Subject: REVIEW: Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr

From: [email-masked] (Samuel Lubell)
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 17:36:31 GMT

Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr
		Review Copyright 1996 Samuel Lubell

     At first glance Katharine Kerr's _DaggerSpell_, (Bantam Spectra, $5.50)
the first of her Deverry books, seems a typical fantasy. There is a sorcerer
under a curse (well, sort of), elves (Tolkein style, not little folk),
dwarfs, and sprites called wildfolk. There is also a mercenary band of
silver daggers.  However, in this case, first appearances are deceiving.
The book is made original and interesting through two devices.  The first is
the idea of reincarnation.  In his youth, wizard -- actually he is called a
dweomarmaster -- Nevyn makes a wrong decision and harms the lives of those
around him. He swears an oath that he will never rest until they are repaid,
however long it takes. 400 years later he is still at it. His friends and
foes keep on being reborn, into different identities with no memories of
their other selves, and Nevyn seeks the reincarnation of the woman he was to
marry, to train her in the magic of the dweomar.  Much of the fun of the
series is in recognizing the older characters in their new guises (there's a
chart in the back if this becomes too confusing).  The author jumps from one
time period to the other throughout the book, in fact throughout the series
-- currently 8 books and counting.
 
     The main plot of _DaggerSpell_ is anything but straightforwardly
predictable except in one respect.  In this land of clans and warleaders, a
rebellion threatens to disrupt the balance of power.  Since the gwerbret
(sort of an underking) hates his brother who will inherit these lands when
their mother dies, he allows the rebellion to proceed in the hopes his
brother Rhodry will be killed.  However the rebellion is being assisted by a
dweomarmaster who has pronounced a prophecy that no man will strike the blow
that will kill the leader -- which leads to the predictable solution.
Fortunately, Rhodry has the assistance of the best living swordsman, the
silver dagger named Cullyn, and Cullyn's daughter Jill who not only is a
good fighter in her own right, but also the reincarnated soul that Nevyn
must train to the dweomar if he is to fulfill his vow and die. Jill is
actually the book's other main character as the stress of the war begins to
develop Jill's own abilities as both warrior and magic-user.  There are
several other twists I haven't mentioned.  Best of all, the ending while
happy, is not the happy ending most readers would have predicted.
 
     The other crucial difference is in the background.  This is not a
pretty cleaned-up generic middle ages. The author shows the grimy details,
the dirt and sweat that is the dirty underside of more conventional
fantasy. "It was odd, Cullyn always thought, that while bards sang of
warriors slicing each other into shreds, you generally killed a man by
beating him to death with your sword." The silver daggers, the mercenary
soldiers for hire whose are a running presence in the book are not presented
as glamorous heroes, but as disgraced men, fighting for coin instead of for
honor.  And early in the book, when two noble lords fight over the right to
graze their pigs in the same woods, the honor is revealed for the petty
thing it is:
  
	"Da, I don't understand," Jill broke in. "You mean someone was
	killed over pig food?" 

	"It's the honor of the thing!" Braedd slammed his tankard on the
	table so hard that the ale jumped out and spilled. "Never will I let
	a man take what's rightfully mine.  The honor of my warband calls
	out for vengeance! We'll fight to the last man."

	"Pity we can't arm the swine," Cullyn said. "Everyone will fight 
	for their own food."

     This level of detail and sense of irony turns what could have been
conventional fantasy into something more. The stark realism, only makes the
magic stand out more even though the dweomar, the magic, is also low
key. Nevyn can scry -- see people who are far away -- cast illusions, create
fire, and throw sparks and a few other tricks. Those trained by the elves
can change into giant birds. But that's about that magic can do. Still, in
this gritty realistic seeming world, even this small amount of magic can
turn the balance.
 
	"For a long time they sat in silence, the noble-born as cowed as
	their men.  Rhodry wondered why none of them --and he included
	himself in this--were comforted by the knowledge that they had
	dweomer on their side.  Finally he realized that they all felt
	insignificant, mere playing stones on a game board of the dweomer's
	choosing.  For weeks Rhodry had thought of himself as the focus of
	the rebellion and his death as its goal.  Now he'd become only a
	pebble, set down as one small move in a war between Aderyn and
	Loddlaen."

     The believable background, combined with the complex plot and use of
multiple time periods to add depth to the characters, produces a rich,
complex novel that is like a series in a single volume.  All the characters
seem to ring true; the reincarnations are just similar enough so the reader
can tell they are the same even while differing in temperament and
intelligence.
 
     This is a comfort book, a book that is read over and over again for
pure fun. It rises above its roots in the typical fantasy quest/adventure
novel.  Fans of Mercedes Lackey who want to try something deeper and more
complex will find this series a perfect entry point to higher level fantasy
novels. An earlier version of this novel was published by DelRey but the
author has made edits and changes for the Bantam Spectra edition.

Note: This is one of the many thematic sf/fantasy reviews available at
http://sfreview/www.serve.com
 
%B Daggerspell 
%A Katherine Kerr 
%D Originally published December 1993 (revised 1995)
%I Bantam Spectra
%O PB  $5.99 
%G ISBN: 0553565214
%S Deverry