Daggerspell

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 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 show more 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

You ever read an older book, one that's been around for decades (30ish in this case) and say "If only I'd found you sooner".

DAGGERSPELL is that book for me. I vaguely remember always seeing these books on the shelves at the used book stores I frequented, but it never occurred to me to pick it up. Having read this first one I wonder at why that was. This is basically every single trope I thirsted for as a tween/teen desperately seeking fantasy.

Jill, a young girl who's destined for great things and caught between two futures.

Cullyn, a gruff merc who wants to deny the future as much as possible because the now is fine.

Rhodry, a nobleman who feels aimless but largely wants nothing more then to do the right thing.

Nevyn, wise weirdo who show more probably shouldn't keep all those secrets to himself because let's face it they do no one any good unsaid.

All stuck in a fate they all couldn't avoid if they tried.

This book, maybe because of when it was written (and revised) feels like my childhood reading Mercedes Lackey, Marjorie Kellogg, Tanya Huff, Janny Wurts and Elizabeth Scarborough. The paperback is old - yellowed, stained and with a very creased binding while retaining that old paperback smell of well worn paper and ink. The pages feel roughly textured and the speech is oddly formal even amongst the common folk and their rough slang.

I think nostalgia partially had me enjoying this since some of it bored me (I was more interested in Jill than any of her past lives) and I was somewhat nettled by how casually Cullyn's answer to getting Jill to listen was to slap her. 13 year old Alex wouldn't have even given it a second thought, 34 year Lexie is like WHY YOU TAKE THAT JILL.

I do have the next two books in the series so I'll be reading them. It's...a good length long so eventually I might get to them all. show less

I can appreciate that this is carefully plotted, that the characters have struggles and growth, that it's not the formulaic fluff reinforcing some unsaid ideas about society and history that are really quite harmful, that it's a depiction not an endorsement. I still didn't enjoy it, though I did have that trainwreck-need to know what happened. It's not that I can't ever like this sort of high fantasy saga, but it's pretty rare, and whatever combination of elements that works for me (or worked when I was twelve) is missing now. Honestly I really can't get over the sibling thing.

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 worth your time.

Full review

I really enjoyed this. It was a neat world with engaging characters and the incarnations were believable as people who have learned (or not) from previous lives.

A very good read. I was properly caught up in the story and wanted to know what would happen to the characters. A potentially confusing reincarnation plot was handled very well. And the writing is quite good (and blissfully, blissfully free of the most annoying writing tics that so often pop up in genre fiction--like adverbs strewn all over the dialogue tags). Perhaps just a touch drag-y for a bit in the third quarter, but otherwise a solid, enjoyable fantasy novel with an interesting plot and memorable characters.

In the beginning Galrion and Jill were meant to be together and become great dweomer masters. Because Galrion was a selfish lord he caused not only his life but the lives of several others to go very wrong. Galrion is stripped of his name and becomes Nevyn, vowing not to rest until he makes things right. This leads us to following him through incarnations of those lives. Fascinating story of how people are so connected, reliving similar situations until the person's soul grows and overcomes. I read this years ago and loved rereading this story.