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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wish I could say I loved it, but alas it is not to be, August 22, 2000
Gentle readers, fellow reviewers, hear my tale of woe. Although I know that I am courting the deadly `was this review helpful to you- not' vote, such is my disappointment in this novel that I feel I must continue. It is a testament to the excellence of the proceeding novels in this series that readers are so committed to liking this book that they are giving it 4 and 5 stars. Unfortunately I cannot agree that it deserves them. If you have read the other reviews you know the plot of the novel, but bear with me as here we go again, sort of. With much public weeping and knashing of teeth, our young king, Kelson, has spent the three years since we saw him last pining and brooding petulantly over a lost love. This bizarre behavior was so out of character that I never really recovered from the shock, and it was all downhill from there. Metamorphosising from a rational, independent and fiercely practical character in the proceeding books into a whiny and emotionally immature teenager, this book begins with Kelson allowing his former betrothed, Rothana, who betrayed him, to order him around. He passively and obediently proposes marriage to the woman she chooses for him, showing a complete lack of pride when he publicly admits to his friends and advisors why he has finally chosen to marry. This from a man whose resume includes, as per the previous books in the series, the following: With his father's murder, he becomes king at 14 by outsmarting his advisors. Upon learning that he is heir to illegal magical abilities, he accepts it with equanimity, using them to fight and win a duel to the death at his coronation. As a result he is rejected and abandoned by his mother, something he accepts and copes with. He is excommunicated by the church but triumphs over it, neutralizing those who wish to see him dethroned and reorganizing the church structure so that it is friendly to him by executing or otherwise eliminating those who oppose him. He chooses and protects advisors whom the bulk of his subjects would like to see burnt at the stake. He fights and wins a war against an invading country, and personally executes his enemies. He then forces into marriage the captive daughter of a family trying to take his crown, all the while planning on eliminating the rest of her family to prevent it from ever happing again. When she is murdered, he fights a bloody civil war that ravages his kingdom, again executing all that oppose him, or threaten to. He then revokes centuries-old laws outlawing magic, which most of his subjects like, thank you very much. Know that I but chip at the surface of the iceberg here. He does all this with great courtesy and much soul searching, but really with utter ruthlessness. To have this character become so passive and unfocused, and even squeamish at times made no sense whatsoever. Outside of this glaring flaw, I found the other story arc of this novel, Liam's return to Torenth, to be interesting and I too liked the bride, the Paragon of Virtue, Araxie. Yet I fail to believe that any woman in her situation, no matter how practical and self-sacrificing, could not end up at least a little jealous of her husband-to-be's former betrothed, especially when she is still front and centre in his thoughts for most of the novel. Also disappointing was the speedy and almost perfunctory final chapter covering Kelson's self-revelation that he likes his bride and is happy and content about the marriage, and the actual long-awaited marriage itself. Call me a voyeur, if you will, but with four whole books basically leading up to this moment, I would have liked this part of the book to be more than a quick footnote. In spite of all this, for me it is not so much the events of this novel that disappoint. What I enjoyed so much about the previous books in this series were the strong characterizations, the intimate interpersonal relationships, the vivid colour and feel of Ms Kurtz's alternate universe. In this novel, we never hear the character's inner voices, and as a result never learn to care about them. In general, I felt I was reading a novel with characters who had the same names as in the proceeding books, but they were completely different people. The old characters talked to each other and depended on each other, overcame obstacles and made difficult decisions together. The characters in this book are cardboard, walking and talking yet rarely interacting and as a result they have little substance. If I had not read other books in this series, I would have spent the 300+ pages of this novel in confusion, stopping frequently to say to myself `Morgan - who is that again?' and `Who is Duncan and what has he to do with Dhugal?". After finishing this book, over the next couple of days I kept picking it up and reading it at random, hoping that somehow it would resolve itself into a good satisfying book I could like. Alas, it was not to be.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
King Kelson's Bride -- Worth the Wait!, June 9, 2000
Yesterday, I finished my first complete reading of Katherine Kurtz's new Deryni novel, _King Kelson's Bride_, which I had been eagerly awaiting ever since I finished reading _The Quest for Saint Camber_ nearly fourteen years ago. Katherine Kurtz fans may rest assured that this book was worth the wait! The only way this book could possibly be improved in my view is if it had been LONGER. In King Kelson's Bride, the reader travels with Kelson and his close friends, the Dukes Alaric Morgan and Dhugal McArdry McLain to the Hort of Orsal's exotic summer palace on the Ile d'Orsal, and then onto the Torenthi capital, Beldour. Both have been mentioned in earlier Deryni novels, but readers have only rarely glimpsed Torenthi court life, and have never visited the Orsal's court before. Now that his vassal, King Liam-Lajos of Torenth has come of age, Kelson travels with him to oversee his safe installment on the throne of Torenth. As the author herself has observed, "Things are different in Torenth." Indeed they are, as the Deryni of Torenth have never been subjected to the same persecution Deryni in Gwynedd have experienced. Their magic is far more of an accepted part of Torenthi court life, even unto the installment of their Kings. Without giving away the plot, readers may be assured that there is plenty of danger, treachery and Deryni magic afoot on the day of Liam's royal ceremony. Regarding the Bride herself, in the beginning of the novel, we see Kelson is still in love with Rothana, but is fored to accept that they will never be able to marry. At Rothana's instigation, he proposes to his cousin, Princess Araxie Haldane on the night he visits the Ile d'Orsal. Araxie accepts him willingly if with some trepidation. But the love between them only has a chance to grow once Kelson returns to Rhemuth and gradually comes to appreciate Araxie for her intelligence and the sensitivity of her spirit. By their wedding day in the final chapter, Kelson has found a new love and far more compatible Queen than Rothana, his original choice. Many loose ends are tied up in this novel, including that of Kelson's mother Queen Jehana who experiences an epiphany regarding her Deryni heritage while Kelson is in Beldour. Also resolved are the fates of Kelson's cousin Prince Rory, and of Prince Nigel who is at last persuaded to accept his two grandchildren by the late Prince Conall. Readers new to the Deryni world should understand that this novel was written with Ms. Kurtz's already established fans in mind. Knowledge of the people and places of the Deryni universe is assumed on the part of the reader, and indeed is necessary to understand the events of the novel. But there is a happy solution to any confusion this newest book may bring to new Katherine Kurtz fans: Read the rest of the Deryni books!
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love's Labors Won, June 15, 2000
I admit it, I have a deep personnel connection with this series. I read DERYNI RISING during labor with my daughter, who is now married with children of her own. I was reading THE BISHOP'S HEIR while in labor with my son. That was fifteen years ago. And while labor and pregnacy can seem endless, NOTHING compares with the 10 year hiatus we have endured waiting for Ms. Kurtz to finish her story. Poor Kelson, our handsome, noble, powerful, kind, young, yadayada king can not hold onto a bride. Considering the title, I'm not giving too much away if I say that third time's a charm. There's alot that's really great about this book. Ms. Kurtz explores great new cultures and de-demonizes the Torenthi. The political intrique is intriguing, although the Liam's Torenthi uncle was clearly a good guy from the first. I really liked Kelson's new bride, mostly because Rothana and her guilt (and eternal whining) were really getting on my nerves. Kurtz does a good job of explaining why Rothana REALLY can't marry Kelson - not the nonsense she spouts about it. Problems? A few. I wish that Kurtz had taken a bit more time with the relationship between Kelson and "his bride." Couldn't she have given them a bit of an adventure together? Jehanna's seachange is rather short-changed. After so many years of fananticism, ignoring facts and logic, she throws away "salvation" for a pair of eyes? I don't think so. Another thing, what happened to Morgan? He was so powerful and talented in the first three books and so whimpy and conservative in the last few. I know the focus has switched to Kelson but poor Morgan! Not to mention, poor Derry...the eternal bad guy's deus ex machina...the trusted, warpable human lord. Still, practically everybody's here and ending happily; the new countries are an intriguing patchwork of our world cultures and Kurtz's invention; most of the bad guys are punished and the heroes get the girls. What more can you want in a fantasy!
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