A Time of Exile

Rating:
Summary: Not All Smoke and Mirrors
Review: Although I've read all of the Deverry series books that were published, this was the first in the series I ever read.

I was raised on C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and later discovered for myself Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I still remember the evening seven years ago when I opened A Time of Exile and read the prologue about the dwarven smith. I knew from the style and the tone that this was a work of some scope and that I had to decide then and there to follow the series or give this book away and forget the whole thing.

I've followed the series through and have not been disappointed. No other modern author of fantasy has had the ability to hold my attention for so long. There is a feeling of authenticity in every concept that is brought to our attention. We feel, truly, the joy and anguish of the main characters. We chortle madly with Rhodry when the berserk rage takes hold of him, and feel Lilli's despair and guilt about Maryn. And yes, we share the tedium of long sea voyages. Other authors have been flayed for less.

I am, admittedly, a very slow reader. I linger over passages and often have to put a book down to let what has transpired in the past few pages sink in. An average paperback novel will take me a few months to finish; it took me about three weeks to finish The Black Wyvern.

One can recognize that certain passages in the Deverry series are borrowed from pop culture; a scene from the movie Lawnmower Man and the Battle of Agincourt to name two. But where others might be accused of plagiarism, Ms. Kerr manages to pull it off and weaves them elegantly into her tapestry and keep us waiting hungrily for more.

Rating:
Summary: This is incredible!
Review: I confess that unlike other reviewers, this is my introduction to the Deverry series. That makes no difference--I'm hooked now!

Kerr's writing style is impressive--I love the shifts of time and focus she uses. I found her characters were well-crafted and her storyline well thought-out. And I liked the fact that she doesn't rely on the usual chapter-style divisions in her work, a method which often becomes tedious after awhile.

I'm all for reading the rest of the series now--just let me at it!

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Celtic Fantasy Story
Review: I've loved every book I've read of Katherine Kerr in her Deverry series, and this one is no exception. It focuses on new characters and new story lines rather than dragging out the stories from earlier books (which she kindly resolved in a few books). If you like celtic-based fantasy, then you should be reading Kerr!

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Celtic Fantasy Story
Review: I've loved every book I've read of Katherine Kerr in her Deverry series, and this one is no exception. It focuses on new characters and new story lines rather than dragging out the stories from earlier books (which she kindly resolved in a few books). If you like celtic-based fantasy, then you should be reading Kerr!

Rating:
Summary: One part of an excllent series, a great read!
Review: Katherine Kerr is tops for this style of writing. Her world is a rich reality of action and magic that comes alive in her writing. Her style and plot devices are excellent and there is a wonderful attention to detail that makes the books easy to get addicted to. A great read, perfect for vacations or long dark nights

Rating:
Summary: Simply The Best (6 STARS)
Review: Once you start you will never stop hungering for more of Katharine Kerr' books. I have been hooked ever since I read Daggerspell and now I am making a collection of the whole series. This is excellent reading. Please KK give us all some more, lots more.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - a must for fantasy readers!
Review: This book, and the rest of the series kept me in a daze whilst I read them, for some time. I read this book first, but in fact there are four books that come before this one, and they are all very very good, well worth reading and very readable. It's the sort of series where you finish one book aand rush onto the next - they take you so deeply into the lives of the charaters - I loved it, didn't want to finish reading it, and WANT MORE PLEASE, KATHERINE KERR! (How about a last one to finish - suggested title: A Time Of Peace (Days of peace and plenty) to follow A Time Of War? This got a ten for keeping me involved, entertained and enthralled, in fact I've read the whole series (now 9 books) twice... I can't believe it's out of print at Amazon books, we can still get it in Britain with no problems

Rating:
Summary: Rhodry Maelwaedd's first death & the silver dagger's return
Review: This volume is the first of the Westlands group, but Kerr's nonlinear braided storytelling style loops back and forth in time to resolve mysteries left open from volumes 1 (Daggerspell) and 3 (The Bristling Wood).

Rhodry, being not only half-elven but lucky enough to have lived through his battles, has reached an age where his long-lived elven heritage is beginning to show: he's still in his prime, and people are beginning to talk. Jill, now a dweomermaster in her own right, confronts him with the need to fake his own death and leave Deverry, rather than have the truth about his right to Aberwyn (or rather, lack thereof) come out. (Nevyn, having fulfilled his ancient vow, finally passed on to his next life.) The best place for Rhodry to go is to his father's people out on the grasslands, leading to Kerr's first detailed treatment of the Elcyon Lacar, known as 'elves', and fulfilling the prophecy that he would die twice.

Apart from the 'present', with Rhodry, the main thread follows Aderyn. Naturally enough, when the elven kingdoms of the far west and south were destroyed by the Hordes, driving the elves out into the grasslands, they lost nearly everything, including much of their knowledge of dweomer. Aderyn, as a human apprentice passing his final dweomer test, was given a destiny to travel west and 'make restitution'. (This picks up a thread from _The Bristling Wood_).

We finally see the beginnings of things: how Aderyn's son, Loddlaen, began to go wrong, leading much later to the events in _Daggerspell_ (and even how the ruined fortress out on the edge of the grasslands came to be there). We meet the Guardians for the first time, one of whom first got the dwarven silver ring from Rhodry's then-current incarnation, only to give it back a few generations later when it was needed.

Nevyn really wasn't lying about 'a trace of elven blood in the Maelwaedds'; upon his first return to Deverry from Bardek after Maryn's death, he travels to Cannobaen, the Maelwaedds' home, to begin creating what will later be the Great Stone of the West. (For the stone's fate, see Darkspell; for where Nevyn got the idea, follow the thread of the Time of Troubles, which begins in _The Bristling Wood_).

We also see how matters were finally resolved between Maddyn and Bellyra: not in those incarnations during the Time of Troubles, but after their rebirths and next meeting in Cannobaen. As for Rhodry's current incarnation, now that he's out on the grasslands, some incidents from past lives are beginning to crop up, and Aderyn fears he may think to ask the question nobody should ask about death unless they're ready to face the dweomer...

Rating:
Summary: Simply The Best (6 STARS)
Review: While I had some reservations regarding the first two books in the series, now that I have read the fifth, any hesitancy I may have had in recommending this series has been dispelled. I can think of only five works that excell or are its equal: The obvious "Lord of the Rings," "The Mists of Avalon," "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," the ongoing "Wheel of Time," and the current "A Song of Ice and Fire." And, lover's of "The Mists of Avalon" should particularly like this work, as it continues a celtic realm in a somewhat similar vein. You will need to start with the first book, despite its flaws, or you'll find yourself somewhat lost, as was an earlier reviewer, but I believe you'll discover yourself quickly entranced by the world of the Westlands, and find Kerr's realms intriguing and originally rendered. I find her treatment of the Wildfolk particularly engaging.

Rating:
Summary: The Westland Series Is A Must For Any Serious Fantasy Fan
Review: While I had some reservations regarding the first two books in the series, now that I have read the fifth, any hesitancy I may have had in recommending this series has been dispelled. I can think of only five works that excell or are its equal: The obvious "Lord of the Rings," "The Mists of Avalon," "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," the ongoing "Wheel of Time," and the current "A Song of Ice and Fire." And, lover's of "The Mists of Avalon" should particularly like this work, as it continues a celtic realm in a somewhat similar vein. You will need to start with the first book, despite its flaws, or you'll find yourself somewhat lost, as was an earlier reviewer, but I believe you'll discover yourself quickly entranced by the world of the Westlands, and find Kerr's realms intriguing and originally rendered. I find her treatment of the Wildfolk particularly engaging.