen's first sight of the Sea of Grass, Kerr writes so splendidly that even I, a person with no graphic arts talent to speak of, was moved to consider sketching what she presented to my mind's eye, a perfect portrait in words. Katharine Kerr's ability to write matured tremendously in those six years, and her deft handling of plot twists, past events, and new characters is a sign of her growing ability and sheer talent as an author.
July 30, - Published on Amazon. September 16, - Published on Amazon. I have no idea how the author keeps everyone clear in her head. I find myself getting confused about which characters are from which time period. Still love this series. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. View or edit your browsing history. The magic users find out that a fortress has been built by the followers of the fake goddess.
They decide to get all the races together to destroy the threat once and for all. This is a great book that finishes a lot of the storylines of previous books in the series. It concentrates on mainly one timeline but there is so much going on you do not notice. A very good read. Aug 24, Therese Bergwall rated it liked it. I think my reviews on these books must all sound the same, but I enjoyed this book as much as the others. Mar 24, Libbet rated it really liked it Shelves: The series continues A good book, fits very well in the Deverry saga.
Makes me very curious for what comes in the last books. Jul 16, Amanda rated it really liked it Shelves: Book five of the Dragon Mage sequence by Katharine Kerr. The events in this book follow on directly from those in the Gold Falcon - the joint armies of Westfolk, Deverry men and Mountain Folk are mustering in order to put Zakh Gral the Horsekin fortress to the sword. This time round we leave the stories of Branna and Neb, who remain behind at the dun.
Instead Salamander and Dallandra come to the fore - dealing with a group of Gel da Thae who have been banished for using dweomer by those who fo Book five of the Dragon Mage sequence by Katharine Kerr. Instead Salamander and Dallandra come to the fore - dealing with a group of Gel da Thae who have been banished for using dweomer by those who follow Alshandra; finding and trying to discover the secrets of the black pyramid and the white; and trying to cure Rori's wounds.
I enjoyed this tale, finding a number of new story strands to enjoy and seeing where Kerr is filling some of the gaps from previous stories. For instance, we went back in time here to when Salamander was merely Evan in his mother's language and Ebany in his father's - a child of only a few years.
It was a time where Dallandra had already gone to the Guardians and her son Loddlaen was growing up - where Nevyn realises that Loddlaen has suffered through being in Dalla's womb when she first travelled with Evandar and went to different worlds.
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It was interesting seeing how Loddlaen turned from an odd young man who struggled with dweomer to someone who was prepared to commit murder eventually becoming the deranged mage we met at the time that Jill and Rhodry first came together. Speaking of that, Branna and Rori also experience a heart breaking scene, where Branna only remembers that JIll was once friends with Rhodry before he turned dragon, and nothing more than that while Rori knows what truly passed between them.
Another fantastic scene was where Dalla tries to explain to Gerran the nature of war and the fact that no side will truly win since both commits atrocities in the name of what they believe in. Very strong and powerful. In fact, there were only few bits to this novel that I found wearisome. One was actually the "war" against the Horsekin in Zakh Gral.
I understand the war is not yet over, but I did feel as though there would be more tension. So, onto the next book in Kerr's neverending cycle - although I do see the finishing line now! In the next book I anticipate more of Rori and the rediscovery of Haen Marn! I've no doubt that to anyone who has not read the previous books in the Deverry sequence this review is so much garbled mess, of characters and storylines that don't make much sense.
For this reason I would urge people strongly to start with Daggerspell and move forwards in written order. If anyone is trying to decide whether to read the Deverry books based on my review, I cannot recommend them highly enough. They are rich with details - realistic characters, political viewpoints, magic, adventure, romance, the Seelie, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons.
Truly, there are few fantasy series that truly deserve the description "epic", but this is one of them. I believe that Kerr is enormously under-rated and has quietly put out one of the most accomplished long-running series in the field. Please don't miss out! This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the longest book in the series so far, and it feels like the most enjoyable.
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I rather enjoyed the Gerraent incarnation. We see a past-life where he's known as Gwairyc, and a rather cold-hearted one. Nevyn takes him on an adventure and Gwairyc learns compassion. That past-life also dovetails with Loddlaen's origin story, which is a rather unfortunate one. In This is the longest book in the series so far, and it feels like the most enjoyable. In a later incident, Loddlaen kills Val's husband. That tied a lot of threads together - we see what Jill got up to after her death as Braneic. We see Loddlaen's origin story, as well as Ebany.
We see the first of the black pyramid, which plays a role in present-day i. It also explains why present-day Gerraent - now known as Gerran - easily recognises the presence of dweomar since he saw quite a bit of it.
Although he doesn't explicitly accept it, his actions do. Gerran also contains Cullyn's wisdom - in The Gold Falcon , he goes after Jill, and when he is turned down, accepts it. I loved that affirmation of past-life identity. Huh, I wonder what happened to Rhodry's old silver dagger.
Calonderiel gets more of a starring role, and his blunt way of speaking is a delight: What good is tact? He also recognises Cullyn in Gerran, and Jill in Branna.
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In a way, all the development in the previous books have led up to this. On the other hand, Rhodry is still crazy in love with dying. At this stage, I'm not sure if the books will end with his death or with Rhodry being cured. Both would be acceptable endings.
It's also nice that Perryn came back. It has been 16 years since I first picked up the first Deverry novel, DaggerSpell, and here in am, 16 years later, about to finish the fifteenth and final one. Has the journey been worth it? Was the wait too long? I would not recommend anyone starts reading the Deverry cycle unless they intend to read them all, as the macroscopic story is at least as important as the microscopic ones, and as such I am reviewing the books as a set.
I almost give them 4 stars excellent but in the end I am It has been 16 years since I first picked up the first Deverry novel, DaggerSpell, and here in am, 16 years later, about to finish the fifteenth and final one. I almost give them 4 stars excellent but in the end I am not enjoying them quite as much as I did in my early 20's and so I settled on 3 stars good.
As fantasy novels go the concepts and the writing are really excellent but for me the last couple of books haven't been as enjoyable as the early ones and it's a lot to expect people to read fifteen novels.
The Spirit Stone (The Silver Wyrm, #2)
That said I don't regret a single minute of the time I spent in Deverry. I even used to own a 'deverry' domain and use the handle of 'Rhodry' when t'internet was young. Highly recommended IF you have the stomach for a lot of reading. While waiting for the concluding segment of this series to be released, I had a concern about how it would be handled. Specifically, I'd felt she'd painted herself into a corner and would have to pull some entirely too convenient plot developments out of nowhere; this is exactly what happened.
The entire "past" sequence of the book feels artificial. In the earlier books, the segues into past lives always stood as stories in their own rights; this time it came across as an expedient way of settin While waiting for the concluding segment of this series to be released, I had a concern about how it would be handled. In the earlier books, the segues into past lives always stood as stories in their own rights; this time it came across as an expedient way of setting up the plot point that will help resolve the series.
Let's just hope there aren't too many more out-of-nowhwere plot shifts, or that they're at least small ones. Jul 10, Fantasy Literature rated it really liked it. The events in this book follow on directly from those in The Gold Falcon. The joint armies of Westfolk, Deverry men, and Mountain Folk are mustering in order to put Zakh Gral the Horsekin fortress to the sword.
Instead Salamander and Dallandra come to the fore — dealing with a group of Gel da Thae who have been banished for using dweomer by those who follow Alshandra; finding and trying to discover the secrets of the black pyramid and the white; and trying to cure Rori's wounds. I enjoyed The Spirit Stone, finding a number of new story strands to enjoy and seeing how Kerr is filling some of the I liked this, I'm just not convinced that the best way to tell a story is by flipping back and forth through ages- I just think I'm too logic-minded and want the story to go from start to finish.
I tend to think past to present so jumping back and trying to remember who is who just makes it more sloggy-feeling. But the story is good, and I'm really happy towards the end of the series it is getting more cohesive and tightening up. I'm thinking perhaps as the years went on, the experience helped t I liked this, I'm just not convinced that the best way to tell a story is by flipping back and forth through ages- I just think I'm too logic-minded and want the story to go from start to finish.
I'm thinking perhaps as the years went on, the experience helped too, and feedback from readers. So, maybe would be enjoyed even more by people like my bff from when we were kids who could read multiple books at a time and read them starting from the middle, and reading the beginning and end out of order- this whole series would make way more sense to her: Aug 20, Jeanne rated it really liked it Shelves: I just love this series and now as I'm coming to the conclusion only 2 more books for me I am getting very sad because it will end.
I loved going back in time to be with Nevynn again, although that story was so sad but explained so much about Salamander. And who doesn't love Salamander and this book just has you fall in love with him even more!