Post by Taika of Narfell on Jan 6, 2007 5:20:57 GMT 1
Katharine Kerr - Dragonspell (4th in Deverry series)
The fourth and last of the Deverry series (well, the first series anyway) Dragonspell ties up many loose ends, and for that I am glad. However, it also leaves some things unexplained, some I would have liked to know more about - such as Perryn's true origins, but I also understand, with all the clarity of a reader of many fantasy epics, that to explain that would take at least another full book in order for Ms. Kerr to put the lore into a good story. And it would be too out of the way for the plot.
However, leaving Perryn unexplained also means that he shows up in the story as a handy tool to help our heroes, and his odd origins are never fully explained. Perryn does in fact smell of Deus Ex Machina - and I don't like that smell. It was a very clumsy way of getting past her own construct that dweomer does not function across a large body of water. With that fact in place it is logical that the sneaky bad guys would take a kidnapped victim across a large body of water. But still our heroes needed to be able to find the victim and thus we’re introduced to the magic that isn’t dweomer and no one really knows what it is then. It annoyed me somewhat.
However, the book was highly enjoyable nonetheless. As stated: many loose ends were tied up and much was explained. There is also some redemption for Ms. Kerr in terms of character development; the development has happened over the course of four books and while none of the characters are as deep and complete as for instance The Brothers Karamazov (though I doubt anyone would expect thusly) they have become rounded and infused with some personality. Truly there are none about whom I can say: “I’d really love to meet him/her” or “Wow, if I met him/her I’d smack them upside the head”, none make as big an impression as all that, but they’re not as flat as they were in the beginning either. Though some few are still stereotyped most seem to be fairly normal people with fairly normal reactions to what goes on around them, and that is after all also an accomplishment considering the temptation it is to make all your characters special.
What weighs heavily in Dragonspell is the Bardek culture our Deverrians meet. A widely different culture where they keep slaves, which is illegal in Deverry, but mostly everyone can read and write, which is a rarity in Deverry. And of course: each calls the other culture barbaric.
Political intrigues have prevailed throughout the books, but I have an ambivalent opinion of them. They exist, we’re told of them, but they’re not terribly developed. There are a few peak passages where the scheming becomes truly interesting, but other than that it’s mostly just talk. Once again there has been very little actual fighting, and when it happens it is to finally – after four books – show some offensive use of magic. Spite of this being a low magic setting in the eyes of the commoner, I’d say it is high magic, simply because of the organization of the magic users and their power. But I must say Kerr manages it well. She keeps the goodly dweomermen to mostly using defensive, protective or reconnaissance magic for information gathering. Her magic has its limits when it comes to attacking – it can only be done if the Wildfolk and their Kings are willing to serve your purpose, because as a goodly dweomer user you do not have the option of forcing the Wildfolk as the evil twisted men of the dark dweomer do.
Generally the magic system is reasonably explained. Mind, one can never expect a full explanation with regards to great mystical beings and suchlike, but it is believable here and that makes it worth my while.
Now, many characters express expectations for what will happen at the end, most notably the much-discussed wedding between Rhodry and Jill. And over the course of the book the reader, too, have come to expect just that. There have been times when I thought that Jill would never settle for that, but everytime her determination and love for Rhodry have dispelled my suspicion. So on one hand the ending was not a surprise, but on the other hand it was. It was not clear what she would until the very end. And I must say, I like what she did.
The fourth and last of the Deverry series (well, the first series anyway) Dragonspell ties up many loose ends, and for that I am glad. However, it also leaves some things unexplained, some I would have liked to know more about - such as Perryn's true origins, but I also understand, with all the clarity of a reader of many fantasy epics, that to explain that would take at least another full book in order for Ms. Kerr to put the lore into a good story. And it would be too out of the way for the plot.
However, leaving Perryn unexplained also means that he shows up in the story as a handy tool to help our heroes, and his odd origins are never fully explained. Perryn does in fact smell of Deus Ex Machina - and I don't like that smell. It was a very clumsy way of getting past her own construct that dweomer does not function across a large body of water. With that fact in place it is logical that the sneaky bad guys would take a kidnapped victim across a large body of water. But still our heroes needed to be able to find the victim and thus we’re introduced to the magic that isn’t dweomer and no one really knows what it is then. It annoyed me somewhat.
However, the book was highly enjoyable nonetheless. As stated: many loose ends were tied up and much was explained. There is also some redemption for Ms. Kerr in terms of character development; the development has happened over the course of four books and while none of the characters are as deep and complete as for instance The Brothers Karamazov (though I doubt anyone would expect thusly) they have become rounded and infused with some personality. Truly there are none about whom I can say: “I’d really love to meet him/her” or “Wow, if I met him/her I’d smack them upside the head”, none make as big an impression as all that, but they’re not as flat as they were in the beginning either. Though some few are still stereotyped most seem to be fairly normal people with fairly normal reactions to what goes on around them, and that is after all also an accomplishment considering the temptation it is to make all your characters special.
What weighs heavily in Dragonspell is the Bardek culture our Deverrians meet. A widely different culture where they keep slaves, which is illegal in Deverry, but mostly everyone can read and write, which is a rarity in Deverry. And of course: each calls the other culture barbaric.
Political intrigues have prevailed throughout the books, but I have an ambivalent opinion of them. They exist, we’re told of them, but they’re not terribly developed. There are a few peak passages where the scheming becomes truly interesting, but other than that it’s mostly just talk. Once again there has been very little actual fighting, and when it happens it is to finally – after four books – show some offensive use of magic. Spite of this being a low magic setting in the eyes of the commoner, I’d say it is high magic, simply because of the organization of the magic users and their power. But I must say Kerr manages it well. She keeps the goodly dweomermen to mostly using defensive, protective or reconnaissance magic for information gathering. Her magic has its limits when it comes to attacking – it can only be done if the Wildfolk and their Kings are willing to serve your purpose, because as a goodly dweomer user you do not have the option of forcing the Wildfolk as the evil twisted men of the dark dweomer do.
Generally the magic system is reasonably explained. Mind, one can never expect a full explanation with regards to great mystical beings and suchlike, but it is believable here and that makes it worth my while.
Now, many characters express expectations for what will happen at the end, most notably the much-discussed wedding between Rhodry and Jill. And over the course of the book the reader, too, have come to expect just that. There have been times when I thought that Jill would never settle for that, but everytime her determination and love for Rhodry have dispelled my suspicion. So on one hand the ending was not a surprise, but on the other hand it was. It was not clear what she would until the very end. And I must say, I like what she did.