Deryni Rising

by Katherine Kurtz

Book Overview

The classic novel that introduced the Deryni and launched Katherine Kurtz's career. In the land of Gwynedd, the Haldanes have long ruled and have long kept a dangerous secret: there are those of their... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345347633
• ISBN13: 9780345347633
• Release Date: August 1987
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A classic

I first read this novel (and the following two books in the series) twenty years ago, and re-read them a few years after that. It's an intriguing and exciting look at the relationship between magic and religion. The pace is fast and the characters are likeable. In the following years, I was often disappointed by other fantasy novels because they couldn't live up to the Deryni. A few years ago, I got an itch to read the series again and was very frustrated when I couldn't find them on my bookshelf. I was thrilled to discover this new, hardback edition in the local bookstore--first because I wanted to read it again, and secondly because it's one of the few books I want to keep forever in hardback. A classic--worthy of its reputation.

Light yet Deep

This book is the introduction to Kurtz' world of Deryni, and an enjoyable one at that. It can be read as stand alone, or as the introduction to the series, but should be read as the start of the series. "Camber of Culdi" could also be read as the start of the series, but makes a slightly less effective start.It is the familiarity of the setting that makes it comfortable. Gwynned is clearly quite similar to the slightly more Celtic areas of medevial Britian, with it's borders of Keldor and Merea as Scotland and Wales. The Deryni, a race of Wizards (it's inherited) add the edge of fantasy that makes the whole of the series facinating and unknown.Clearly she also studied some parts of the Western Ceremonial traditions of Magick, for while she puts a new spin on them for the sake of fiction, she also makes them quite familiar to anyone who has studied them.The characters, while three dimensional, aren't too complicated as of yet for this novel, as they are later developed more fully in later novels, but they are not characatures. In all, it was an excellent work.

Read this book, you will enjoy it.

This is one book you can unrepentantly recommend to any person, whether they are a fantasy reader or not. I have recommended this book to many many people, from all reading bacgrounds and never once have they come back dissapointed, usually they buy the next two.Ignore it's simplicity, it is a unique stroy, with characters that are engaging. Who doesen't want to read a book, every once in a while, where you can love to hate the bad guy and love to love the good guy! Ala star wars etc...As far as the non-glossed over view of the "Church", you might find that it simply reflects most of the very true documented history of the Catholic Church. It wholly enhances the read!Read and enjoy! BTW, don't let the old artwork throw you!

One of My Personal Favorites

Maybe it's a generational thing, like one of those events with which only people of a certain age can identify. For instance, I can't understand the fascination that some have for Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Elvis Presley. It's the same thing with some fantasy works: some will make people fervent followers, others will leave people cold. I rather suspect that some of the books I read in my youth would seem substandard were I to read them for the first time now. This is by way of saying that maybe I was a far more impressionable lad back in the day. Be that as it may, I first read the original Deryni trilogy back when I was in high school, and it definitely had a major impact on how I came to view subsequent fantasy works. I rate these books, along with Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, as my favorite fantasy books by far.What's not to like in this first trilogy? Kurtz creates a vivid, living land, essentially an alternate medieval Europe with substantially altered geography and dynasties. You quickly get a sense that this is a intricate world with a rich depth of history. The setting, since it draws on our popular conceptions of the Middle Ages, seems familiar enough that you can easily picture the castles and cathedrals and towns, yet different enough that your imagination can be given free reign to fill in the details.The people, too, are excellently depicted, from high to low. Few are unalloyed heroes or villains; they all have their flaws and virtues, their hidden secrets and desires and fears. None of them are able to move efforlessly from triumph to triumph; sometimes they stumble, make mistakes, fall into traps. Other than the Deryni themselves, few can call upon huge stores of magic, or charge headlong into battle with mightily enchanted items. An arrow to the chest is as likely to kill the greatest warrior as the meanest footsoldier. And make no mistake, people will die in these books--divine force will not intervene to save them, and they're not going to come back from the grave. (Well, except maybe for one exception.)Kurtz excels at bringing her cast of characters to life. Many of them are so well drawn that it's a real disappointment to think that their lives are merely fictional. You'll hate to see their adventures come to an end. Even characters that start out as minor figures can climb to prominence and become more developed over the course of the series.This first trilogy helped popularize the "alternate Europe" setting with the Catholic Church as a major element. The Church does not come off too well here, as most of its hierarchy is composed of fanatics, slick political operators, and bigots. This theme has been picked up in other works inspired by the Deryni books (such as some of the novels by the overly-prolific Mercedes Lackey). While it works here as an integral part of the milieu and history, in books written by others, the Church as villain is generally done quite poorly

Be prepared to enjoy

I was first introduced to Katherine Kurtz and the world of the Deryni when a friend loaned me a copy of this book back in '78. He said that he thought I'd enjoy it. I enjoyed it so much that I read it twice... It's a mixture of medieval sword and sorcery, with strong religous ceremony, in a plot that moves along nicely, keeping you enthralled to the end. However, this is just the first volume in a first trilogy of stories of the Deryni, a human race with magical powers, which just gets better and better. Since I bought the three books in this trilogy, I have read them several times, including on honeymoon, where my wife also read and enjoyed them. (Hey, you've got to have something to read when lazing by the pool!) I don't often read books more than once, but I know I'll read these again. When I relocated from Scotland to the U.S. I was severely limited in what could be taken. From my large collection of books, I kept my Asimov and my Kurtz Deryni books. Nuff said!