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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Great to live in the Deryni world again! Solid story that fleshes out history from the original books.
Thus ends my tour through Gwynedd. It began decades ago, while I was a young man in college. I first discovered Camber of Culdi and I devoured everything Deryni until I caught up to where the series was. I remember long nights staying up far too late to finish a scene, chapter or book. When I got to this book, I figured it was her last (and has proven so at least these past 10 years) and because of this, I only read a single chapter on New years day from 2014 through 2024... but this year I decided to finish this book and begin the cycle again. I don't think readers unfamiliar with the world will find this book terribly exciting, but I found it a wonderful last link to bring us full circle back to Deryni Rising. Tip of the cap to you Ms Kurtz. Thank you very much!
Morgan's childhood through Kelson's birth. References some of the stories in Deryni Archives, like his fall out of the tree and "The Priesting of Arilan."
Morgan serves as page and squire to the king--running into trouble along the way because of his magic. Oliver de Nore becomes an early enemy. We see Brion and Jehanna fall in love--though she hates Morgan pretty much from the start. Morgan loses his father but also activates Brion's Haldane powers, He makes friends along the way and grows into a good ruler.
Nice way to fill in the gaps.
Morgan serves as page and squire to the king--running into trouble along the way because of his magic. Oliver de Nore becomes an early enemy. We see Brion and Jehanna fall in love--though she hates Morgan pretty much from the start. Morgan loses his father but also activates Brion's Haldane powers, He makes friends along the way and grows into a good ruler.
Nice way to fill in the gaps.
I've been a fan of the Deryni series for decades and have always liked this author. This may be her last book due to her advanced age and I really wanted to like it more. It has some interesting details in it, but nothing really happens in this book. It's not a bad book, it's just not got much going on.
Like every other review for this title, this is not the book or even the series to start with if you are thinking about Kurtz' Deryni books. I've been reading and rereading her books for about 20 years and reading this one felt like visiting an old friend. Though this title isn't her most exciting of her books it filled in parts of Aleric's life from just before he becomes a page to when Brion confirms him as a duke. I think I may need to go back and reread Kelson's stories again. Good stuff.
I enjoyed this conclusion, though I don't think it ranks among the best of Kurtz's work. I have to wonder if the author knows a lot of children, based on a few of the things she writes in this trilogy. That aside, it was fun to read the back story of my favorite character, and I think you can really begin to see the man he will become, particularly in this book.
She also continues to set up the conflict with the Church and with the Queen very well, without being heavy handed about it. The bit between the Queen and Alaric was a bit rushed I think, and she didn't give us a very good sense of the Queen at all. She was almost thrown in as a last bit of conflict, and to allow for the birth of Kelson.
I am, however, drawn to re-read those first three books, which is where my love of Kurtz, her Deryni and Alaric Anthony Morgan began.
She also continues to set up the conflict with the Church and with the Queen very well, without being heavy handed about it. The bit between the Queen and Alaric was a bit rushed I think, and she didn't give us a very good sense of the Queen at all. She was almost thrown in as a last bit of conflict, and to allow for the birth of Kelson.
I am, however, drawn to re-read those first three books, which is where my love of Kurtz, her Deryni and Alaric Anthony Morgan began.
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
I fell in love with Kurtz's world of Gwynedd, and with her magical, endangered Deryni with her first book, Deryni Rising, the beginning of the chronicles of King Kelson's reign, published in 1970, and have followed her writing ever since, waiting patiently for each new volume in the Deryni series. And it has been such a long wait for this, The King's Deryni, the last volume of Kurtz' Childe Morgan trilogy - eight years, in fact. With this volume, Alaric Morgan, the half-Deryni Duke and loyal servant of the Kings of Gwynedd finally comes into his own, and Kurtz' work comes full circle. This concluding volunr to the Childe Morgan trilogy has brought the story almost back to where it started, with Alaric and all the key characters of Kelson's reign in place and Kelson's birth one of the last events of the novel.
While I truly enjoyed The King's Deryni because it brought me back to a beloved world, I must acknowledge that it may not suit everyone's taste. While there are definitely some dramatic moments and key events, highs and lows, it is a slow-moving book, full of everyday details and family life. Kurtz devotes considerable time to the minutiae of Alaric's progress as a page and then a squire, to his training both for knighthood and for his coming adult responsibilities as Duke of Corwyn and Earl of Lendour. We see him in the midst of his family - father, aunts, uncle, sisters and half-sisters, cousins, the most important if all being the young Duncan - and we meet both the friends and enemies of his youth. We follow him on travels around Gwynedd, to his own lands (which come to him through his mother's lineage), his father's family seat, his ducal uncle's holdings, and on various journeys both within Gwynedd and to foreign kingdoms as part of King Brion's entourage - and in so doing, we see elements of the political and religious situation both at home and abroad that he and the kings he will serve must navigate. It's a book rich in worldbuilding, scene-setting, and character development rather than action and complex plotting.
I'd love to see more of Gwynedd. There's still much to be explored about Gwynedd during Alaric's time - the shadowy Council of Deryni who watch Alaric closely, the mysterious knight of the Anvil who serves as Alaric's teacher, the events that lie between the birth of Kelson and the death of his father King Brion - and the future of Gwynedd still to come. And there is still a gap between the early post-interregnum books and the beginning of Alaric's story. I have heard that Kurtz has plans to write more about her Deryni - time will tell what comes next.
While I truly enjoyed The King's Deryni because it brought me back to a beloved world, I must acknowledge that it may not suit everyone's taste. While there are definitely some dramatic moments and key events, highs and lows, it is a slow-moving book, full of everyday details and family life. Kurtz devotes considerable time to the minutiae of Alaric's progress as a page and then a squire, to his training both for knighthood and for his coming adult responsibilities as Duke of Corwyn and Earl of Lendour. We see him in the midst of his family - father, aunts, uncle, sisters and half-sisters, cousins, the most important if all being the young Duncan - and we meet both the friends and enemies of his youth. We follow him on travels around Gwynedd, to his own lands (which come to him through his mother's lineage), his father's family seat, his ducal uncle's holdings, and on various journeys both within Gwynedd and to foreign kingdoms as part of King Brion's entourage - and in so doing, we see elements of the political and religious situation both at home and abroad that he and the kings he will serve must navigate. It's a book rich in worldbuilding, scene-setting, and character development rather than action and complex plotting.
I'd love to see more of Gwynedd. There's still much to be explored about Gwynedd during Alaric's time - the shadowy Council of Deryni who watch Alaric closely, the mysterious knight of the Anvil who serves as Alaric's teacher, the events that lie between the birth of Kelson and the death of his father King Brion - and the future of Gwynedd still to come. And there is still a gap between the early post-interregnum books and the beginning of Alaric's story. I have heard that Kurtz has plans to write more about her Deryni - time will tell what comes next.