Customer Reviews

In the King's Service

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In the King's Service is the beginning of a new trilogy which details the recent history of the kingdoms that led to the events of her original series focusing on King Kelson, Alaric, et. al. (beginning with Deryni Rising). Though I suppose it could be read independently, I certainly wouldn't recommend it and advise people new to this world to start with her first trilogy (or possibly go chronologically starting with Camber series depending on taste). For most of us long-time readers of Ms. Kurtz's series, this begins to fill in one of the more interesting gaps in its timeline. While we see a few minor familiar characters, the ones we are probably most desirious of seeing (Alaric, Duncan, Kelson) don't yet appear in this work, which is a generation earlier. Well, one does but as a baby and not until the very end and since his dialogue would pretty much be "uurp" and "bbbllhttt", it doesn't really count. Kelson's father appears as a young child and one looks forward to seeing how his relationship with Morgan evolves over the trilogy's action.
King's Service doesn't reach the higher levels of the Deryni works, an admittedly quite high standard, but it doesn't fall far below. Probably the biggest reason for its falling short is its time setting and structure. Unlike many of her other novels, which focused in sharp, vivid detail on a lot of characters over a relatively brief period of time; King's Service keeps the plethora of characters but stretches out the events over years and years. Unfortunately this lessens the overall emotional impact of many of the scenes as we quickly move on to more action, sometimes months or years later. It is also difficult to really get to know most of the characters because we move so freely and widely in time and space and number of characters. Some of them have potential were they to be carried into the next book, but as many readers will know, Ms. Kurtz is not leery of killing off major characters and she does so several times here, though she does tuck a few away for safekeeping until the next book.
Alyce Corwyn, who will be Morgan's mother (as fans will know so nothing given away here), stands out as the strongest and most vividly realized character, though still not in the vein of earlier Deryni inhabitants; her appearance in the next book may raise her to that level however.
Other characters remain a bit shadowy and tenuous. One character in particular stands out as a bit two-dimensional, seemingly brought on stage only for a needed major plot point, making her appearance and actions seem a bit forced. King Donal is portrayed as a man torn between his desire for justice and right and his desire to protect his kingdom and especially his heir. Here again, the characterization falls a bit shallow; it would have been nice to have seen his torment more often and more fully. As it is presented, it reads a bit hollow since it occurs so quickly.
The various plot lines will seem familiar to fans: Mearan rebels, Torenthi incursions, church antipathy toward Deryni, a king trying to protect his lineage, various coming-of-age stories. Their familiarity bleeds them a bit of intensity, as does the fact that Kurtz is showing the earliest stages of many of these problems which lead to the full blow-up of most of them in Kelson's time. But if they pale somewhat in intensity and originality, they still retain the ability to compel interest and at times move the reader. I can't say I avidly and breathlessly turned every page, but I still wanted to and enjoyed reading it in a single setting. A few plot points felt forced and I have to say the closing scene involving Brion I found utterly implausible which coming at the end left a little of a bad taste. But she manages to mostly avoid the pitfall of many prequels--the sense you sometimes get that writer is simply working mechanically backward filling in the blanks to come. As always, she is a master of ritualistic detail, which some will revel in and others probably skim through.
The frequent, lengthy, and important delineation of bloodlines can get a bit overwhelming; the opening chapter is especially taxing in this regard but if you can fight your way through that discussion you'll do fine the rest of the way.
Mostly one gets the sense that this book is in fact more necessary prequel than a full-fledged Deryni novel. The sweep of years and characters has cleared the historical table so to speak and managed to put the reader at the point where Alyce, Morgan, Duncan, Brion, etc. will be able to take more full stage in the next book while setting the trendlines in place for the actions we know as fans are to come. In that regard, King's Service does its job and if it isn't a top tier Deryni novel, it has ambitions for being more than just serviceable exposition, ambitions that it mostly achieves. One of the ways it goes beyond simple exposition is the way she drops references to seemingly important people and groups and magic systems that are not at all familiar and that will clearly be explained in the next book. So rather than just give the reader comforting background information, she offers up tasty hints of things to come leaving the reader wanting more information. Recommended with a strong sense that book two will be much better and in that top level.

Katherine Kurtz's latest forray into the world of the Deryni is sure to be well-received by her many fans. The book's action takes place some thirty years prior to the events of the series' first trilogy which began with Deryni Rising. It is a time when the gifted Deryni and their powers are still feared by the normal human inhabitants of the Gwynedd who have enacted both secular and ecclesiastical sanctions against them.

Even so, the ruthless King Donal Haldane sees value having those powers at his disposal and protects several well-born Deryni in his court. But little does he suspect just how many Deryni there really are in his court. Because while the king is manipulating everyone to his design, other groups such as the Camberian Council are doing some manipulating of their own.

For long-time fans of this series, the book is a welcome treat as we are introduced to many of the ancestors of favorite characters. Likewise the origins of some later plotlines are revealed. First-time readers, however, will have difficulty following the geneological lines which make up so much of the earlier chapters. All in all, though, a very welcome addition to the Deryni canon.

This is the newest Deryni novel and is the first book in a proposed trilogy (The Childe Morgan trilogy). The Deryni novels have long been one of my favorite series, and I'm always eagerly awaiting a new Deryni novel. Despite what the book jacket suggests, this novel takes place during the era of King Kelson's grandfather King Donal. Kelson's father Brion is only a young child during this novel, and this is more than a hundred years after the Haldane Restoration of 917. This is one of the time periods that when I looked at the genealogy of the Haldanes, I wondered "what was happening then? Who is Donal?" We get an answer in this book.

There is a story here, but there is no true plot, if that makes any sense. We are given a fantastic look at Donal's court and we spend some time with the Camberian Council. Characters mention the Airsid, Orin, and Jodotha (three things I would love to have explored in detail), and there is even a brief mention of my favorite Haldane: Javan (from King Javan's Year). The main story of this novel, spanning several years, however, is that of Alyce de Corwyn and who will be the heir to the duchy of Corwyn. All the while, King Donal needs to have a magical protector for his son, Brion, and he will do anything to get one. To be honest, that's about it. There is plenty of action, several characters are killed off, and I did not want to put the book down, but there is still not a whole lot of plot in this novel. It is more like a series of scenes rather than a story that is truly leading somewhere.

Even so, I began to care for some of the characters. Alyce is a very sympathetic character and looks like she might be one of the stronger female characters since Evaine. There are several interesting supporting characters, but one of the most interesting characters in the novel is Donal himself. He is a conflicted character. On one hand he wants to do what is right for Gwynedd, his subjects, and his family. On the other hand, he is absolutely ruthless and is willing to do anything and everything to get his way (which he thinks is right and proper as King and that it is for the good of the realm). I wish that more time would have been spent dealing with the Camberian Council and I only hope that the next two novels will focus more on the Council. There are a lot of ways for this series to go and despite the lack of plot, I loved every minute of this book and I can't wait for the next one.

In the King's Service is the first novel in the Childe Morgan trilogy. It takes place during the reign of Donal Blaine Haldane and fits chronologically after The Bastard Prince and before Deryni Rising.

King Donal has provided his son with a guardian by getting a son on Jessamy, the wife of Sief MacAthan, one of his councilors and a member of the Camberian Council. Sief is also a very impulsive and jealous man and, when he discovers the true parentage, Donal finds himself fighting for his life as Sief unleashes the Deryni mind powers against him, but the Haldane powers prove stronger and Donal is left with the still warm body of Jessamy's husband. Donal Blames the death of an heart attack and arranges to have the baby raised in the Royal Nursery.

The Camberian Council discovers most of the truth, but cannot determine the motive for the King siring a child on Jessamy. However, they continue to keep an eye on Jessamy, the daughter of Lewis ap Norfal, who had rebelled against the authority of the Camberian Council itself. Meanwhile, Keryell Earl of Lendor has taken a new wife after the passing of Stevana in childbirth and is leaving his two daughters, Alyce and Marie, with the queen until they are to depart for a convent school. Since Jessamy was especially close to Stevana, she takes the girls under her wing and even accompanies them to the convent. There she introduces the girls to her daughter Jessilde, a novice in the order. The next day, Jessamy leaves and the girls are started on their studies and on making new friends.

This story is a study of character and intrigue. The action is minimal and mostly offstage, although battle, accidents and homicide seem to run rampant through the plot. Of course, an approximately equal number of births balance out the deaths, but the turnover is astonishing, although not unrealistic for medieval times.

Nevertheless, this story is unusual in that no major wars, rebellions, invasions or other large-scale violence occurs during the whole tale. Moreover, the church is only modestly destructive against the Deryni. There is only one significant clash between the King and the Church and it is more personal than otherwise.

Overall, this is an unusual novel, more like the shorter works in its plot and consequences. However, it does occur in a significant period in the evolution of the kingdom, less than a decade prior to the birth of Kelson Haldane. Moreover, it concludes with the birth of Alaric Morgan.

Highly recommended for Kurtz fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of intrigue and minor magic in a medieval setting.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The first novel in Katherine Kurtz's long-awaited Childe Morgan trilogy is one of the weakest entries in the Deryni series. Kurtz seems to have lost her zeal for writing about the Deryni universe, having become entangled in a bewildering array of (mostly uninteresting) side projects over the past decade. Die-hard, completist Deryni fans will have to read the book and its sequels regardless, but this is not a book that will attract new readers to the series.

Kurtz practically invented the sub-genre of occult historical fantasy. Her strongest novels are characterized by meticulously detailed magical/religious ceremonies. In the King's Service barely reads like a Deryni novel at all. Deryni powers are talked about a great deal, but are rarely on actual display to the reader. Deryni ritual is completely absent.

Alaric Morgan is almost entirely missing from the book himself, appearing on the scene only as an infant at novel's end. A young Brion appears fleetingly, but the major characters in the novel are a young Alyce De Corwyn (Alaric's mother), King Donal Haldane (the future King Brion's father), and Donal's Deryni mistress, Jessamy McCathan. Alyce is an appealing character, though long-time readers of the series will know better than to get too attached to her.

Donal and Jessamy are despicable people as well as uninteresting characters. Together they commit several appalling deeds and plot one unspeakable one. Distressing things have always occurred in Kurtz's books, but in the past she could be trusted to depict them as ignoble when they were. Here, neither Kurtz nor any of her characters seem to fully realize just how inexcusable Donal's conduct truly is, which makes for a very disconcerting read. Kurtz was never a preachy moralizer, but she used to know evil when she saw it, even in a king.

The Camberian Council of course must continue to disgrace the name of Camber of Culdi. This is, in general, in keeping with how things will stand at the beginning of Deryni Rising. However, it is hard to reconcile Barrett DeLaney's passive acceptance of Donal's plans with what we know of him from the other works. However decadent the rest of the Council may be, he at least would be expected to have something to say about a Deryni woman who plots to use her powers to aid the commission of a vile crime. This is, after all, exactly the sort of abuse of Deryni power that the Council was formed to prevent in the first place!

The novel does not have much of a plot per se, as others have noted. It is true that many plot threads are just rehashes of episodes from other Deryni books. In addition, many details that had to be included to match what we already know of the future do not quite ring true. The forced "adoption" of Alyce's sister Vera to the human Howards is especially unconvincing. So is the casual way in which Donal breaks with long tradition to marry the Deryni Corwyn heiress (Alyce) to the human Kenneth Morgan, a mere baron himself.

A number of Haldanes who will not be on the scene at the opening of Deryni Rising make their appearances here, probably indicating a bloody next few books. The virtual absence of Alaric Morgan from the first third of his trilogy was this book's most serious flaw. The next two books in the series will presumably focus much more on Alaric and Brion, which should serve to give the reader someone to root for.

The King of Gwynedd, Donal Haldane rules through divine right and his powers are said to come of God. The Deryni, a race of sorcerers, are said to be evil and secular. Church law doesn't grant them the same rights as humans. In actuality, the power of the Haldanes and the Deryni are much alike; Donal has no problems using the Deryni to help him maintain peace in the Eleven Kingdoms.

Lady Alycee De Corwyn is the sister of the future duke and a great heiress who knows she must make a dynastic marriage. While she awaits the king's decree, she arrives at court to serve the Haldanes as only a Deryni can. After losing a father and brother to Gwynedd's enemies, Donal implements a plan that would make her child his son's protector by betraying a woman he has come to respect and a man he calls friend.

This novel takes place after the massacre of the Deryni following the Haldane Restoration. The survivors are slowly coming out into the open again hoping to prove to the humans that they are not evil just because a few commit malevolent acts. Still they are feared and the church encourages mankind to hate the Deryni but through their loyal service to the crown, humanity is slowly being shown that being Deryni is not a bad thing. Katherine Kurtz still reigns as the queen of historical fantasies in a series she started almost three decades ago.

Harriet Klausner

Warning: This review contains spoilers. Opening nearly forty years before the events of _Deryni Rising_, _In The King's Service_ introduces many new characters, some of whom have been mentioned in previous novels. We are also introduced to already known characters such as certain members of the Camberian Council, and Jared McLain and Caulay MacArdry, who both appear in younger incarnations.

King Donal Haldane dominates this book, and he is a man and a king of a far different order than his future grandson, Kelson.This, I feel, makes him more historically accurate, since the medieval Kings of our own world could not afford to be pushovers. Donal is not wicked in the same sense that Hubert MacInnis was, but he is ruthless, and not visibly troubled by his conscience for anything he does. What he does, he does to protect his Kingdom and his family, but he demands much of his friends in this cause. Lady Jessamy McAthan bears a child for her King to be a Deryni protector for Prince Brion and his brothers, and when her enraged husband, Sief McAthan, attacks the King, Donal kills him in self-defense. When her son with Donal is brutally killed late in the book, Donal seeks to replace him with a son fathered upon Lady Alyce de Corwyn, but without her knowledge or consent, or that of her husband Kenneth Morgan, a loyal friend to the King. Not until the very end when Donal is caught in a manifestly humiliating situation does he express contrition for what he planned to do.

We are also introduced to the Ducal family of Corwyn most notably Lady Alyce de Corwyn, who will become Alaric Morgan's mother. We also meet her siblings, Marie, Ahern and her twin, Vera who will become Duncan's mother. Since it was made clear in the first Kelson trilogy that Alyce and Vera's being twin sisters was kept a close secret all their lives, allowing Duncan to keep his own Deryni blood secret, Ms. Kurtz had to explain how it all came about in this novel. Having been raised by the close human friends of their parents, the manner of Vera's revelation to her sisters does stretch the reader's credulity, somewhat. However, if Duncan can be Dhugal's father, then I can live with Vera's having been raised by human parents. As Marie and Ahern do not appear in previous books, I was wary of growing too attached to them, as the life expectancy of Deryni characters is often rather short. And sadly, both of them do die in fairly horrible ways. Of the two, I liked Ahern best, and had he lived long enough to inherit his senior title of Duke of Corwyn, he would have made an excellent Duke. Alyce loses her father, sister and brother in terrible ways and in fairly rapid succession in this novel, but is able to recover from her grief for each of them almost too soon. I would have liked her to show more prolonged mourning. Fortunately, she still has Vera, and her friend Zoe Morgan, daughter of her eventual husband, Sir Kenneth Morgan. A modest, self-effacing man who is nonetheless intelligent, capable, and loyal, Kenneth Morgan is a welcome addition to the ranks of "good humans" in the Deryni canon.

_In the King's Service_ is a fast, enjoyable read. If anything, I found it a little _too_ fast, and finished the book without having formed strong emotional attachments to any one character, which I regret. The timespan of earlier Deryni novels covers mere days, or months, or possibly the course of a year, and the plots moved from day to day in a slower, more intimate way, leaving the reader more time to know and love or hate the people involved, and to know more about the reasons for the actions and choices they make. _the King's Service_ spans almost a decade, and the necessary speed with which events are covered may account for a reader's feeling less emotionally involved with the characters. I found that I missed spending more time getting acquainted with the individual people and really learning what made them tick. I felt I "knew" Camber within a chapter or two of Camber of Culdi. To balance this, I enjoyed having a book with more female Deryni characters, something I felt was lacking in the earlier novels. There is the enigmatic Jessamy-can she or can she not be trusted, even though she was a close friend of Alyce's late mother Countess Stevana? There is the Queen Richeldis, who evidently has the maturity and breadth of mind to make a good marriage with the imperfect and much older Donal, and give him several children in the bargain. And most importantly, we meet the demoiselles de Corwyn, Alyce, Marie and Vera. I look forward to seeing more of Lady Alyce in the second novel, and of Vera, as well. I also liked the glimpse of Brion Haldane as a child in this novel, as I've been curious about him for years. I am eager to see him as a King and adult in the next two books, and to find out how his friendship with Alaric will evolve. And of course, I look forward to watching Alaric Morgan's early life.

For fans of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series and Alaric Morgan fans in particular, this is the start of a long-awaited trilogy dealing with the enigmatic and powerful half-Deryni Duke of Corwyn, who we first met in Deryni Rising. Alas for us, Alaric doesn't make an appearance until the very end of the book, and then only as a babe. Kurtz uses an entire book to delve into, the admittedly, complicated relantionships surrounding the Gwynnedd court, as well as Deryni bloodlines and alliances. Sprinkled with armed incusions and many births, deaths, and weddings, this book reads more like a genealogy than a story. It's a credit to Kurtz's writing that she makes all this as interesting as she does, however, this is a difficult book to like because it's essentially setting the stage for the REAL story we've all been waiting for - Alaric's childhood and youth as King Brion's ally and friend.

She drops some tantalizing hints to lure the reader in - bringing up the heritage and legacy of Lewys ap Norfal's kin, who initially play a fairy big role at the start of the book, only to have them fade into the background. The Camberian Council appears again as well, but prove to be impotent. Considering the consternation they were having over Donal's child (...), I found it intriguing that they acquiesced to the marriage of Alyce to a human, thus ensuring that any of her children would be hated "half-breed" Deryni. Yet none of these intriguing points is ever carried through with, although with two more books to go it could be these dropped plot threads will be resolved down the road. Still, it doesn't leave much meaty story to keep reader's interest engaged.

The majority of the book has to do with Alyce de Corwyn, who is Alaric's mother. She's a fine enough protagonist, but the book lacked a lot of what I loved most about Kurtz's earlier Deryni works - the sense of history come alive, the derring-do of the knights and the secret and magical workings of the Deryni sorcerers. I attribute much of this to the lack of a strong villian. Our heros have to have worthy (and evil) opponents in order to really shine in comparison. Where is this era's frothing Archbishop Loris? The rogue priest, brother to a bishop is meant to be one - but he's a strawman. He's evil without substantial motivation and thus has no true impact on our heros. Much of the book's plot then boils down to two questions: 1. Will Donal Haldane get a magical protector for his heirs? 2. Who will inherit the Duchy of Corwyn? Interesting questions, but not really interesting enough to devote an entire book to.

Overall this was a disappointment. After waiting all this time for a new Deryni adventure, Kurtz seems to have been too busy with diagramming her genealogy trees to remember how to actually write a story. In most cases I would say, unless some of the tangled relantionships are of interest to you, you could safely skip this book and pick up the second (upcoming) one without missing a beat.

I read Kurtz's original Deryni novels when they first came out 30 years ago, and scooped up the Camber series without a second thought. Over the years my attention to the series has grown more haphazard (to the point where I look at a recent book in the series and can't remember if I've read THAT one). But when I saw In the King's Service at the library, a prequel telling of events before King Kelson is born, I decided to give it another shot.

I'm glad I did. This is light reading, not "dive deep into another world with no desire to leave" reading -- but it certainly was a pleasant diversion.

Basically, In The King's Service is set in the later years of Kelson's grandfather's reign, and it shows the character arc for the parents of our heroes (particularly Alaric and Duncan) and their contemporaries. In the first book, Deryni Rising, there's a bit of a vague arm-wave about Alaric and Duncan being secret cousins, which is adequately explained here. As other reviewers remark, there isn't a lot of plot in this novel, and the primary mystery is how many of the ancestors you can spot... but actually, that's okay. I read this as a light "TV movie" that filled in some of the backstory for the "real" novels that I like so well -- that is, here's how she put the pieces on the chessboard.

This is the first in a trilogy, though it worked fine as a standalone Deryni novel for me. There's no reason to get this unless you've read at least the series beginning with Deryni Rising or maybe the Camber series. But it kept my interest all the way through, let me loll about in a world I like, and answered some of the minor mysteries.

I love the Deryni series. However, while I enjoyed this one very much - I will tell you that all you need to read is the last chapter. The rest of the book has a few too many characters and plot developments, when all you need to know is the ending. Ok, maybe it is good to see how Kurtz arrived at the ending... Read and enjoy, I fully expect the next books in this series to be much better, now that the plot was explained. The title should have been "The King's Protector". You will understand when you finish this one...