Daggerspell (original 1986; edition 1986)

I love the Deverry series of books because it combines two of my favorite subjects: Fantasy and reincarnation. Some of the twist and turns the characters take in the series are annoying, and the magic 15th book leaves a few loose ends, but all worth the read. ( )

DEVERRY

While I was reading Robert Jordan one of my best friends, N, was reading Katherine Kerr. Not sure how long she’d been reading Katherine Kerr for but somewhere, most likely during of our epic phone conversations, it came up that we had moved from reading the likes of Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë to a new genre, Fantasy.

I suggested a swap. I have not had much exposure to the genre and was keen to read something new. I read Daggerspell in three days. I don’t think I had ever read a book so quickly, I loved it. It pulled at my heartstrings, I hated characters, I loved characters and I was constantly surprised by the plot.

Thumbing through the book, which I have so long neglected, brings back the memories of an awkward teenager, who sat in the back yard, on beach towels, drinking tea, under an umbrella, at the height of the Australian summer with her sisters rereading the story until she had a grasp on what had actually happened.

The story is definitely a 5/5 stars. There are not many fantasy authors with the skill to pull off such a complicated plot and not miss a thing. This book is what a fantasy novel should be, it is concise and the characters have immeasurable depth. It is a complete story but one which continues and if you don’t have the next book, you’ll probably have to quickly find the car keys and drive to your nearest bookstore. ( )

Finally a fantasy story that is not a close cousin to LoTR! The world of magic is unique among the books I have read and I expect will be explored in greater detail in the rest of the series.

Some of the characters are a little flat and opaque, but most of them are understandable and sympathetic. The author manages to easily avoid the anachronistic feminist tendencies even with her adept swords-woman character. ( )

This is the first of a long series of novels concerning primarily the nation of Deverry, and a few souls that live in or nearby. The souls appear over and over again in the series, reincarnated several times and meeting again, except for a long lived few who stay the same through several of the books A unique and interesting fantasy series. ( )