King Kelson's Bride

Rating:
Summary: An Adept Queen for Gwynedd...BUT...FAR TOO MUCH ROTHANA!
Review: How I waited for this book to come! I confess I read this book today out of loyalty to a childhood hero. But, if I had read this book eight years ago when I finished The Question for Saint Camber the first time, I would have liked it much better.

I felt that the intrigue was there for the sake of the author's avoiding to go into any detail about Kelson's bride, and all loose ends were tied to all-too-nice and pretty bows at the end.

In eight years I have grown up a bit and feel much, much more could have been done for my childhood hero's bride; namely a script that is more befitting of a heroine of her integrity and status.

First, I must thank the author for churning out a long awaited book. She took a long hiatus from Kelson and has since written other books of the Deryni, i.e. one of my personal favorites, "King Javan's Year." I admit I relish in Ms. Kurtz's knowledge of Latin prayer and the well described rituals in the Deryni universe that are so related to the religious history of my Christian faith. Her talent for imagery and detail still entertains me.

...BUT... the story of Araxie, who now is a member of my Hall of Worthy Heroines, leaves much lacking, and gives too little credit to the brave little princess. Despite the title, the book isn't about her at all, but of Kelson's slow and painful-to-read transition away from his once beloved Rothana Nur Hallaj. I know that Kelson himself has great reverence for the Church and his Faith, but his unnecessarily prolonged affection for a nun left me groaning inwardly.

In my opinion Kelson acts highly out of character. He has his weaknesses of course, but he has in the past proven to be wise and strong. Here, he is depicted as if he had just lost Rothana the day before yesterday.

It mortified me to see a childhood hero reduce himself to a pile of mush. And a whiny one at that!

He only slightly redeems himself when he sees Araxie's true worth towards the end of the novel, in a blunt, slightly stupid, and all too sudden realization completed in half a page.

There is not enough evidence in the predecessors to this novel to imply that Kelson was so attatched to Araxie's predecessors. How long had he actually been in contact with either of them?

In reality, most people can get over failed relationships in a few years, or at least come to accept that things don't always go as planned. Which is why I inwardly cringed when it seemed for the most part of the novel all Kelson could do was cry "Rothana, oh my Rothana!" Sweet Jesu!

While I'm at it, let me point out that Rothana takes on a much larger role than Araxie, whom the book title salutes! She overshadows Araxie, which I thought was VERY unfair of Ms. Kurtz. Not only do we have to listen to Kelson moaning about Rothana, and Rothana's whining, we get more of Rothana than Araxie, when Araxie is the true heroine! How unfair is that!

Ms. Kurtz gives far too little credit and attention to Araxie or her character development. As much as reading Kelson's thoughts and learning more of what happens to Liam is nice, the main focus should have been with Araxie, if not partially told in Araxie's point of view.

Even after you finish the novel, you know NOTHING about how Araxie thinks and regards herself. Which leads me to feel that Araxie is merely another jewel in the king's crown, nothing but a pretty adornment in the story, but lacking the substance she deserves in the novel.

And another thing, Araxie is a GODDESS for allowing that farce between Kelson and Rothana go on in front of her. Rothana only admits this once, in a small sentence in the entire novel, but by the time you finish the story, you are inclined to feel that Araxie deserves much more praise than Rothana was willing to give.

It's terrible that Rothana and the other characters overshadow the more worthy Araxie, who is more deserving of both the spotlight and the king because Araxie is almost as saintly as Camber himself and completely unselfish, unlike Rothana. There is an impression that Rothana only used Araxie as her little puppet to fulfill a destiny she herself could not have, which is in part SELFISH, especially for a NUN.

Thank God Araxie proves herself to be more than a puppet, and a far better Queen than Rothana or Sidana could have EVER aspired to be.

Rating:
Summary: Shiny Happy People Holding Hands
Review: Perhaps Ms. Kurtz has mellowed over the last decade. After book after book (most notably "King Javan's Year") in which death upon death upon torture upon yet more death would occur, this book represents a startling move towards positivity. Marriages are based on love. Certain kingdoms that have hated each other for generations become allies. Few fear or speak against the Deryni. And for the most part, only bad people die!

While I enjoyed the book immensely, I did have the feeling that after the blood, sweat and tears Kurtz characters usually endure to effect even the most minor of changes, things were falling into place a little too easily. While I think the character of Araxie (Kelson's bride) was fleshed out fairly well, her penchant for always doing exactly the right thing in every situation hampered her character's believability.

If this book is the first of a new Kelson trilogy (I hope!) we will most likely be back to the usual death and mayhem in the next installment. In the meantime, it was nice to see good things finally happen to good people.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly disappointing
Review: Let me preface my review by saying that Ms. Kurtz's other Deryni books are amazing, worth reading again and again. I strongly recommend the Camber series in particular.

However, King Kelson's Bride lacked the rich detail, headlong pace, moral dilemmas, and compelling characterizations of her previous works.

Only Kelson and his bride feel fleshed-out as realistic characters. Other characters who were dynamic in the past trilogies - such as Morgan, Dhugal, and the villains of the novel - have been sketched in as bare props, shoved into place whenever the plot needs a boost. These sketchy characterizations show up primarily in the lack of significant conversations between the characters, conversations which in previous trilogies could be moving, exciting, hilarious - in fact, one of the primary reasons to read the novels. Likewise missing were the soul-deep magical communications between the characters.

The court and people of Torenth received equally patchy treatment. The landscape and the architecture are described in full (frankly excessive) detail, while many interesting questions are ignored. Do the Torenthi comunicate in the same style as the people of Gwynedd? Or were there subtle, or not so subtle differences, which created awkwardness and misunderstandings between Kelson and the Torenthi? Are court politics played in the same manner? Do Torenthi men and women interact together in the same manner as in Gwynedd? Do women and children have more or less rights? How do lesser nobility regard their rulers? Are the laws generally more harsh? Does their sense of morality differ shockingly? Many questions such as these could have been answered in this novel, yet the reader leaves Torenth having learned only of minutia such as the temperature, the color of the domes, and the manner in which they cross themselves. A whole new country long left mysterious in the trilogy has been visited - and largely bypassed. What a wasted opportunity!

The plot of the novel seemed to suffer from lack of consistency. New threats developed suddenly, only loosely connected with the rest of the novel, and left insufficient time for the reader to become apprehensive. The subplots involving formerly peripheral characters such as Jehanna and Meraude were charming indeed, and perhaps one of the novel's strongest points - but alas, we mainly see the conclusions of these subplots rather than the development.

The pace of the novel was oddly variable, approximating that of a limping snail when covering insignificant details, and stubbornly refusing to develop the parts most dear to readers. Kelson's long-awaited wedding was covered in the merest summary, while his wedding night - the perfect opportunity for Ms. Kurtz to tastefully expand upon the growing rapport and closeness between the two - was skipped entirely.

I can only hope Ms. Kurtz's next novel shows all the talent of which she is capable.

Rating:
Summary: I promised my husband I wouldn't read it in one night...
Review: ...but I did!

Once again Katherine Kurtz has written an engrossing page-turner of a story, although I must admit that Kelson wasn't the main attraction by the end of the story.

Since my main quibble with this series has always been that the women aren't very well-developed, I was very pleased to see Kurtz develop the characters of Meraude and Jehanna further, as well as the addition of the very clever and charming Araxie. She is finally writing women in the Kelson series who are as interesting to read about as Evaine and Rysel were in the Heirs of Saint Camber series.

I would have liked to see this expanded into a trilogy as well, as I wanted to know more about Liam's uncle and what's happened with Dhugal, Duncan, and Morgan (who were almost non-existant in this story, hence the 4 stars). I loved the side story about Meraude and Nigel's grandchildren.

Overall, it was a great read, but there are some loose ends left for another book in the future. Pretty please?

Rating:
Summary: Not the Best, But Still Very Good
Review: Katherine Kurtz might not be the best living fantasy writer, but it's hard to come up with many names to put ahead of her. Kurtz's Deryni series is so good that when a new novel is published, I buy it without hesitating. Kurtz simply writes some of the best medieval fantasy on the shelves.

Having said that, "King Kelson's Bride" was not one of her best efforts. For Kurtz, that just means it was good instead of great. The novel reads like a fairly long epilogue to the previous book "Quest For Saint Camber." In the book, Kelson and company pretty much wrap up the lingering issues from the series and bring things to a mostly happy conclusion. While we have a couple of villains, none of the bad guys approaches previous evil doers like Loris or Gorony.

The plot of the novel is two-fold. Kelson, the very decent and likable King of Gwenedd, needs to find a wife to beget heirs. This is a more difficult task than one would suspect because of the emotional and political reasons. Kelson's first two would-be brides were murdered and stolen, respectively. If the man isn't eager to try again, who can blame him? The second plot thread is Kelson's attempt to help his vassal and new friend Liam take the throne of Torenth from some scheming evil Deryni (sorcerers). No wars here, but some cunning and murder, of course.

Part of the problem is after six books, Kelson has pretty much cleared the scene of good villains. Virtually every one of note left is tolerant and decent. Even Kelson's shrewish mother seems to be easing her prejudices in her old age. It is great to see characters we have grown so attached to doing so well, but an occasional battle and a few more moments of tension might have made this a more compelling story. But then, how many times can Kelson be jilted at the alter.

If what I have written above leads you to believe this is a bad book, ignore it. This is a good book. I might even say a very good book. But if you have read any of the previous novels, you already knew that.

Rating:
Summary: I would have liked a little more about the marriage
Review: All in all, this is a nice addition to the series and it wraps up some of the loose ends from the last Kelson book. However, for a book about "King Kelson's Bride," there is VERY little about the bride. Araxie, Kelson's cousin, shows up a third way into the book and then disappears for a few more chapters. She's beautiful, intelligent, very sensible, etc., but I was hoping for someone who would absolutely knock Kelson's crown off and make him forget Rothana. He spends too much of the book moaning over her refusal to marry him. I'd have liked to see Araxie very involved in the action as a heroine or to hear what she was thinking. On the plus side, it was nice to see Kelson's mother, Jehana, begin to explore her Deryni talents and the subplot about Kelson's ward, Torenthi King Liam-Lajos, was well done, even if it took up Ctoo much of the novel. Kelson's uncle Nigel and aunt Meraude deal with the two grandchildren left behind by executed son Connall satisfactorily, though one would think Meraude would be a little less fond of the man who chopped off her son's head, even if she knows Connall deserved it! All in all, a good effort.

Rating:
Summary: Quite enjoyable, and it leaves you looking for more...
Review: It's unfair (a) that the book is such a quick read, (b) that the development of some new, and interesting characters, crowded out some additional, secondary character development, and (c) that parts of the ending were a bit telegraphed. Having said this, there's very little not to like about the latest Deryni installment, far less somber than the "historical" period that Ms. Kurtz previously focused on. Definitely hope that the next installment does not take nearly as long to press.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as her other stuff
Review: It felt much as though the primary characters had done nothing short of sit in a dark hole for the three years between their last appearance and now. They had not changed or grown in those years. I got very tired of mopey Kelson, when his emotions felt contrived to begin with.

Things that felt resolved in previous books were miraculously unresolved in this one. Rules about magic that have been previously declared inviolable were suddenly questionable. A lot of the intrigue felt like it was there solely for the sake of intrigue.

I did like some of the parts of this book and it has opened the world a little more for further Deryni education and informational quests. I also liked the development of Jehanna.

Rating:
Summary: A good effort, but not her best
Review: Unfortunately after such a long wait, I dont think anything could have measured up to my expectations when Kelson finally found a bride. My disappointment was much like that of The Phantom Menace, "I waited all this time for that?" There is too much going on in this book, as one reviewer said, it would have worked better as a trilogy. With the new villan brought to justice and a full fledged wedding at the end. There is alot to like in this novel, in fact any visit to the Eleven Kingdoms is welcome, but it was just a let down towards the end. I gave this a four star because there is no 3.5 or 3.75 and I feel the book deserves better than just a flat 3.0. A good effort, just not her best.

Rating:
Summary: Most welcome, yet oddly remote
Review: As a reader who was disappointed by The Quest for Saint Camber for various reasons, I was somewhat reluctant to purchase King Kelson's Bride in hardcover, but having done so, I find myself fairly glad that I did. KKB delivers with a solid plot and a thorough depiction of an alternate culture. The storyline involving Kelson's ward, Liam-Lajos, future king of Torenth, is especially strong and resolves, for the most part, a thread that has been left hanging since Kurtz's first Deryni trilogy. Torenthi culture is also explored in detail--on occasion, perhaps a little too much detail. At times, Kelson and Liam's progress through Torenth, where they have journeyed for Liam's full investiture as king in his own right, the narrative occasionally resembles a travelogue, with the necessary stops at mosques and cathedrals.Somewhat surprisingly, the other main subplot--Kelson's quest for a bride--gets rather short shrift by comparison. The proposed candidate, Araxie Haldane, is only onstage for about a third of the novel. What we *do* see of her, however, is quite promising. While Araxie does possess the conventional virtues of sweetness and gentleness, she also displays a calm strength and a sure grasp of politics that may serve her better in her new position than the "fiery" nature that is fast becoming a fantasy heroine cliche. Frankly, I was more disappointed by the conduct of Kelson, who spends an inordinate amount of time obsessing over what he cannot have--namely, marriage to his former betrothed, Rothana, who has chosen a life of service over him. The revelation that Kelson has been carrying this torch for three years since Rothana made her decision seems more than a little self-indulgent, as does Kelson's incessant moaning over having to marry for reasons of state. I found myself reminded of a passage in Patricia McKillip's fantasy, The Sorceress and the Cygnet, in which the heroine, exasperated by the demands and importunities of a former lover, accuses him of clinging too hard to his memories and selfishly closing his heart to women who might have loved him freely and whom he might have loved in return. I rather wish someone had spoken so to Kelson about 100 pages before he finally experienced his epiphany about his future bride. Araxie, however, does show some spirit when she reminds Kelson that she, no less than he, is possibly denying herself experience of a grand passion by agreeing to marry *him*!Overall, KKB is a worthwhile read, though lacking some of the "oomph" that characterized even the earliest of Kurtz's works. Although her first Deryni trilogy was marred by the occasional roughness or awkwardness of style, there was an immediacy and urgency in the viewpoints of her main characters, especially Kelson, Morgan, and Derry. In KKB, by contrast, the viewpoint seems oddly muted and even remote, which blunts some of the emotional impact of events. We still get Kelson's point-of-view, but Morgon, along with Duncan and Dhugal, seems to have receded into the background. And Derry's perspective is never explored at all--a surprising choice given one of Kurtz's main plot twists.