Customer Reviews

The Dragon Revenant

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overseas readers who don't want to own two copies should know this book also appears under the title 'Dragonspell: The Southern Seas', Volume IV in the Deverry Series from HarperCollins Publishers

Kerr has a good series going here. While I always seem to compare stories to my two personal favorite authors, Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan, this series has definitely landed a close third on my list behind Goodkind. I enjoy Celtic storylines and her characters do come to life well. It can slow down at times, but I am half way through and enjoy it. A book that I look forward to reading when I get home is a rare thing for me to find now days, and this series has supplied me with several.

I read this book over the summer and enjoyed it very much. The three main characters; Jill, Rhodry, and the wizard, are very well developed. I was moved to the point of being disgusted with Rhodry's self centeredness and self absorbed behavior typical of a spoiled monarch's son. He is the only survivor of his older siblings and becomes only heir to the throne, but there is a plot afoot to get rid of him and start a war that will devistate the people of Deverry. Then there is the wizard who is responsible for the deaths of Rhodry and Jill in their previous lives and wants to correct it. Reincarnation and other beliefs are expressed in this book and make it more interesting. Half of the book describes Rhodry's exile and captivity arranged by his captors until Jill and the wizard come to rescue him and the book then goes into describing their escape. It is slow moving at times, but has a very good ending. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy.

For years the provinces of Deverry have been in turmoil; now the conflict escalates with the kidnapping of Rhodry Maelwaedd, heir to the throne of Aberwyn. Intent on rescuing him, his beloved Jill and the elven wizard Salamander infiltrate the distant land of Bardek, where Rhodry is held captive. Tied to Deverry by obligation and circumstance, the immortal wizard Nevyn begins to see that all the kingdom's problems can be traced to a single source: a master of dark magics, backed by a network of evil that stretches across the sea. Now Nevyn understands that he too is being lured to Bardek--and into a subtle, deadly trap designed especially for him.

Katherine Kerr's writing takes a bit of getting used to, but it's worth the effort. She approaches her stories with a Celtic storytelling mindset, which means she conveys events according to their significance to the story, as opposed to chronologically. Consequently, while the stories begin in the "present" (which is an elastic concept, anyway, in a fantasy setting), the events unfold, chapter wise, both in the "present" and in the distant past. This can be frustrating, at first, but Kerr's writing is heavily steeped in Pagan and Western Mystery tradition, and the Celtic setting (and mindset) of her characters means that time, or chronological time, is not essentially relevant. To be honest, I found the first book infuriating, as I spent a lot of time trying to adjust to the writing style. However, I found the story engrossing enough that I persevered, and by the second book was so hooked I've read all ten in her three series.

Kerr's story evolves around the concept of reincarnation, and unfinished business, and "karma", and fate. The same souls recur again and again, just in new bodies, over the course of the centuries over which the story unfolds.

Kerr's world is one of High Fantasy, populated by Elves, Men, and Dwarves, as well as faeries/elementals, which she terms the "Wildfolk". However, hers is a slightly more dark, dangerous and less clear cut world than the works of other High Fantasy authors, not the least due to the fact that someone who was your friend in a former life can re-emerge in the story centuries later as a foe, and vice versa. There is a tremendous amount of magic, but it's the magic of the Western Mystery tradition (quite a bit of Golden Dawn and even Enochiana), and that of R.J. Stewarts Faery tradition. There are dragons, and giant beast men.

The Elves are a fallen race, driven out of their magnificent and palatial cities centuries before by invaders, and who now roam the plains as primitives. They possess the potential to be superlative magicians, but the knowledge was lost in the fall of their civilization. Humans, though warlike and shorter lived, have preserved this knowledge, but guard it jealously. The Wildfolk, basically magic incarnate, are unhinged from the effects of "karma", but lack permanence of personality, and cannot grow or develop, cursed to stagnation. The Dwarves are a secretive mystery, entrenched within the earth. Each has something to offer the other, and the story that unfolds is the story of this "technology" exchange, of sorts, between them.

Fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley, who clearly influenced Kerr, will be enraptured by this series, as will fans of Kate Eliott, who Kerr, herself, clearly influenced. It's phenomenal! Devotees of the New Age, Esoteric or Occult will find themselves nodding and smiling as they read, and sincerely hoping Kerr's writing will do for the Western Mystery and Faery traditions what Bradley's has done for Wicca.

Fans of Deverry might want to give me a beating here, but in my opinion- Kerr is definitely capable of better stuff. Until I got to this book, everything she put out amazed me. I even gave Bristling Wood 5 stars. Through out Dragon Revenant there were some traces of the Katherine Kerr I know and love- especially in the beginning and the end, but the middle (the entire portion that involved Rhodry as a slave) bored me and dragged out for way too long. I kept waiting for Kerr to erupt into one of her trademark flashback sequences- but was left hanging. I respect the possibility that maybe she was bored of doing this, but I still want to know how the Silver Dagger group's origin story turns out- a tale left unfinished from the middle of the last book.

I have a confession to make... Halfway through, I quite frankly gave up on this book and went on to read twelve other books. But for the first time in my life I resumed reading a book I had given up on- This was solely because of how much I enjoyed her first three books, and my hope that the next few would be up to her usual par.

A few things did impress me here though. Salamander- a very interesting character is fleshed out for the first time. Kerr's dialogue and Deverry's culture give her works a wonderful feel. I would have enjoyed a grander resolution between Rhodry and his brother/enemy Rhys, but the ending made the book worth while with several surprises and a very neat closure to the whole series. Or was this just a bridge? On to Omens and Exile for the answers I go. And I can't wait to get to Dragon Mage since I previewed the first chapter- looks exciting!

This book is odd enough in the Deverry series in that in contains no "flashbacks". The entire story is told in linear fashion, following Jill and Salamander as they try to find and rescue Rhodry in the southern Bardekian archipelago. I admit this is somewhat of a disappointment for me, particularly since "Bristling Wood" introduced one of my favorite flashback storylines, and then left me hanging until Book 5 to pick it up again. Ah, well.

The story in the present picks up with a poor, confused, kidnapped Rhodry being sold into slavery in Bardek. (Kerr has indicated that the Bardekians are Hellenized Moors, but I don't quite buy it.) His kidnapper, a peon of the dark dweomermaster known as the Old One, has destroyed his memory, so he can't even get all Paris Hilton and yell "Do you know who I am?!?" because he doesn't know, either. Meanwhile, his lover Jill and his half-brother Salamander march resolutely down to Bardek to rescue him single-handedly. But even once they do (come on, you knew they would) there's still the Old One to worry about. Will Nevyn arrive in time to save them? Will Rhodry get his memory, and his inheritance, back? Will Jill kill Salamander before he starts to teach her dweomer? Stay tuned!

Again, this book is not my favorite in the series. Part of it is that the last third, when the forces of good track down the Old One, is disappointingly reminiscent of the showdown with Alastyr in Book 2. Part of it is the lack of storylines set in the past, as I mentioned above. And part of it is the way this section of the series wraps up. See, although the whole series stretches to (so far) 15 planned books, Kerr has divided it into several "acts," and "Dragon Revenant" is the final book in Act I. So by the end, she resolves quite a few characters' destinies and wraps up some storylines. And believe me, I completely understand and agree with the way she does it - but that doesn't mean I don't still want a happy ending! So intellectually, I appreciate the way this book ends, but emotionally, I'm sulking in the corner.

But you can't have everything. And never fear, (almost) all of our beloved characters will return again in "A Time of Exile," although perhaps not in the way we imagined. This book, while not the best in the series, is still a fantastic piece of work and one I highly recommend to serious fantasy fans everywhere.

As the 5th book in the Westlands novels, The Dragon Revenant introduces a number of new characters and plot twists. I enjoyed the ongoing connections between past characters that had played somewhat minor roles in previous books but that were reborn in this one. The evolving interplay between the elven population, the "round-ears", and the Guardians created new ground for subsequent books and held my interest through the end. I can't wait to read the next book!

Book 4 "The Dragon Revenant" (known as "Dragonspell" in the UK) marks the end of the first cycle of the Deverry Saga. More details about the saga, plot, style etc. on my comment here for Book 1: Daggerspell (Deverry Series, Book One)

I found the end of this first cycle really satisfying. Book 3 had ended on an unbearable cliffhanger. You're taken into the suspense again right form the first pages of this 4th installment. Unlike the 3 previous novels, this one won't make us discover in flashbacks parts of our heroes past lives, for the simple reason that there is too much to say and show already about our present time story. I really love these flashbacks, but there's nothing to be disappointed about, with the pace of The Dragon Revenant, you won't get much time to long for them. The last pages of the book almost moved me to tears, in the way the characters grew and became better persons. A beautiful conclusion to this tale.

Note that Book 5 will portray some of our protagonists again, several years later, but with a new plot that will last 4 novels too.