Rating: 
Summary: I Found it so-so
Review: (THERE ARE SPOILERS IN HERE!) As a long-time fan of Katherine Kurtz's, I have been awaiting this trilogy for some time now. That said, I feel it wasn't up to her usual standards, and at times I found it just plain disturbing. It is the first in the Childe-Morgan trilogy, and as such, most of the book was spent in setting the stage for events and people to come later. But I have to agree with several other reviewers in that the plot was choppy at best, certain events are really not very plausible, and I never really developed attachments to any of the characters. Kurtz's grasp on the workings of the medieval church and the interactions between church and state continue to be excellent, however. And the world of the Deryni continues to be fully and beautifully realized. That said, I was really disturbed by the rape and murder of the boy Krispin MacAthan towards the end of the book. I don't consider myself a prude, by any stretch of the imagination, but it just seemed to me to be rather over the top and unnecessary. Kurtz has never shied away from violence where she felt it was needed, but (and maybe it's just me) I think there are some things that are better left alone. I do want to see where the books go from here, but I probably won't be adding this one to my collection of Deryni novels.
Rating: 
Summary: A huge disappointment
Review: After reading her other books as they have come out over the years I picked up this one.
Kurtz really let her fans down with this one....
None of the characters have the warmth or depth as they have in the other books, and Donal, Kelson's grandfather, is a disgrace to the Haldane name.
I got about 15 pages from the end and put the book down in disgust.
Rating:
Summary: Has not engaged me thus far...
Review: First, let me say that I am still working on this book. I have gotten maybe 100 pages or more into the story line. It has not really drawn me in as of yet. This is a bad sign. A good story usually hooks you in the the first 20 pages. curiosity will lead me to finish the book but so far little else. No characters stand out to me as of yet, the storyline isn't all that engaging, and the writing is ok but nothing electric. I assume this book will end up as mediocre as it has been so far. So not a bad book but certainly nothing as interesting as the original deryni series or the saint camber books( original series).
Rating:
Summary: Give it a miss!
Review: I don't know why Ms. Kurtz wrote this book---it doesn't give any new information or interesting sidelights to the Deryni series. She raises a few questions, but the answers turn out to be meaningless... For example, there is a question about Alaric Morgan's true parentage, but then it turns out that he is fathered by just the man we would've assumed anyway--his mother's husband, named Morgan, is his true father.
This book does answer the question of how Duncan and Alaric are related through their mothers, but in such a way that the informaton is almost meaningless.
If you love the series, by all means read the book. If this is your first Deryni book--read another one, because this is not representative of the series!
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment (spoilers included)
Review: I grew up devouring the Deryni and Camber books, so I eagerly awaited the beginning of this new trilogy. I am sorry to say that I was incredibly disappointed. Although this story DID feature a look at the women characters, and Ms. Kurtz DID include a formidable woman abbess, in the tradition of Hilda of Whitby or St. Hildegarde, the book consisted largely of description of Alyce de Corwyn's life and times as she came of age, with virtually no plot. We meet a plethora of new and interesting characters, many of whom get killed off. We have the appearance of a stock villainness, who appears, commits a heinous sin, and conveniently dies. Over and over, we hear of Alyce's willingness to be married off as part of her dynastic duty, yet that thread is dropped in the most improbable of ways. We get an update on how Deryni are doing at this court, a look at a Haldane King who is ruthless, and basically meet a bunch of stock characters. Unfortunately, Ms. Kurtz still seems unable to write an ambivalent hero (or a likeable villain) unless Donal and Jessamy are supposed to be so, but neither elicited strong emotional reactions one way or another. Again, beautiful and vivid world-building, an interesting look at the convent, in particular, and I enjoyed learning more about Alyce (who seems rather too perfect for my liking), but I was very disappointed in the lack of plot holding this book together.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book and good history
Review: I loved this book. It has been a while since I read the Deryni series and this was a great refresher. It was very interesting to take a peek into the earlier histories of all the characters. The book delivered exactly what it said it would, a look back. A definite must read.
Rating:
Summary: Great book and good history
Review: I loved this book. It has been a while since I read the Deryni series and this was a great refresher. It was very interesting to take a peek into the earlier histories of all the characters. The book delivered exactly what it said it would, a look back. A definite must read.
Rating:
Summary: Warning, this is historical romance, not fantasy.
Review: If your looking for the old Deryni action, the clash of arms, the onslaught of repressed mental powers, you won't find it here. This is primarily a romance novel; you know, which princess will be married to which "powerful knight, prince, etc,. at the behest of the King. What little action there is, is given short shrift. You really have to go back to the early novels of the Deryni to get much action (The Chronciles of the Dernyi, Volumes 1-4.) Most of the more recent novels of the Deryni are actually romantic novels in disguise.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing entry into the canon - spoilers
Review: The book is that it is emotionally dead; characters barely react to events at all, and none of the characters are fleshed out enough that it matters what happens to them. Most notable for the first is Alyce's total non-response to Donal's attempted physical and psychic rape (and the non-response of all the other characters who are aware of it), and for the second the way the murder of a small boy falls completely flat. The book starts a variety of potentially interesting plots and drops them, never to be seen again. Plot events are largely predictable, and one major plot event is a poorly-done rehash of Kevin and Bronwyn from the first book; it comes out of nowhere, goes nowhere, and is never mentioned again, occuring solely to kill off a character in a rather bizarre and improbable fashion. And the romance between Alyce and Kenneth Morgan is rather peculiar and unbelievable itself. What's missing, here, is a sense that Kurtz really cares about the Deryni universe any longer or that she really wanted to write this book.
Rating:
Summary: "In The King's Service" Lacks Likeable Characters, Plot
Review: The first novel in Katherine Kurtz's long-awaited Childe Morgan trilogy is one of the weakest entries in the Deryni series. Kurtz seems to have lost her zeal for writing about the Deryni universe, having become entangled in a bewildering array of (mostly uninteresting) side projects over the past decade. Die-hard, completist Deryni fans will have to read the book and its sequels regardless, but this is not a book that will attract new readers to the series. Kurtz practically invented the sub-genre of occult historical fantasy. Her strongest novels are characterized by meticulously detailed magical/religious ceremonies. In the King's Service barely reads like a Deryni novel at all. Deryni powers are talked about a great deal, but are rarely on actual display to the reader. Deryni ritual is completely absent. Alaric Morgan is almost entirely missing from the book himself, appearing on the scene only as an infant at novel's end. A young Brion appears fleetingly, but the major characters in the novel are a young Alyce De Corwyn (Alaric's mother), King Donal Haldane (the future King Brion's father), and Donal's Deryni mistress, Jessamy McCathan. Alyce is an appealing character, though long-time readers of the series will know better than to get too attached to her. Donal and Jessamy are despicable people as well as uninteresting characters. Together they commit several appalling deeds and plot one unspeakable one. Distressing things have always occurred in Kurtz's books, but in the past she could be trusted to depict them as ignoble when they were. Here, neither Kurtz nor any of her characters seem to fully realize just how inexcusable Donal's conduct truly is, which makes for a very disconcerting read. Kurtz was never a preachy moralizer, but she used to know evil when she saw it, even in a king. The Camberian Council of course must continue to disgrace the name of Camber of Culdi. This is, in general, in keeping with how things will stand at the beginning of Deryni Rising. However, it is hard to reconcile Barrett DeLaney's passive acceptance of Donal's plans with what we know of him from the other works. However decadent the rest of the Council may be, he at least would be expected to have something to say about a Deryni woman who plots to use her powers to aid the commission of a vile crime. This is, after all, exactly the sort of abuse of Deryni power that the Council was formed to prevent in the first place! The novel does not have much of a plot per se, as others have noted. It is true that many plot threads are just rehashes of episodes from other Deryni books. In addition, many details that had to be included to match what we already know of the future do not quite ring true. The forced "adoption" of Alyce's sister Vera to the human Howards is especially unconvincing. So is the casual way in which Donal breaks with long tradition to marry the Deryni Corwyn heiress (Alyce) to the human Kenneth Morgan, a mere baron himself. A number of Haldanes who will not be on the scene at the opening of Deryni Rising make their appearances here, probably indicating a bloody next few books. The virtual absence of Alaric Morgan from the first third of his trilogy was this book's most serious flaw. The next two books in the series will presumably focus much more on Alaric and Brion, which should serve to give the reader someone to root for.
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