the series as a whole
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this series is a great one, & once u'v finnished the first 4, there's another 12? to go!!! it just keeps getting better!
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Great and getting better
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Kerr is certainly getting better and better as her series goes along. The characters are gaining more depth, the plot is unfolding into a complexity I had trouble keeping up with on the first read or two. A valuable resource are the soul tables and the pronounciation guides. Anyone comparing this series to Marvel comics must be having trouble understanding the amazing amount of reseach and time gone into creating the series. It is evident in just the construction of the names! The historical accuracy and gelling into a darkages/medieval celtic world astounds me every time. I can just about smell the horses and the riders. Kerr does not gloss over the horrors of the time either, life was not pleasant then. This is something I appreciate every time I read the books.
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Childish
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This is the third in an expanding series set in a cod-Celtic world focussed on the "kingdom" of Deverry. I was impressed enough by the first to buy the whole opening quartet, and was sadly disappointed. Books 1 and 2 are advertised as re-written, and are reasonably polished. The unrevised 3rd and 4th books have a first draft quality and increasing reliant on dialog, long stretches that read like film-script, which isn't well-written and expose the poor quality of the character writing. Book 1 dealt with some adult themes, principally incest, but in book 3 the heroine Jill is just gratuitously and tastelessly sexually abused. The series's main gimmick is that the main characters are linked by destiny through reincarnation, and their "reunions" at different points in history are the notional thrust of the first four books. In the first book the stories run parallel and reflect on weach other. As the series runs on the link between eras is weaker and the switch between stories is awkward and arbitrary. In the later volumes, in an attempt to prop up the idea of an eternal battle between good and evil, the author crow-bars in opposing schools of "Light" and "Dark" magic, obvioulsy "inspired" by The Force from Star Wars. Her magicians also work and battle in an "astral plane" with extraordinary close parallels to the world of Marvel comics hero Dr Strange. In the final analysis these are teen romances, populated by lacklustre characters, adequately written but operating on the law of diminishing returns. I bought them so I had to read them. Don't be sucked in.
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Better than the first two!
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This was one of the best fantasy novels I have ever read- its funny, I almost stopped after darkspell... That one let me down. But as it turns out, I made a great decision! The only problem I had was that she dove into her best flashback sequence ever in the forging of the silver dagger group, but then she proceeded to leave us hanging.... in the middle of that story she returns to the current story which I found to be less intriging... and then she never picks up the other story. A huge disappointment! Still- a fabulous read!
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Fans of Mists of Avalon Should Not Overlook This Book
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After an uneven start in "Daggerspell," Katharine Kerr has continued to build upon and expand the characters and world of Deverry, and with "Bristling Wood," the third book of the octet, has brought her storytelling talents to full maturity. Description, while lacking the depth of a Jordan or Martin, is nonetheless detailed and vivid, characterizations diverse and singular, and the secondary characters have begun to contribute significant roles to the story, greatly enriching the tale. With this volume Kerr's series must begin to be considered as a contender among the few truly notable works of fantasy fiction, and I expectantly look forward to reading the rest of the eight to see if the story fulfills its undeniable promise. Fans of "The Mists of Avalon" would be making a mistake in ignoring celtic Deverry. (Titled "Bristling Wood" in the States)
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