Rating: 
Summary: The Tragedy
Review: Katharine Kerr is an exceptional author in the field of fantasy. Her characters are realized in a way no other fantasy characters I can name are. The story of Rhodry is a true tragedy and the story of his descent into what can only be called madness is a chilling one. The civil war is brought to a close, and an effective close it is. It is sad, but it is also strangely satisfying. No sweet fantasy-ending in sight.
Rating: 
Summary: A good Read About Nothing at All
Review: Kerr's Books are the Seinfeld of fantasy series: what happens in the ENTIRE series of books can be detailed in a paragraph or two. IN other words, almost NOTHING really happens. As you read each novel after another, you begin to suspect that the author doesn't really have a grand story to tell, that the entire jumping from one timeline to another is simply a device to describe the identical story each time with minor variations here and there.Ironically though, it doesn't matter. Kerr has a such a superior writing style (esp. in the 3rd book onward) that the same boring story (a siege here and there, a new King disguised here and there, a foaming berserker here and there, Nevyn looking strong despite his burlap face here and there and EVERYWHERE, a main character getting killed with sudden regularity, the VERY bizarre appearance of a dragon, and finally the entire Guardian thread which appears to be pasted to the books rather than integrated) will keep you riveted to your seat, no minor achievement. I read the series straight through and attempted numerous times to pick up something else. I couldn't do it. After reading Kerr's fluid prose, I couldn't handle anything else. You can only dream of how good she'd be if an original story was to be had.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OUT THERE!
Review: O.k. I will admitt I am a book worm I mean I read the whole series in 2 weeks but I loved it so much. This book was awsome it had so many twist and turns and it did have a great story even if some don't agree. Katherine makes you know the person her characterization is so good. Every person I can feel what they are feeling even if it takes a while to get to know some of them. In this book I found that She kept on doing it. I was not shure of the dragon in the beginning but it ended that I do like her but then that surprise came that was hinted in the begginning. You will have to read and see how many surprises show up. I say read this book NOW!!
Rating:
Summary: Return of the Old Flare
Review: This book brings back the spark of the first few books of the Deverry series. It includes the conclusion for Prince Maryn's way to the throne as well as some excitement in the present. The Maryn story has an extremely depressing end, yet not all endings can be happy. This was probably one of the more interesting looks into the Prince Maryn story. There is a dry period in the middle of the present story, but reading it through is rewarded with numerous surprises in the end. Loyal Deverry readers should prepare to be shocked repeatedly in the last 50 or so pages.
Rating:
Summary: To Date The Best Of The Dragon Mage Series
Review: While I have never entirely been clear as to the reasons behind separating this ongoing---to date eleven books---saga into three separate component series---Deverry, Westlands and the current Dragon Mage---as satisfying as the last two books of the latter have been, there is little question that "The Fire Dragon" elevates the story progression found in the two previous books, significantly ratcheting forward the tale's plot progression, and easily standing as one of the best books of the entire series. Many of the plot threads established in "The Red Wyvern" and "The Black Dragon" come to fruition in tragic as well as anticipatory ways, leaving one breathless for what I am told will be the concluding novel of this outstanding series that started with "Daggerspell" in 1986. And, perhaps, at no time has the author's prose seemed so sure of itself, boding for what I expect will be a stunning conclusion to the series. As I have commented in earlier reviews of other books in this series, it is a shame that this complex and rich saga has not reached the attention of more readers. It is without doubt one of the finest epics of fantasy ever written, deserving the accolades to date heaped upon George R. R. Martin and Robert Jordan, let alone the popularity accorded less rewarding work, such as Terry Goodkind or Raymond Feist. Along with Patricia McKillip, Katherine Kerr remains, in the popular mind, one of the best and most underrated and least read authors writing fantasy today, and this is unfortunate, not only for the author but particularly for all those readers who are unaware of what gems this series represents. I can only hope that at some time in the future those who love fantasy will come to recognize this classic in the making, and that these books will be republished as a set in the form of which they are deserving. To see this book released only in mass market, and after the holidays, seems a travesty when one considers the quality of the work contained. Once again, for whatever reason---I would like to suspect publisher indifference---this edition has been released without a complete list of characters, or in this case, incarnations. In a tale spanning several hundred years, with characters that shift and reappear upon the stage in various guises, it would have proven helpful to have been given a complete cast of characters. Even having read all the books, I find myself continuously having to refer back to the incomplete table of incarnations to fix the various characters and their manifold relationships in my mind, and this is compounded by the arbitrary absence of certain characters in the tables, such as here Nevyn (who, I suppose, by now we all know) and Aerynn, and the fact that the characters listed in the table for the Mid-1060's are incorrectly paired with their predecessors. In a tale as complex and chronologically complicated as this, with books separated in publication by at least a year and spanning almost two decades, it would have been helpful to provide a more complete list of characters and chronology of background events. Again, hopefully in the future, should this series be re-released, the publisher and author at that time will make the effort to provide their readers with a complete chronology and character list that a work such as this deserves. I cannot recommend this work more highly. It deserves to be read and, to my mind, remains one of the finest works of epic fantasy fiction ever written.
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