The Chronicles of the Deryni: Deryni Rising / Deryni Checkmate / High Deryni

The Chronicles of the Deryni #1-3

by Katherine Kurtz

3 Volume Box Set

Genres: Fantasy

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Katherine Kurtz is an American fantasy novel writer. She is best known for her Deryni series. She currently lives in Virginia.

Reviews

[Richelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was sadly disappointed with this series. I read all of the first book and part of the second, but was so disappointed. While I was reading I was reminded of C.S. Lewis' advice about adjectives:

"Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description."

I'd like the author to use this concept for character building. Don't tell us that this character loves that character, is this kind of person, or is a good or bad person. Let their actions and thoughts show me that.

I would have liked to see more depth to the world, as well. I was a little confused by the appearance of what seems to be the Catholic church, complete with references to Biblical characters, and the same hierarchical offices--yet as far as I know the story does not take place on Earth present, past, or future. There didn't seem to be much in the way of culture building, either. There are supposed to be at least two separate cultures or groups of people: the Deryni and the humans. And although the Deryni are rather suppressed at this time, there isn't much said about their cultural influences- art, clothing, or beliefs (since they apparently are not naturally part of the church mentioned before). No ruins of their old buildings. Their history is discussed, but only in relation to the current antagonism between the two groups. The world didn't seem very real.

All stories, are in some way a mystery. How will the King win? Who attacked the space outpost? What is the heroine's secret? The reader is drawn into the story by the need to solve the mystery. They will keep reading, not able to put the book down if the author will strew throughout the story clues to the mystery. Arbitrarily picking a solution to the mystery, without any leading into it, spoils the story and frustrates the reader. This happened in the solution of the riddle in this story, which was solved by a place/object we had never been introduced to, or if we had, it was a minor mention. What a let down.

I know this was the first trilogy in a long line of books. Maybe the author improved. But I was so disappointed because this series was supposed to be a classic. I see little reason why.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am slowly (very slowly) reading my way through the shortlist of the Mythopoeic awards, which goes back to the 1970s. All three books in this trilogy made it onto the shortlist of their year but none of them won. It was a bit of a slog, to be honest, although in all fairness the jump in quality after the first - dreadful - volume was significant. Epic fantasy can be a hard sell for me sometimes, and certainly that's a factor here, but more relevant, I think, was the lack of convincing women characters. Hell, there's barely any women here at all, and those who do make it onto the page are barely sketched out supporting roles. Kurtz is clearly capable of a more fleshed-out characterisation when it comes to her male characters, but if I'm going to wade through a thousand odd pages of epic fantasy I want more women to keep my interest. Actual women, not the cut-outs here.

[Gere Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not entirely impressed with the writing, however, I did enjoy the story. The fictional Kingdom of Gwynedd seems to parallel medieval England, Scotland, and Wales. As a matter of fact, the name "Gwynedd" is a nod to a kingdom in Wales from the 5th century. The church in this series is clearly a play on Catholicism. The Deryni themselves seem to be a mixture of all the magical beings in the myths and legends of the British Isles. The history buff in me enjoyed the parallels very much. I did feel that the author stressed things to the point of obviousness. At times I felt like I was being beat over the head while the author screamed "YOU DON'T LIKE THIS PERSON!!! HE IS MEAN!!!" I understand what she was going for and while it worked, it was more than was necessary.

[Fiona Warburton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read these books as a teenager, and absolutely loved them.
On re-reading them as an adult, I find the writing a bit labourious at times and there are too many superfluous characters to confuse the storyline (plus characters being called more than one name!). Not as bad as the Game of Thrones series for this though!
That said, I still love them, the main characters fascinate me, especially Kelson, Alaric Morgan and Duncan.
I wish she would write more.

[Magda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does have a positive spiritual aspect to it (or at least not negative), which was refreshing in this genre. I am glad I was able to get the compilation from inter-library loan, though, because the endings of at least the first two books were much less than satisfactory. I'm looking forward to hunting down further compilations.

[Jack Teague]

fantasy