Katharine Kerr’s Deverry cycle is a lot like a ride on a rollercoaster. Whereas one book can be an absolute thrill to read, the next one can be quite a bore or disappointing. After everything that happened in the first four books of this series, Kerr takes us to the Westlands in this second cycle of four books. The Westfolk always fascinated me, so I was glad to start this part of the series. This first book, however, was a little rollercoaster on its own.The book starts off really well, and I remember thinking that if the whole book turned out to be as good as the prologue and first couple of chapters, this could well be the best book in the entire series. As I said, the Westfolk is a really fascinating lot and the fact that Aderyn gets the time to tell his story made me all giddy. The first part of the book, however, turned out to be the best and soon after I started to loose interest. Whereas The Dragon Revenant took place in the present and didn’t have some of the past lives in it, A Time Of Exile returns to the tried and true formula of two storylines in different times being combined. These past lives have always been hit and miss for me and the one in this book was a serious miss. It was nice to read about the Maelwedds, but I didn’t care for any of those characters whatsoever. I thought this should have been dealt with in way less pages to keep things interesting, cause here, it wasn’t at all. The thing with these past storylines is that is it doesn’t work out, the whole book tends to fall flat just because the past takes up about half of the book. The other half was a bit better, for I really liked Aderyn and Dallandra’s storyline and all the shenanigans that went on with these mysterious elves of old, the Guardians. Jill and Rhodry were also present, but it was way too little. Their story was what made me like these books in the first place, so for them to be as absent as here was a bit strange.As for the characters, I didn’t care at all about the Maelwedds. They weren’t any interesting or particularly noteworthy, just bland and dull. Aderyn and Dallandra had some more spice and I really liked them. I don’t necessarily agree with every choice Dallandra made, but I do think she is a fascinating character. Aderyn, of course, is no stranger and it was nice to see how he became the one we met in previous installments. I really felt for him, though. His relationship with Dallandra was simply heartbreaking. The Guardians are quite fascinating as well. I didn’t particularly like them and I found their contribution to this book to be a bit too much, but in a certain way, I was drawn to how they were. Especially Alshandra proved to be worth reading about. The relationship between Jill and Rhodry ended on a bit of a sour note in The Dragon Revenant, and with Jill’s jealousy towards Rhodry’s blue sprite, there was some spice added to that. On the whole, however, the sprite wasn’t really anything but tiresome. Whereas I struggled a bit with the writing in the first book or so, it got a bit better when the books progressed. It still is far from top notch, but I can cope with it. The main issue here is the land of the Guardians. Whenever Dallandra visits their land, it’s like she’s living in a dream and the writing becomes very dreamy as well and thus slowing down the pace of the book. If there is one thing that these books don’t need, is a slowing of the pace. I find them already slow enough without the dreamy stuff, so I found this not the best idea.Upon starting the book, I had high hopes for it and believed it could be the best one yet. Alas, very soon after the first few chapters, the book takes a turn for the worse and instead of becoming the best, it turned out to be my least favourite so far. That’s not to say I thought this book was bad, but it just wasn’t all that enjoyable. The last paragraph, however, was so promising! If you find this book a bit dull, these last few sentences made it all worthwhile.
This book opened the second quartet of the lengthy Deverry series. Just at the point when a series has the potential to begin growing stale, Ms Kerr takes steps to prevent that by opening up the plot to the Westlands, the home of the elves with their unique culture and long life spans. This novel continues the trend of jumping to a different point on the timeline in order to tell a tale that is relevant to the greater story arcs that permeate the entire series. It's sort of like reading several novellas within the larger novel. This particular book has two major stories that take place in the past of the "current" story with Jill and Rhodry with the current story line serving as bookends.I was glad to finally read the story of the human wizard Aderyn and how he comes to make his life with the elves. He is a great character and I could really sympathize with his story. His love of the elven girl Dallandra was written very nicely and was heartbreaking, indeed. I wasn't as interested in a couple of the subplots this time however which is why I knocked it down one star. The were OK but seemed to drag some. A lot of time has lapsed before the beginning of this book and I found that the changed relationship between Jill, now experienced in the dwoemer, and Rhodry didn't ring all that true but perhaps there is more to that story yet to be revealed in later volumes.Ms Kerr continues her fine style and her settings are wonderful. She introduces us to many more characters; this world is getting more complex as we go. And of course, any time you have a world where characters come back as reincarnated versions of themselves...well the possibilities are endless. My favorite part of this book, however, was the last two paragraphs which serves up a tantalizing tease for the next novel, and perhaps well beyond. Intriguing to say the least.
What do You think about A Time Of Exile (1992)?
The Deverry saga is composed of cycles. So you have a real ending at the end of Book 4 (end of the first cycle). A Time of Exile marks the beginning of the second cycle, that will last 4 books again.The story begins some years after the end of book 4. We meet again with our protagonists Jill and Rhodry. Rhodry, now Gwerbret, is told by Jill, who had an omen, that he has to leave his position and rejoin his father's people: the elves, who live in the Westlands. The plot of this new cycle will concern a rose ring owned by Rhodry, that is marked by a particular dweomer (magic).This book is as suspenseful as the previous ones. The plot is full of surprises and interesting discoveries. The novel still offers us some flashbacks, that will make us learn more about what happened in the Westlands at the time of Gweniver (flashback Book 2), or about the civil war when Rhodry was known as Maddyn.The writing is as good as before, keeping that elevated style and talent for descriptions of landscape, atmosphere, and characters' behaviours.A very good read!
—Tatiana
A Time of Exile, the first book in the second DEVERRY quartet, opens a number of years after the events in Daggerspell. Rhodry is getting older, but his Westfolk genes have given him long life and people are starting to mutter dweomer when they look at him. He stages his own death so that he is able to slip away from his life in Aberwyn. He meets Jill again when he heads into the lands of the Westfolk, the first time he has seen her since she left him for the dweomer. She is now a master, and refuses to consider the idea of a relationship between them.The rest of the novel takes place in the past with the Westfolk and Aderyn taking centre stage. I like the way that in each of the Deverry books you never know how much time you will spend in the present or past.In general, A Time of Exile Read More:http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
—Fantasy Literature
The start of the new arc. Rhodry, facing up to the problems of being a half-breed. Jill, grown up into being a dweomermaster, and a backstory about Pertyc, the first Maelwaedd to hold Aberwyn. The story about Pertyc is probably one of my favorite backstories ever -- the only one that comes close is the silver dagger arc with Maddyn and Aethan and Branoic, but oh man, how I love this. Kerr really is in fine form here. Magic and history and the past, oh my! Rhodry and elves and Deverrian power struggles, oh yes!Everytime I sit down to read this book, I end up dancing a jig all over the room.
—Rhod Chang
