The Dragon Revenant

Perfect. This story went exactly the way I wanted it to. As much as I liked the other books, the past lives confused me too much, and I always felt that Jill was overshadowed (probably on purpose). In this story, she finally gets the chance to begin exploring the dweamor, and to really be herself. We get a good cast of characters in this story- Rhodda and Salamander in particular shined bright. I hope to see more from them in the coming books.

My only complaint is Perryn- yes, his crimes toward Jill may have been only semi-conscious, but it just seems so, so wrong that he gets a happy ending. He didn't suffer enough.

A satisfying conclusion to this chapter of the story of Deverry. Without the flashbacks to previous lives of Jill, Rhodry, and others, the story in this book flowed more smoothly. We got to see more of the contrast between the kingdoms of Deverry and Bardek, as well as the relationship between the Brotherhood of dark dwoeomermasters and their assassins, the Hawks. And bravo to the author for not forcing a "happily ever after" ending, but instead giving us the bittersweet decisions mature and responsible adults must sometimes make, heartbreaking as they may be.

For the first time in the Deverry series, all the action remains in the present day rather than flitting back to fill gaps in the past, and the plot/pacing is all the tighter for it.

Rhodry has been sold as a slave on the Bardek islands, and one storyline follows his new life, intersected with information about Salamander and Jill chasing him down. Behind all this we discover more about the politics and machinations within the Hawks, the Brotherhood and, behind them all, the Old One - desperate enemy of Nevyn.

I really enjoyed the slow build and Jill's gradual realisation that the dweomer would be her future, no matter how much she wished otherwise. The climax to the Old One part of the story was very much D&D in nature (no real surprise show more considering Kerr's background in roleplaying games) and fairly purfunctory. No one was in any great danger, and everyone survived to live another day. What was more interesting was the final few chapters, where Jill makes the decision that releases Nevyn from his reckless vow and changes her life.

The sequence of four books are fairly generic fantasy, and certainly more groundbreaking fantasy has been produced since these. However, they should not be dismissed lightly. Kerr's writing is warm and welcoming. The characters are well-written and you care deeply about what happens to them. Kerr has told a fabulously rich story, which was improved immeasurably by the lack of a linear storyline.

I think that readers of any epic fantasy would gain a great deal of enjoyment from the Deverry series. Although I wish to all the Gods that the characters would stop tossing their heads to make a point! show less

While a bit deeper than most, and also a bit slower than many, this is a very good fantasy series. While it does feature 'elves' and 'dwarves', they are a bit different than the standard fantasy non-humans. These books are well written, subtle and with some depth to them.

I knew what happens at the end of this book before I read it, and I thought I'd be upset about it. Funnily enough, by the time we got there the progression of the story made it seem kind of natural. This is a good book, and a worthy addition to the series, however Salamander's habit of including three words all meaning the same thing in ever sentence gets really annoying. I think I would have punched him in the face if I was one of the characters in the book.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Katharine_Kerr/The_Dragon_Revenant.html

Iniziato quando ero ancora poco più che adolescente il Ciclo di Deverry mi ha appassionato tantissimo, ampliando e modificando le mie idee del fantasy all'epoca ancorate ad un classico (ed amatissimo) Tolkeniano.
In Italiano non si vede ancora la fine del ciclo con gli ultimi tre libri ancora non tradotti, ma il tutto, malgrado la lunghezza infinita di 14 libri (dei quali appunto solo 11 per adesso tradotti) è di una tale epicità che la lettura ne è altamente consigliata agli amanti del genere.

We stay in the current time as Jill seeks to find the kidnapped and enslaved Rhodry and return him in time to claim his throne and Jill finally seeks the dweomer. Love this series, great story telling.