Scan barcode
A review by lylah
Darkspell by Katharine Kerr
3.0
Holy homophobia, batman!
Okay, so... I enjoyed this book. The flashbacks were very interesting and I loved seeing Gweniver, warrior of the goddess, and the fact that Kerr knew the flashbacks weren't enough to keep reader interest in the reincarnation plot. I liked seeing the Maelwadd founding and the construction of the world of Deverry.
The villains were atrociously horrible, which they were supposed to be. One of them is gay, but only seems to get sexual pleasure from raping men. Everyone was repulsed by him and the idea of homosexuality and one character literally wanted to die to avoid the shame of finding out he was gay. Um, what? Was that really necessary? I can't excuse this with "it was because of the times" because that was only in the '80s, and I can't excuse it as merely a Deverrian worldview because the villainization of homosexuality is universal by all of the characters. This could've been progressive or neutral but instead it was Very Bad. Shame on you, Katharine Kerr.
With those flaws pointed out, this is a "definitive edition" which has been redone since its original publication. I wonder what the changes were and I hope the homophobic thing wasn't worse before.
This fantasy is slightly above average, but the world is immersive and I'm interested in seeing where the dark dweomer plot is going. I wouldn't call it high quality but I like the premise a lot.
Okay, so... I enjoyed this book. The flashbacks were very interesting and I loved seeing Gweniver, warrior of the goddess, and the fact that Kerr knew the flashbacks weren't enough to keep reader interest in the reincarnation plot. I liked seeing the Maelwadd founding and the construction of the world of Deverry.
The villains were atrociously horrible, which they were supposed to be. One of them is gay, but only seems to get sexual pleasure from raping men. Everyone was repulsed by him and the idea of homosexuality and one character literally wanted to die to avoid the shame of finding out he was gay. Um, what? Was that really necessary? I can't excuse this with "it was because of the times" because that was only in the '80s, and I can't excuse it as merely a Deverrian worldview because the villainization of homosexuality is universal by all of the characters. This could've been progressive or neutral but instead it was Very Bad. Shame on you, Katharine Kerr.
With those flaws pointed out, this is a "definitive edition" which has been redone since its original publication. I wonder what the changes were and I hope the homophobic thing wasn't worse before.
This fantasy is slightly above average, but the world is immersive and I'm interested in seeing where the dark dweomer plot is going. I wouldn't call it high quality but I like the premise a lot.