The Dragon Revenant: aka Dragonspell, the Southern Sea
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The Dragon Revenant (or Dragonspell, whichever edition you own) is the fourth in the Deverry Series, where Rhodry, the last heir to the vast estates of his clan, is in the hands of the Bardekian Hawks and the dark dweomer: Jill and Salamander, his lover and his brother, set out to rescue him from slavery.
This book does not show the time-interlacing typical of Katharine Kerr: it remains firmly in the present, following Jill and Salamander's hunt for Rhodry across Bardek, Rhodry's life as a slave, and Nevyn's efforts to save the kingdom and bring Jill to her destiny of studying the dweomer. However, if he manages this, is is predicted that he will finally die, and Nevyn's greatest fear is that he may not live long enough to complete his self-imposed task of killing the leader of the dark dweomer, the Old One.
This is a good wind-up to the Deverry series, although some of the storyline based around Rhodry is a little slow. Kerr classicists will also miss her typical time-changing habit, although the introduction of Salamander gives the book a nice new character to focus on.
For new readers, this is perhaps not the best book to start with, but for established Kerr fans, especially those who have read and enjoyed the rest of the Deverry series, I recommend it highly. It fills in some much-needed links to Jill's history and Rhodry's, which come in very useful in the Westlands Cycle series.
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Not terrible, but Kerr can do way better...
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Fans of Deverry might want to give me a beating here, but in my opinion- Kerr is definitely capable of better stuff. Until I got to this book, everything she put out amazed me. I even gave Bristling Wood 5 stars. Through out Dragon Revenant there were some traces of the Katherine Kerr I know and love- especially in the beginning and the end, but the middle (the entire portion that involved Rhodry as a slave) bored me and dragged out for way too long. I kept waiting for Kerr to erupt into one of her trademark flashback sequences- but was left hanging. I respect the possibility that maybe she was bored of doing this, but I still want to know how the Silver Dagger group's origin story turns out- a tale left unfinished from the middle of the last book. I have a confession to make... Halfway through, I quite frankly gave up on this book and went on to read twelve other books. But for the first time in my life I resumed reading a book I had given up on- This was solely because of how much I enjoyed her first three books, and my hope that the next few would be up to her usual par. A few things did impress me here though. Salamander- a very interesting character is fleshed out for the first time. Kerr's dialogue and Deverry's culture give her works a wonderful feel. I would have enjoyed a grander resolution between Rhodry and his brother/enemy Rhys, but the ending made the book worth while with several surprises and a very neat closure to the whole series. Or was this just a bridge? On to Omens and Exile for the answers I go. And I can't wait to get to Dragon Mage since I previewed the first chapter- looks exciting!
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A good all around fantasy
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I read this book over the summer and enjoyed it very much. The three main characters; Jill, Rhodry, and the wizard, are very well developed. I was moved to the point of being disgusted with Rhodry's self centeredness and self absorbed behavior typical of a spoiled monarch's son. He is the only survivor of his older siblings and becomes only heir to the throne, but there is a plot afoot to get rid of him and start a war that will devistate the people of Deverry. Then there is the wizard who is responsible for the deaths of Rhodry and Jill in their previous lives and wants to correct it. Reincarnation and other beliefs are expressed in this book and make it more interesting. Half of the book describes Rhodry's exile and captivity arranged by his captors until Jill and the wizard come to rescue him and the book then goes into describing their escape. It is slow moving at times, but has a very good ending. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy.
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Great continuation of the series!
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Overseas readers who don't want to own two copies should know this book also appears under the title 'Dragonspell: The Southern Seas', Volume IV in the Deverry Series from HarperCollins Publishers.
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