Death of an Adept: A Novel of the Adept

Rating:
Summary: Another excellent Adept book!
Review: I picked up "The Adept" on a lark several years ago, and found it to be one of the most enjoyable books I'd read in a long time. Kurtz and Harris have maintained a consistent level of excellence and faithfulness to their characters throughout the series. While the subject matter is often complex -- Masonic rituals, Druidic references, and so on-- the writing style is clear and conversational, so you almost don't realize the rate at which you're turning the pages. The characters are well-rounded and far from stereotypical

Rating:
Summary: A Great Followup
Review: I started reading the Adept because K. Kurtz wrote it and I liked her Deryni series. I had no idea how good it was. Since that first book, I have continued to read and be impressed. Death of an Adept keeps the standard of the Adept series has high as ever. It is a fitting end to the series of events that started in book 1. I loved it. I usually get bored with book series after awhile, but The Adept is proving to be the exception. I can't wait for the next book. Here's hoping that The Adept series continues to hit new heights.

Rating:
Summary: Very good continuation of the Adept series.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It tied up some loose ends from previous books and contains enough information to fill in the blanks for those with no prior experience with the Adept series. I didn't want to put it down until I was finished!

Rating:
Summary: I wish I could rate it higher ...
Review: I was delighted when I saw a new book in the Adept series was out. I am one of the people who's hoped since the second book that Adam and Ximena would eventually marry. The relationship between the two of them is beautifully drawn.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't hold up. The mystic elements have gone from original and intriguing to repetitive and boring. If you've read the previous books, you can predict what mystic events will occur in this one.

I really wish I could give this book a higher rating. The series started out with so much potential. Hopefully, if further books in the Adept series come out, the authors will be able to break this tired formula.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Adept Series
Review: In Death of an Adept, Kurtz and Harris take the Adept Series to new heights. In my opinion, it's the best of the series. Loose ends from previous books are tied up, with a new wrinkle that will probably confront the Hunting Lodge in the future. A must read

Rating:
Summary: An fine successor to Dion Fortune's "Dr. Taverner" stories
Review: In every one of Ms. Kurtz's "Adept" books, there comes a moment of such overwhelming mythic beauty that I get watery-eyed, or cry. "The Death of An Adept" is no exception, and for me, it is when the young psychic artist Peregrine finally gains his wings as a magical adept in his own right. Every book in this series is a fine successor to the occult fiction of Dion Fortune, combining hermetic principles effectively with skillful and dramatic storytelling and a high moral sense. Here, as previously, we see that evil is its own punishment, and that a good heart, and one annealed by self-discipline and fine training, can overcome many (supernatural) obstacles.

Rating:
Summary: An fine successor to Dion Fortune's "Dr. Taverner" stories
Review: In every one of Ms. Kurtz's "Adept" books, there comes a moment of such overwhelming mythic beauty that I get watery-eyed, or cry. "The Death of An Adept" is no exception, and for me, it is when the young psychic artist Peregrine finally gains his wings as a magical adept in his own right. Every book in this series is a fine successor to the occult fiction of Dion Fortune, combining hermetic principles effectively with skillful and dramatic storytelling and a high moral sense. Here, as previously, we see that evil is its own punishment, and that a good heart, and one annealed by self-discipline and fine training, can overcome many (supernatural) obstacles.

Rating:
Summary: Addictive fluff
Review: The "Adept" series by Kurtz and Harris combines all the worst features of formula romance novels, Extruded Fantasy Product, and pseudohistorical conspiracy theories. The prose is tepid, the dialogue stilted, and the characters one-dimensional (at best). Plot complications are carefully piled up, only to be resolved miraculously at the last moment by a wave of the hand.

So why do I keep reading them, and checking to see if a new one is out? The same reason I eat Twinkies, I suppose -- they may be content-free fluff, but they're *definitive* content-free fluff. Sometimes it's fun to turn the brain off.

If you like romance novels, ritual magic, secret societies, and the city of Edinburgh, you might very well enjoy these books a lot. If you require plot, characterization, command of the language, or important themes from your reading, don't bother.

Rating:
Summary: Addictive fluff
Review: The "Adept" series by Kurtz and Harris combines all the worst features of formula romance novels, Extruded Fantasy Product, and pseudohistorical conspiracy theories. The prose is tepid, the dialogue stilted, and the characters one-dimensional (at best). Plot complications are carefully piled up, only to be resolved miraculously at the last moment by a wave of the hand.

So why do I keep reading them, and checking to see if a new one is out? The same reason I eat Twinkies, I suppose -- they may be content-free fluff, but they're *definitive* content-free fluff. Sometimes it's fun to turn the brain off.

If you like romance novels, ritual magic, secret societies, and the city of Edinburgh, you might very well enjoy these books a lot. If you require plot, characterization, command of the language, or important themes from your reading, don't bother.

Rating:
Summary: Addictive fluff
Review: The "Adept" series by Kurtz and Harris combines all the worst features of formula romance novels, Extruded Fantasy Product, and pseudohistorical conspiracy theories. The prose is tepid, the dialogue stilted, and the characters one-dimensional (at best). Plot complications are carefully piled up, only to be resolved miraculously at the last moment by a wave of the hand.

So why do I keep reading them, and checking to see if a new one is out? The same reason I eat Twinkies, I suppose -- they may be content-free fluff, but they're *definitive* content-free fluff. Sometimes it's fun to turn the brain off.

If you like romance novels, ritual magic, secret societies, and the city of Edinburgh, you might very well enjoy these books a lot. If you require plot, characterization, command of the language, or important themes from your reading, don't bother.