Katharine Kerr

Dawnspell is a bridge book: the flashback (which begins one of my favourite sequences within sequences) is all set-up, the modern day is all set-up and nothing gets resolved before the cliffhanger at the end. The narrative is a bit flabby, and hilariously the bad guys literally have a conversation over the fire about how the plot is absurdly convoluted. This killed me when it first came out, but rereading with Dragonspell safely on my shelf I can just sit back and appreciate the good bits - show more because there are plenty of them.

Dawnspell is where we first glimpse the full sweep of the history of Annwn and a whole lot more insight into the unpleasant and self-interested web of politics that holds Deverry together. It's also the start of the multi-book flashback sequence detailing the end of the Time of Troubles, which gives us one of Rhodry's most interesting incarnations and eventually (although not in Dawnspell) explains why Jill is so scared of dweomer. Last but not least, we get to hang out with Salamander ap Devaberiel, who is the extravagantly iced cinnamon roll of the Deverry saga (I'm sure his elaborate way of speaking and fecklessness irritate some readers, but I adore him).

On the flip side, this is the least feminist of the novels to date: there's a heap of Nevyn having horrors at women who sleep around and/or have sex for money, and Jill is stripped of her agency for Plot Reasons.

Knowing how relevant almost everything will become in the future, I can appreciate Dawnspell more. But it was my least favourite of the first four (six?) for a reason on first reading, and I can see why. That's not a huge criticism, though - it's still an engaging read, and left me (leaves me) desperate to get on to the final volume of this first sequence within the saga. show less

Kerr's Deverry series is a classic in the epic fantasy field, and it's no surprise why. World building is excellent, detailed and consistent; she does an amazing job of bringing early, almost primitive, Welsh culture to life, albeit a culture with more magical tendencies than our own. From a village tavern to the women's hall in a lord's dun, to riding patrol through a forest, it feels earthy and real. The magical system is a kind of sophisticated spiritualism that is vital to development of show more the plot.

One of my favorite things about the series is the complexity of character development. We witness people struggling with personal and political issues, occasionally failing, but occasionally overcoming challenges with grace. I particularly enjoy how women are developed; though the culture is at heart sexist, we see the many ways women take power for themselves at different levels of society, from the common lass Jill to the lady of the dun, Lovyan. Also notable is Kerr's refusal to glorify violence, even as one or two of her characters are some of the most feared swordsmen around. An additional noteworthy aspect is that Kerr includes non-nobility classes without glorifying their struggles or minimizing the role they play in maintaining the nobility's lifestyle.

One of the central concepts to this series is the idea of 'Wyrd,' an aspect of destiny combined with reincarnation. Characters are not completely fated to a particular course of action, but will find themselves repeating ill-negotiated challenges until their soul gets it right. The central characters in this series are drawn together across space and time because four hundred years ago, family obligations, injustice and tragedy occurred in such a way as to bind their threads together. Nevyn, a sorcerer known as a 'dweomermaster,' is the only one of the people in this situation who is aware of the cycle of Wyrd, and one of his goals is to connect with the others as they enter their new life cycles and correct his mistakes.

What adds depth and complexity to the overall plot is that the characters are working out their Wyrd in three different time periods. As we go back in time, we also experience the culture in earlier forms, allowing the reader to get the sense of development of society. Somewhat unfortunately, names are in dialect and it lends itself to confusion in keeping track of each person and their three names. The first time through, I found it confusing, but I was younger then. It's a shame I only discovered the reincarnation end notes after finishing--it might have helped me keep some of the names/personalities straight during the three periods covered. On re-read, the time changes flow better, and the situations playing out slightly differently in the second time period adds to the sense of tragedy to the first and hope for the third.

Truly a great read for those who like complex epic fantasy. Star one: world-building. Star two: character development. Star three: nicely developed plot with what could have been very conventional fantasy--yes, there are serfs and nobles, and battles, and elves and even a dwarf, but they are done in a way that feels real, and emphasizes the loss as much as the magic. Star four: complexity in all of the aforementioned categories. The beginning Deverry series achieves a rare pathos, and likely spoiled me for many subsequent fantasies.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/daggerspell-deverry-1-by-katharine-ker... show less

I've loved this book most of my life. An epic fantasy with a distinctly Celtic flavour and a unique narrative voice, it’s set in a richly-imagined alternate world, complete with Elves, Dwarves, magic (or dweomer) and fuck off swords. It explores ideas of choice, consequences and redemption over multiple lifetimes, introducing twists and tangles to defeat the most patient soul. It’s heady, often difficult stuff, and it draws me in every time. Trust me – this is a classic that’s well show more worth your time.

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After a very long time sitting on Mt TBR, I have finally got around to reading this book. What a delight it was. I enjoyed all the different kinds of stories. There were stories about Shakespeare himself (meeting gods, witches and travellers from the future), about his plays (mostly being performed for alien races) and different versions of his plays (a vampiric Romeo, King Lear as a computer).

I was a little disappointed to notice a bit of a bias in the stories. There were a few too many show more versions of King Lear and As You Like It (though I didn't mind As You Like It so much, since it is a favourite of mine). All in all, the structure of the book was excellent. There was just one story I didn't really enjoy and that was The Tragedy of KL--the story about KL as a computer. I was a little rusty on my Lear and all the abbreviations of the names made things difficult. I put down the book a number of times while reading that story. Once past it, however, I hardly put the book down and it was rather made up for by the lovely version of Lear entitled Queen Lyr.

If you like Shakespeare without being a purist and if you like speculative fiction, you should definitely enjoy this book. show less