DERYNI RISING (Chronicles of the Deryni) [Mass Market Paperback]

Katherine Kurtz (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chronicles of the Deryni | Publication Date: September 12, 1984

For more than 30 years, the Deryni Chronicles have transported readers to a world of secret sorcery and courtly intrigue. Deryni Rising, the first book in the series, launched Katherine Kurtz's phenomenal, bestselling career. Now, with this special edition, including a new introduction by the author, fans of the series can revel anew in the dawning of an epic...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The late Lester del Rey had a theory about the biological seat of Deryni power, a theory that he could have related in astonishing specificity. I just remember that he said it must come from somewhere in the nose, something related to the olfactory senses. I always thought that wa snot a very glamourous way to look at an exciting, epic sweep of fantasy. But after all, magic has to come from somewhere.

--Veronica Chapman, Senior Editor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Katherine Kurtz has been writing fantasy for well over three decades. She is married and lives in a renovated castle in the south of Ireland. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Del Rey (September 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345319877
• ISBN-13: 978-0345319876
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,702,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of My Personal Favorites, February 20, 2000

By 

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deryni Rising (Chronicles of the Deryni, No 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Maybe it's a generational thing, like one of those events with which only people of a certain age can identify. For instance, I can't understand the fascination that some have for Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Elvis Presley. It's the same thing with some fantasy works: some will make people fervent followers, others will leave people cold. I rather suspect that some of the books I read in my youth would seem substandard were I to read them for the first time now. This is by way of saying that maybe I was a far more impressionable lad back in the day. Be that as it may, I first read the original Deryni trilogy back when I was in high school, and it definitely had a major impact on how I came to view subsequent fantasy works. I rate these books, along with Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, as my favorite fantasy books by far.

What's not to like in this first trilogy? Kurtz creates a vivid, living land, essentially an alternate medieval Europe with substantially altered geography and dynasties. You quickly get a sense that this is a intricate world with a rich depth of history. The setting, since it draws on our popular conceptions of the Middle Ages, seems familiar enough that you can easily picture the castles and cathedrals and towns, yet different enough that your imagination can be given free reign to fill in the details.

The people, too, are excellently depicted, from high to low. Few are unalloyed heroes or villains; they all have their flaws and virtues, their hidden secrets and desires and fears. None of them are able to move efforlessly from triumph to triumph; sometimes they stumble, make mistakes, fall into traps. Other than the Deryni themselves, few can call upon huge stores of magic, or charge headlong into battle with mightily enchanted items. An arrow to the chest is as likely to kill the greatest warrior as the meanest footsoldier. And make no mistake, people will die in these books--divine force will not intervene to save them, and they're not going to come back from the grave. (Well, except maybe for one exception.)

Kurtz excels at bringing her cast of characters to life. Many of them are so well drawn that it's a real disappointment to think that their lives are merely fictional. You'll hate to see their adventures come to an end. Even characters that start out as minor figures can climb to prominence and become more developed over the course of the series.

This first trilogy helped popularize the "alternate Europe" setting with the Catholic Church as a major element. The Church does not come off too well here, as most of its hierarchy is composed of fanatics, slick political operators, and bigots. This theme has been picked up in other works inspired by the Deryni books (such as some of the novels by the overly-prolific Mercedes Lackey). While it works here as an integral part of the milieu and history, in books written by others, the Church as villain is generally done quite poorly. But I digress.

This first Deryni trilogy is epic in scope, filled with intrigue, battles, mysterious rites, strange encounters, passion, love, and death. Multiple plot lines are followed and many points of view are presented. It is truly a sweeping and engripping epic.

The following trilogy, centered on Camber, a figure from a few centuries prior to the original books, is almost as good. After that, Kurtz begins to churn out Deryni books that suffer from improbable plots, silly and uninspired characters, and a certain numbing sameness. They read almost as if a lesser talent had created them under her vague supervision.

But you won't be disappointed with this first set. Unless, as I said, only oldsters like me can identify with this. You kids and your Robert Jordan these days, sheesh...

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Rising Star, July 17, 2002

By 

"reedekullervo" (Edina, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deryni Rising (Chronicles of the Deryni, No 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you haven't discovered Katherine Kurtz's now epic saga of the Deryni, then you're missing out on one of the best fantasy series out there. Deryni Rising is the first book in the series and the first novel for Katherine Kurtz, and while I still recommend this vociferously, I have to admit that on re-reading the writing style is still in its formative stages and the overall tone and plot aren't...perfect. But the strengths are there and you'll be quickly pulled into her alternative Medieval European world, mostly by the fact that her alternative world is basically exactly like reading exciting history, except there are those select few blessed (or cursed) with magical abilities, aka the Deryni.

While nowdays alternative historial fanatasies fill the genre, Kurtz's was among the first and still the best. Trained as a historian, she gets things right. From the latin phrases, the heraldic elements to the powerful and not always benign church, you'll believe you're simply reading about the medieval ages as it should have been, complete with powerful but persecuted magical practioners. She's basically said, so what if magic was real..? And run with it

This opening novel introduces the main characters, Kelson a young boy-king trying to come to terms with both his temporal and magical powers, as well as his staunch allies, Alaric Morgan, a powerful Duke and a feared sorcerer and Morgan's cousin Duncan Mclain, a priest and also secretly Deryni. Kelson's kingdom, Gwynedd is beset with internal political maneuvers as well as magical threats from other Deryni kingdoms. There is plenty of intrigue, as well as her interesting take on the magical systems of the Deryni. The fact that to be known as a Deryni is practically a death sentence, let alone to use those powers openly, places Kelson and his friends in a precarious position trying to maintain their hold on the kingdom.

Basically I fell in love with the medieval setting and the amazingly well drawn characters. Although Kelson isn't as compelling, mostly because of his youth (and how refreshing to actually read about a teenage character that doesn't act and think like he's thirty!) but if you follow the series he definately matures in books that follow (The Bisop's Heir, The King's Justice and The Quest for St. Camber). This trilogy is really more about Morgan and Duncan which is fine because they are both worthy characters. Morgan is the barely tolerated Duke of Corwyn, known to be a sorcerer and the King's Champion, yet he is hampered in his efforts to help Kelson against his Deryni enemies and his very Deryniness threatens the King's standing among his fearful human nobles. Duncan is a Deryni priest when no Deryni are admitted to the priesthood because of their 'evil' powers. Needless to say the conflict between the church and the magical Deryni plays a major role in the milieu of Gwynedd. Although Kurtz's view of the church is harsh (foaming at the mouth fanatics, powerful men who use their priestly offices for personal gain, hatred, bigotry and prejudice) it is also realistic. She balances the negative with Mclain and others whose behavior and beliefs contradict the fanatics and shows what a very real and everyday part religion would have played in such a society.

All in all a really great book that sets the stage for the ones to follow. Unlike some more contemporary authors (Kate Elliot springs to mind) who have mined medieval settings for their epics, no one compares with Katherin Kurtz for realism. And she doesn't use her knowledge of history to show off fancy or obscure details since the information forms, as it should, a strong and compelling background that supports, but never overshadows, the characters and story.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Wish I Had Read This Earlier, June 30, 2005

By 

Melissa McCauley (North Little Rock, AR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deryni Rising (Chronicles of the Deryni, No 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Kelson Haldane is the fourteen-year-old heir to the kingdom of Gwynedd. His father Brion has kept peace in the kingdom for fifteen years, but people still talk about the Deryni insurrection two hundred years ago, which centered around Saint Camber of Culdi.

Years ago, King Brion killed Marluk, some sort of Deryni bad-guy-sorcerer. Now his daughter Charissa, also a powerful sorcerer, wants revenge and to claim the throne of Gywnedd. Through nefarious means, she kills Brion, leaving young Kelson the unprepared heir to assume the throne. Can Morgan, the half-Deryni Duke of Corwyn, prepare his young ward to defend himself against Charissa in time?

What are Deryni? They are never formally explained, but Deryni are magical people, not technically human, who can evidently breed with humans, because there are numerous half-Deryni characters in this novel.

The Church, which I assume to be the Catholic Church of Rome in the 1100s, hates the Deryni and wants to stamp out their magic and influence in England. (I also assume that this is set in England - an alternate history - because Gywnedd is the name of Wales in this time period.)

I had a friend in junior high school who was a devoted Deryni fan and urged me repeatedly to read this series. I wish I had, because now that I'm older and more skeptical, I was less than captivated by this book - which I'm sure I would have been when I was younger. This is truly a teenager's book, because all the characters are so black-and-white; either all good or all bad. The plot seemed slow, but mainly because the POV shifted between multiple characters and sub-plots. I wish it had been written from the POV of young prince Kelson, and his angst and personality explored more in depth; i.e. - a typical hero quest novel. I felt as if I did not know Kelson, whereas a book with a similarly slow plot, DRAGONSONG by Anne McCaffrey, haunts me to this day because of the deep character development of the heroine Menolly.

For a good hero quest series, you can't go wrong with David Edding's BELGARIAD.