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language: English
country: USA
year: 1970
form: novel
genre(s): fantasy
dates read: 20.9.22-21.9.22
well, I finished Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni Rising, the first of her Chronicles of the Deryni. I’ll say this: it was an engaging read. did I like it, though? not especially, no.
I was surprised by the extremely constrained timeline — after the first chapter, the entire novel takes place over a period of about twenty-four hours. I actually do think this was an interesting narrative choice, and I think Kurtz did a decent job with the pacing overall. the night that occupies chapters 6-11 felt…crowded, though, in a way that at times stretched my suspension of disbelief. Jehana’s intervention at the coronation was also…hm. rushed.
some of the world-building was interesting. the glimpses of history, the magic — the “poetry” of the spells (and Brion’s ritual) was horrible, but in principle I liked the model of magic that it set out in the duel with Charissa. unlike some of reviewers I actually didn’t mind the Christianity in and of itself (in fact I think it raises interesting questions, both narrative and theological). I did, however, mind the absolutely wild inconsistency of names. Kevin McLain, Gwynedd, Kelson, Alaric (!!!), Jared, Charissa — all of these apparently coexist in one polity with one single common language. if Kurtz had avoided real-world names (Kevin, Gwynedd, Alaric) I think I might have been more generous, but the choice to set the novel in the “Kingdom of Gwynedd” calibrated my linguistic expectations very particularly, and the book threw that entirely out the window. I did not like it.
I also really did not like that — for no apparent reason — the villain is attended by four “Moorish emirs” who do not speak and seem to exist only as one extra signifier that she’s scary and evil.
fundamentally, though, the biggest issue here was just the monarchism. this is a story about a fourteen-year-old prince being shepherded to his coronation in order to make sure that power (divine, temporal, and magical) is vested in the “correct” person — the true inheritor of his father’s power, someone who will be a “good king”. ultimately, he is both divinely and magically approved, so we’re supposed to understand that he is a “good king”. feudalism is good actually, as long as the feudal overlord is good. servants fade into the background (if they’re acknowledged at all) and can be freely ordered around and manhandled without a second thought, even by “good” aristocrats.
at least T.H. White had the grace to be deeply ambivalent about kingship.
I will not be reading any more of the series. but this used copy of the book was only $1.95, so no great loss.
moods: adventurous, mysterious, tense