| $@%&! level: Medium-Low “Bedroom” level: Medium (And between husband and wife, which makes a difference to me.) Violence level: Medium-High Back Cover: “Once again the Kingdom of Gwynedd under young King Kelson found itself facing the horror of war between the Church and the Deryni. And this time, there was also the threat of revolution. Caitrin, Pretender Queen of Meara, was plotting to free Meara from its control by Gwynedd and make it an independent kingdom. And ex-Archbishop Loris was once again free from his prison. To him and the fanatics of the Church, the strange, magical powers of the Deryni were evil witchcraft. Now, backed by six of the leading bishops of the land, he was conspiring to exterminate half-Deryni King Kelson and all his Deryni friends. It looked as if even all the young King's Deryni powers might not be enough to save the peace of Gwynedd.” |
Things change a lot in a relatively short intervening time. Kelson has grown up a lot more—mentally and emotionally, if not physically. Morgan no longer insists on wearing black all the time. And Duncan is now both a priest and a Duke, which causes all sorts of problems. Also, this book introduces a new and important character—Kelson's blood brother, Dhugal. (Blood brother here meaning brother by vow or ritual. That's always confused me.) You know how much I enjoy brother stories, and now I get two pairs in a single book!
You can tell that by this time, Katherine Kurtz is confident of writing a trilogy, rather than just the first tentative book to see how it's received. This one has a definite feel of setting things up for further action in subsequent installments. Not that there isn't plenty of action here, but nothing is really resolved. In fact, that's sort of the whole point of the climax, which I warn you is a terrible cliffhanger. Nonetheless, even though it isn't resolved, I actually enjoy watching them try. I suppose in many ways, I read these books because I enjoy spending time with the characters as much as for the story itself. When I look at it objectively, I have to say that there isn't exactly a coherent story arc as such, but the slightly meandering path of the story is driven by the characters themselves and makes perfect sense given the situation they find themselves in. And I do love these characters.