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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18 Responses to Katherine Kerr finishes Deverry series
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Maybe I’m a fossil. But I want to start reading Daggerspell in February 2010.
Nothing wrong with that!
I reckon you have a looong read ahead of you if you keep going into the rest of the series ;) But then most fantasy fans would say that’s good thing!
Thanks for the kind words. I hope I will like it. I tried the Wheel of Time but I failed. But I love George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Tad Williams,…..
Next month I try The Curse of the Mistwraiths by Janny Wurts.
best set of books EVER
I’ve read every book of the Deverry serial and i loved it,but now i must wait for the last chapter until it is translated into Dutch and i ca’nt wait,sorry for my bad englisch,i live in Belgium,greetings from marleen
I have been reading these books over the last 20 years. I have found them to be fantastic, fun and sheer escapism. Kerr has managed to make the characters so personable that you never get tired of the rencarnations. Sorry to see that they have come to an end but what a trip. Two books left to dive into, going to relish these then its back to Daggerspell and all over again.
I love these books. I’m re-reading the entire series now. I’m wondering if anyone else felt that the end seemed kind of rushed though? I know Kerr intended to end the series in 12 books but it seems like she kept going off on tangents that prolonged the series. By the time she got to writing the last book I felt like she tried to force it to a close instead of letting it play out for the simple fact that she didn’t want to have to write another one. Anyone else feel that way?
i know what you mean about it seeing to be rushed. silver mage wasnt up to the excellence that the others in the series were. i loved them all so much that i was quite dissapointed.
I loved these books and before I read the Silver Mage I re-read all the others all over again. Now that I am at the end of them it is like daying good bye to an old and favorite friend. I am sad they are over.
I was given the Red Wyvern as a gift, couldn’t put it down, then proceded to read the next 2 before realizing there were 8 others in the deverry series before these ones. Since then I have started from the beginning, what a fantastic series. Now i’m almost finished the Gold Falcon and am happy to know there are still a few more books to go. I will be dissapointed when the series ends.
Anyone who starts reading Daggerspell stick with it, you will get hooked!
I started with Daggerspell from my local library in 1989 and have kept up with it ever since.
I found that those who enjoy the series did so because they were able to navigate the language, geography, history and the reincarnation twists and turns of the characters’ life stories. To those I say congratulations for letting your imagination take off and play out such a wonderful piece of work from K. Kerr.
I am sad to see the characters go. And so, I can hope that mayhap Ms. Kerr will either pick up the pen again or pass the torch to another in order to continue the telling of such a celtic knotwork that is the many lives of characters we have grown very fond of indeed!
Can’t understand how I missed these before now (being an avid fantasy reader since the 70s) but I was given the first three last month and have just finished the seventh and today ordered the rest. Still it’s nice to have the complete epic series available all at once, I followed the Dark Tower for years and waiting for the next one was agonising lol. Love them, thanks Katherine.
I’ve never gotten into them — is it worth it? What authors would you compare Kerr’s writing to?
She is by far my favorite author. The novels of Deverry contain all the dynamics of real life relationships, expressed through her magic infused writing style. If you want epic battles, you’ve got it. If you want love stories complete with betrayals, you’ve got it. If your interested in being completely immersed in a world that is vibrant in detail, and expressed in a completely cohesive fashion, staying true to itself, you will not be disappointed. I’m not a strong writer. She is. Please don’t let my words sell it short. Do yourself a favor and pick up Daggerspell. You will not be disappointed.
I have loved these books for so long and during the great silence I thought I would never get to read another one. Why did she stop writing. Thank goodness the last one is here, it has taken so long I felt that maybe I would go toes up before it came out. Can’t wait so am reading all the books again to get me ready for the Silver Mage.
I´ve waited for the story to continue after The Gold falcon, there was a very long wait since I´ve just recently just realised that there will not be translated to Swedish.Of which I disappove very much, and why would the publisher break up a series of books like that ? Puzzles me indeed. Isn´t the genre good enough, is that it ? Anyway, I´m now (finally !) reading no 14, The Silver Wyrm. I do not understand all the English words,and some of the genre fantasy and would have preferred them in my native language. The bottom line is; I can´t recommend anyone reading them having to state “Yes, there are 15 books all in all, but the last three are just available in English” Still, I do love Salamander !! My favorite guy <3 <3 <3 Love to you all readers of the Deverry series. Will go there right now ! Bye/ Malena
the silver mage CANT be the last one. There has to be more. It cant end like that. im not happy. why did the dwarves hate the elves. what happened to hwilli? How did they they create hean marn? what was nevyn doing in bardek for 60 years? what hapened with galrionos? the questions are endless. what finally happened with the horse kin? There has to be one more book to answer al these questions. the silver mage just left too many to ignore.
Dallandra, let´s hope for the best ! I´m still to reed The Silver mage,and my guess is that Rhodry will be back to his orginial self, for one thing. But by your comment I understand that there´s a lot more question arising in the final (as far as we know) book. Isn´t that also a very common way to close a story these days, by saying sort of – “well we don´t know aboat the rest”-like and leaving some questions unanswered ? In the classical stories everything was unwinded, and they all ended ” And they lived happily ever after”. I dare not say until I´ve read the last one. I´ll get back then. I´ve searched for comments and such by Katharine herself, but her website (deverry.com) isn´t active it seems. Anyone who knows another website that´s recommenable ? Bye/Malena