Keeping the Door

Katherine Kerr finishes Deverry series

The final volume in Katherine Kerr’s mammoth Deverry fantasy cycle will be published at the end of this month, putting the final piece on a series that has spanned four major arcs and 15 books.

“The Silver Mage is the final volume in the Celtic inspired cycle of interbraided lives, personalities and events in the alternate world of Deverry, through eras and generations of Deverry’s historical and chronological time1” publisher Voyager writes on its blog this week.

The first book in the series, Daggerspell, was first published some 23 years ago in 1986. Since that time, Kerr has published roughly one book every year, although the author had a lengthy break between the third and fourth “acts” of the books after 2000.

The book’s synopsis on the site of publisher Harper Collins Australia reads:

“Spurred on by the priestesses of the goddess Alshandra, the Horsekin hordes are massing on the northern border of Prince Dar′s holdings. Their leaders believe that the rich grasslands of the prince′s domain belong to them by divine right, no matter whom they must destroy to claim them.

But Dar has powerful allies on his side, including the dragon Arzosah, who has hated the Horsekin for hundreds of years. She will vow to take a revenge worse than anything the Horsekin and their priestesses could possibly foresee.

The prince′s most powerful ally, however, is the one the Horsekin refuse to understand: the deep magic of the dweomer, as wielded by the band of sorcerers sworn to protect him, and especially by the elven master of magic, Dallandra, the silver mage.”

Voyager has also set up a community at the LiveJournal blogging site entitled “15 Days of Deverry”, where fans are being encouraged to post their experiences about the books; for example when they first read them and so on.

Commentary
Is anyone still reading this series?

When I was young, Katherine Kerr’s books were everywhere. Even in the relatively remote Australian city of Broken Hill where I grew up, they were available from the library, and I remember being impressed by their size and the great cover art.

However, despite several attempts, I never got into them; something about the writing style put me off.

Since that time I’ve asked several other fantasy and science fiction fans about Katherine Kerr; the common response is that they know that some people do read them, but they personally don’t, for whatever reason.

The series doesn’t seem to have attracted the same fan base as the epic fantasy works of similar authors such as Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan and so on.

Yet there are definitely fans out there; on Amazon a number of enthusiastic fans have posted reviews of previous books. “If you’ve read any of the other Deverry books, you already know you want this book – and probably pretty badly!” writes one about the book preceding The Silver Mage, The Shadow Isle.” If you have not read a Deverry book, start with Daggerspell and enjoy the journey. It’s worth it.”

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2. Kevin J. Anderson finishes 2nd Terra Incognita book
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4. Vampire author Anne Rice launches angel series