The Black Raven is Book Two of The Dragon Mage and the 10th volume of the Deverry series, a fantasy epic consisting of three interrelated quartets. As Katherine Kerr says, the past and the present are woven together in these novels, and the final volume will link with the first to reveal an overall design akin to a Celtic knot threading back and forth upon itself. This is a strange, pseudo-Celtic world in which reincarnation is a reality and past lives forever affect the present in surprising and unexpected ways. So, while The Black Raven can stand alone, it is advisable that readers begin with the first book, Daggerspell.
In this complex novel of civil war, sacrifice, and power, what impresses most is that Kerr uses an epic canvas to tell a strongly characterized and very human tale of hatred and destructive evil, and of the consequences of past malevolence on both the heroine Lilli and the Prince Maryn. By keeping the narrative tightly focused around a small number of characters, and by maintaining strict limits on the rather elaborately conceived elements of magic and the supernatural, Katherine Kerr ensures that her fantastical history does not overwhelm the more personal and affecting dimensions of the tale. The result is a polished, emotionally involving, and powerful novel in which even the dreams of a dragon may come evocatively to life. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk
From Library Journal
Beleaguered by an ancient rival who has pursued him through countless lifetimes, Rhodry Maelwaedd struggles to preserve his land and his loved ones by any means necessary. In the distant past, the workings of the dweomer, which links one life to another through the centuries, plant the seeds that will come to fruition in Rhodry's time. Kerr's sequel to The Red Wyvern forms another part of her history of the land known as Deverry, a world ruled by fate and the cycles of reincarnation. A good selection for libraries owning previous series titles. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Kerr's tenth Deverry novel continues the two story lines begun in The Red Wyvern (1997). Prince Maryn's attempts to consolidate the kingdom after the capture of Dun Deverry, the Holy City, are ongoing; Lilliorga is still Nevyn's pupil in dweomer; and the origins of many items that have figured in previous books, such as Rhodry's ring and the Great Stone of the West, are disclosed. New developments concern Raena, the troublesome raven mage of Red Wyvern, and the efforts of Evander's people to become human, which create a whole new set of problems. Although definitely a book in the middle of things, with no pretentions to being the one with which to start an acquaintance with Deverry, Kerr has written it up to her usual standard, which is among the highest for Celtic-derived fantasy sagas currently in progress. Faithful fans will be gratified, and any newcomers intrigued by this tale can retreat to its predecessors without fear of being disappointed. Roland Green
From Kirkus Reviews
Addition to Kerr's seemingly endless Celtic fantasy series, and the second volume of a projected five-book package begun with The Red Wyvern (1997). In present-time Deverry, the evil sorceress Raena's plot to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her enemy through incarnation after incarnation (nobody dies permanently here), results in the raising of Rhodry's guardian dragon, Arzosah; meanwhile, Guardian Evandar must resolve a clash between Seelie and Unseelie Hosts. Old dweomer-master (wizard) Nevyn takes a hand in both affairs. In the past, old Nevyn has another task, to tutor a new dweomer-apprentice, Lilli (Lady Lillorigga), as she battles to save her beloved Prince Maryn from a conspiracy of evil. Only series devotees will recognize these characters and their significance in Kerr's larger scheme of things, or care for that matter. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
Praise for Katharine Kerr
"Katharine Kerr is both a good writer and a thorough Celtic scholar. Indeed, her work is beginning to invite comparisons with Katherine Kurtz's massive Deryni saga."
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Kerr fluently and gracefully limns her Celtic-based medieval world, depicting attractive and colorful men, women and elves."
-- Publishers Weekly
The boundless imagination of Katharine Kerr
Her novels of Deverry and the Westlands
Daggerspell
Darkspell
The Bristling Wood
The Dragon Revenant
A Time Of Exile
A Time Of Omens
Days Of Blood And Fire
Days Of Air And Darkness
The Red Wyvern
Available from Bantam Spectra Books
Review
Praise for Katharine Kerr
"Katharine Kerr is both a good writer and a thorough Celtic scholar. Indeed, her work is beginning to invite comparisons with Katherine Kurtz's massive Deryni saga."
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Kerr fluently and gracefully limns her Celtic-based medieval world, depicting attractive and colorful men, women and elves."
-- Publishers Weekly
The boundless imagination of Katharine Kerr
Her novels of Deverry and the Westlands
Daggerspell
Darkspell
The Bristling Wood
The Dragon Revenant
A Time Of Exile
A Time Of Omens
Days Of Blood And Fire
Days Of Air And Darkness
The Red Wyvern
Available from Bantam Spectra Books
Book Description
For the devoted followers of the dazzling Deverry and Westlands cycle, Katharine Kerr continues the magical epic saga she began in The Red Wyvern.
The Black Raven
Her latest tale shifts effortlessly between the shattered lands of the Rhiddaer and Dun Deverry itself. At the historic end of the Civil Wars, Lilli, newly apprenticed to the dweomer, fights with her untried powers to save her beloved Prince Maryn from evil. Centuries later, in the city of Cerr Cawnen, the old evil awakens yet again when the sorceress Raena schemes to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her bitter enemy during life after life. But her malice will draw the intervention of astral powers--and unleash the ravaging rage of Rhodry's guardian dragon. Only another untried dweomer can buy safety for the city and the berserker himself--and only at a most fearsome price....
From the Inside Flap
For the devoted followers of the dazzling Deverry and Westlands cycle, Katharine Kerr continues the magical epic saga she began in The Red Wyvern.
The Black Raven
Her latest tale shifts effortlessly between the shattered lands of the Rhiddaer and Dun Deverry itself. At the historic end of the Civil Wars, Lilli, newly apprenticed to the dweomer, fights with her untried powers to save her beloved Prince Maryn from evil. Centuries later, in the city of Cerr Cawnen, the old evil awakens yet again when the sorceress Raena schemes to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her bitter enemy during life after life. But her malice will draw the intervention of astral powers--and unleash the ravaging rage of Rhodry's guardian dragon. Only another untried dweomer can buy safety for the city and the berserker himself--and only at a most fearsome price....
From the Back Cover
Praise for Katharine Kerr
"Katharine Kerr is both a good writer and a thorough Celtic scholar. Indeed, her work is beginning to invite comparisons with Katherine Kurtz's massive Deryni saga."
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Kerr fluently and gracefully limns her Celtic-based medieval world, depicting attractive and colorful men, women and elves."
-- Publishers Weekly
The boundless imagination of Katharine Kerr
Her novels of Deverry and the Westlands
Daggerspell
Darkspell
The Bristling Wood
The Dragon Revenant
A Time Of Exile
A Time Of Omens
Days Of Blood And Fire
Days Of Air And Darkness
The Red Wyvern
Available from Bantam Spectra Books
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Marka, dearest?" Keeta said. "I'm sorry. There's something wrong with him."
Marka tried to answer, but her throat filled with tears. Her youngest son, not yet two years old, sat on a red-and-blue carpet in a patch of sunlight that spilled through the tent door. He was frowning at the edge of the brightness; over and over again he would reach out a pale brown hand and touch the shadow next to it, then draw his hand back and frown the harder. Tight brown curls hung over his forehead; now and then he would bat at them as if they bothered him, only to forget them again in an instant.
"He does know his name," Marka said. "He may not have any other words, but he does know his name."
Keeta sighed and sat down next to the boy, who ignored her. They made an odd pair, Keeta so massive and dark, Zandro so slender and pale. Even though she had taken over the business end of managing their travelling show, Keeta still juggled, and her long arms sported muscles many a man had envied over the years. In her curly black hair, which she wore cropped close to her skull, grey sprouted at the temples.
"I've been afraid for months," Marka said at last. "He still can't use a spoon."
"Is it that he can't use one?" Keeta held out her hand to Zandro. "Or that he simply won't?"
Zandro whipped his head around and bit her on the thumb. Calmly, without speaking, Keeta put her other hand under his chin, spread her fingers and thumb, and pressed on both points of his jaw. With a squeal he opened his mouth and let her go.
"That's better," Keeta said to him. "No biting."
His head tilted to one side, he considered her. She pointed to the teeth marks on her thumb.
"No! No biting!"
All at once he smiled and nodded.
"Very good," Keeta said. "You understood me."
This he ignored; with a yawn he returned to his study of the edge between light and shadow.
"Ah ye gods!" Marka said. "Just when I think it's hopeless, he'll do something like that. Understand a word, I mean, or even do something kind. When Kivva fell and cut herself yesterday? He came running and kissed her and tried to help."
"I saw that, yes. At times he's really very sweet."
Marka nodded. In the twenty years since her marriage, she'd borne nine pregnancies, not counting the miscarriages. Six of the children had lived past infancy--Kwinto, their firstborn son; Tillya, the eldest daughter; Terrenz, born so soon after Tillya that they loved each other like twins; their sisters Kivva and Delya, named after Keeta's longtime companion, who had died in the same fever that had killed another infant son. Zandro would, she hoped, be the last. She wondered how she was going to find the love and strength to deal with him, who would demand more of both than all the rest of them put together. Keeta must have been thinking along the same lines.
"It's not like you don't have enough troubles on your mind already. What with Ebany's"--a long pause--"illness."
"Oh, come right out and say it!" Marka snapped. "He's gone mad. We all know it. And now his youngest son is obviously mad, too. Why are we all being so coy? How would Ebany put it? He's demented, lunatic, deranged, insane--" Tears overwhelmed her.
Marka was aware of Keeta getting up, then kneeling again next to her. She turned into her friend's embrace and sobbed. Keeta stroked her hair with a huge hand.
"There, there, little one. We'll find a way to heal your husband yet. We'll be playing in Myleton next. They have physicians and priests and the gods only know who else, and one of them will know what to do."
"Do you think so?" Marka raised a tear-stained face. "Do you really think so?"
"I have to. And so do you."
The tears stopped. Marka sat back on her heels and wiped her face on the sleeve of her tunic. A sudden thought turned her cold.
"Wait--where is Ebany?" Marka scrambled to her feet. "Here we are, on the coast, with the cliffs--"
"I'll stay here with the child."
Marka ducked out of the tent, then stood blinking for a moment in the bright sunlight. Around her the camp spread out, a grand thing of white tents and painted wagons, the biggest travelling show that Bardek had ever seen. At the moment, however, the camp seemed curiously empty. Most of the performers had retired to their tents to sleep away the noon heat. Since she could see none of their animals, some of the men must have led them to the water trough by the public fountain, hidden from her sight by trees. Nowhere did Marka find Ebany, but in the far view, at the edge of the caravanserai, between the palms and the plane trees, she could see the cliffs and distantly hear the sea pounding on rocks below.
Marka trotted off, panting a little for breath in the hot sun. All those pregnancies had buried the slender girl acrobat somewhere deep inside a thick-waisted matron who had to bind up her heavy breasts for comfort's sake. At those moments when she had the leisure to remember her younger self, Marka hated what she had become. Especially when she looked at her husband--as she hurried along the cliffs, she saw him at last, strolling along and singing to himself a good safe distance back from the edge. Her relief mingled with anger, that he would still look so young and so handsome, with his pale blond hair and his pale grey eyes, his pinkish-white skin just glazed with tan and as smooth as a young lad's. When he saw her, he smiled and waved.
"There you are, my love," he called out. "Do you have need of me for something?"
"Oh, I was just wondering where you were."
"Enjoying this glorious day under the dome of the sky. The sea's full of spirits, and so is the wind, and they're all enjoying it with me."
"Ah. I see."
Not of course that she did see the spirits teeming. He often spoke of spirits, as well as demons, portents, and visions, all of them invisible to everyone else. Still, she had to agree about the glory of this particular day, with the sea a winter-dark blue, scoured into whitecaps by the fresh wind.
Black Raven: Book Two of the Dragon Mage FROM THE PUBLISHER
For the devoted followers of the dazzling Deverry and Westlands cycle, Katharine Kerr continues the magical epic saga she began in The Red Wyvern.
The Black Raven
Her latest tale shifts effortlessly between the shattered lands of the Rhiddaer and Dun Deverry itself. At the historic end of the Civil Wars, Lilli, newly apprenticed to the dweomer, fights with her untried powers to save her beloved Prince Maryn from evil. Centuries later, in the city of Cerr Cawnen, the old evil awakens yet again when the sorceress Raena schemes to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her bitter enemy during life after life. But her malice will draw the intervention of astral powers—and unleash the ravaging rage of Rhodry's guardian dragon. Only another untried dweomer can buy safety for the city and the berserker himself—and only at a most fearsome price....
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Beleaguered by an ancient rival who has pursued him through countless lifetimes, Rhodry Maelwaedd struggles to preserve his land and his loved ones by any means necessary. In the distant past, the workings of the dweomer, which links one life to another through the centuries, plant the seeds that will come to fruition in Rhodry's time. Kerr's sequel to The Red Wyvern forms another part of her history of the land known as Deverry, a world ruled by fate and the cycles of reincarnation. A good selection for libraries owning previous series titles. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Addition to Kerr's seemingly endless Celtic fantasy series, and the second volume of a projected five-book package begun with The Red Wyvern (1997). In present-time Deverry, the evil sorceress Raena's plot to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her enemy through incarnation after incarnation (nobody dies permanently here), results in the raising of Rhodry's guardian dragon, Arzosah; meanwhile, Guardian Evandar must resolve a clash between Seelie and Unseelie Hosts. Old dweomer-master (wizard) Nevyn takes a hand in both affairs. In the past, old Nevyn has another task, to tutor a new dweomer-apprentice, Lilli (Lady Lillorigga), as she battles to save her beloved Prince Maryn from a conspiracy of evil. Only series devotees will recognize these characters and their significance in Kerr's larger scheme of things, or care for that matter.
Art & Photography
Book Info
