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Summary: One of Ms. Kurtz's best works, alone or in collaboration
Review: One characteristic of Katherine Kurtz's writing that sets her apart from her contemporaries is her attention to detail without bogging the reader down in unnecessary prose. At her best, as she is here with her co-author Deborah Turner Harris, she involves her audience to the point that they feel they are watching the action of the story through a looking-glass, close enough to touch, care, and long to join her protagonists in their ongoing struggles and joys.
Not since _The King's Justice_ has she succeeded so admirably. _The Lodge of the Lynx_ brims with her love of architecture, geographical accuracy, and historical overview, from its descriptions of the Scottish highlands and motorway system to the marvelous rooms of Sir Adam Sinclair's estate at Strathmourne. The remarkable thing is that all this is done without sacrificing plot or pacing. Sinclair and his two companions, Chief Inspector Noel McLeod and the artist Peregrine Lovat, are arguably her most interesting and diverse trio, ranking with, and perhaps paralleling, Kelson Haldane, Alaric Morgan, and Duncan McLain. Their battle, similar to the three Deryni attempting to stop the genocidal machinations of Edmund Loris et al., is to locate, identify, and halt the forces of evil (the Lodge of the Lynx) intent on bringing destruction to a select group of individuals, namely Masonic brethren, for the benefit of their satanic cause. As we learn more of the fascinating resources and personalities Sinclair and company possess, we are inexorably drawn into their "reality", with sharp intake of breath at every new twist and danger. At the last, we cannot do anything else but cheer for them, and their creators, as they bask, hungry and tired, in the satisfaction of a job well done.
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Summary: Kept me up all night
Review: I absolutely loved this book and the series overall. The friendship that develops between Adam and Peregrine is wonderful without being over the top. I particular enjoyed the lack of pages worth of details. I don't care about the color of the leaves, etc. I myuch prefer the dialog between the characters and this series fit that requirement for me.
While there is some mention of girlfriends and wives I was glad that I was subjected to ongoing drama from the usual emotional female. Likewise it was great not to have to deal with an unrealistic, half dressed, woman on horseback weilding a sword that weighs more than her. The main characters through the 4th book are men and we don't get subjected to female hysteria until the 5th book.
A wonderful modern day story about adepts that takes you all over Scotland with a group of handsome, courageous gentlemen who happen to wealthy as well.
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Summary: Emasculate heros, no heroines, tentative use of magic
Review: I don't usually care if protagonists are male, female, or androgynous, but, these characters are so obviously men as written by women they read more like a harlequin romance than a sf-mystery. ( Unlike rice's vampire chronicles there is no sexuality to these characters outside of a surface victorian feel of "gentlemen" and "ladies") Another oversight is the lack of supporting cast, one main character is introduced in book one, and by book 5 still has not met the "entire" "fellowship" he has joined. As far as I can see only two people in the "lodge" have proactive abilities, the rest are drones whose abilities only serve the "master of the hunt" (noel mcleod included). As for the magic, they (the writers) are afraid to use it. Most of the "arcane" practices are relegated to hypnotic trances and past life regression. Unlike Kurtz's Derynii, the boundaries and potential for the use of magic are inconsistent and ill defined. I've read the entire series and it is a nice change from an exclusive diet of dungeons and dragons. But if you're a fantasy buff, read the Derynii series for Kurtz at her best.
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Summary: Love this book and the series is a must read.
Review: I find the writing to be wonderful. The historical details, imagery and incorporation of magic into a modern setting are all too rare in sci-fi, occult and fantasy literature. Although the characters are not fully developed as individuals and their interrelationships are not fully explored the excitement and potential for these stories to reflect "authentic" modern occultism more than compensates for these defficiencies. I expect very few books to hold up to the standards of great literature... ie Tolkein, Hardy, Dickens, Doestoevsky etc. and these books are certainly not timeless classics. However, these books are quite pleasant reading for an educated audience and a far cry better than the common pasteboard series.
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Summary: Simply the best
Review: I have just recently finished the series and am fascinated with it still...I am deeply interested in the meta physical studies and this series by kuntz has realy opened my eyes to the possibilities. Though i agree in that some of the characters are a bit shallow... and the conversation is a bit proper and gay a little too much. It was a fascinating series and i hope to read more of kuntz's books. Also i hope she would write a book or two on Sir Adrian Sinclair and Hunting lodge's past, as i never fully understood it...
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Summary: Great occult mystery
Review: I love occult fiction and a friend recommended the Adept series to me because he knew I liked Dion Fortune's fiction. Unlike Fortune's fiction, this novel won't gift you with verses for your rituals, but it certainly captures the feeling of the astral realms and the battle of good versus evil. Okay, so the hero is wealthy and lives a life of luxury we can only imagine, but, hey, this is a fantasy, no? And what better to fantasize than the genteel life of a British gentleman? Even if one is female (like me), one can still fantasize about such privilege. A very good read.
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Summary: Mills and Boons fantasy without the romance
Review: With the first book in this series I was hoping to get another great read out of Kurtz. I was however sadly disapointed. The first book had a great premis and the plot could have really gone places. I forgave the writing hoping for an improvement in the second. My hopes were misplaced. I know more about Sir Adams crisp suits, handsomely graying temples and gold fob watch than any reader has a right to know. All of the charaters seem to come out of a Mills and Boons. Everyone of the charaters are glamourous and shallow, pale card-board cut-outs of real people, with a varnish which trys to pass itself off as deep and complex. I relise that I'm probably looking in the wrong genre for complex charaters but, I'm a devoted fantasy fan having read all of the greats and not so greats (Tolkien, Eddings, Feist, Jordan...etc.) Never in all my years of reading have I come across such trite (I average about 300 books a year..so I've read alot!!!!!!). I hoped that future books in the series would get better, a very faint hope I assure you, but I'm desperate (What else am I supposed to do while waiting for Path of Daggers I can only read the WoT a certain number of times and I feel that ten [in one year]is my limit). It just goes to show how nice I'm feeling and how utterly drear my life is that I've finished the series thus far and gave it a great big one star......Next time I might not feel so nice.
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