The Deryni Books
by Katherine Kurtz
Book review by Jaye
Copyright © 2005 by Jaye
High fantasy in an alternate medieval universe. This is a wonderful
series about normal humans and the race of psychically gifted people who live
together in medieval Wales (renamed Gwynedd.) It's a big, complex series
organized in several Trilogies. If you start reading them, don't make up
your mind until you've read at least one of the Trilogies, possibly two from
different ends. If you only read one book, you won't get a fair idea of
whether the series is for you are not. I read one book several years
ago, and didn't like it at all -- didn't dislike it -- it just didn't speak to
me. The that the one I read was the most action-adventure of the lot --
rest of them are much more relationship oriented. It was also the first
trilogy she wrote, and it was where she was getting her feet wet as an author.
We're talking a series of books that has been written over the last 30 plus
years. That gives an author A LOT of time to develop!
This whole series centers around the relationship of a family of Deryni
(the psychically gifted race) and a family of the kings of the human race,
whom the family of Deryni help in order to keep on the throne because these
kings want to keep peace between the two races.
The medieval Catholic Church plays a large part in the series. And
it's not "the good church" or "the bad church." It's "some of the people in
this church are good decent people, and some of them are bad people, and most
of them are indifferent" -- a lot like real life. Of course, to have a
good plot, just like people outside the church, the people who get dealt with
in the story tend to be either very good or very bad. The indifferent
ones tend to have support roles at best. Messengers or scribes or what
ever.
If you want to learn about how mistakes affect generations over time,
Check out the Deryni series.
Blessings on you, and on your house.
- Camber of Culdi
- Saint Camber
- Camber the Heretic
- Harrowing of Gwennedd
- King Javan's Year
- Bastard Prince
- Deryni Rising
- High Deryni
- Deryni Checkmate
- Bishop's Heir
- King's Justice
- Quest for Saint Camber
- King Kelson's Bride
- In the King's Service
- Deryni Archives
- Deryni Tales
- Deryni Magic
