If you read my review of Deryni Rising you know I didn't spend a lot of time on the fictional (fantasy) depiction of the church. That will not be possible here.The book itself follows the events having to do with the church demanding that Deryni (all Deryni) renounce their powers and abilities, or be excommunicated. The actions of a rabid and hate filled persecutor will also play a role in the story, which does not complete with this volume.*** SPOILER WARNING SPOILER DISCUSSION BELOW LINE ***(view spoiler)[The Christian Church will apparently always have to deal with the events of what is probably one of it's saddest periods, the Inquisition. The fantasy period in the novel is actually somewhat earlier than the period in which the Inquisition took place. The events in the book put me in mind of a cross between the persecution of the Jews (in which many early Christians enthusiastically took part, including much of the church's power structure which, completely missing the point of the actual written books that existed, proclaimed the Jews guilty of Christ's death) and the persecution of the reformers. There is some obvious comparison in that the Jews were accused of being sorcerers and sorceresses (ever read Ivanhoe?). But then with the rebelling bishops Duncan the part Deryni priest there is also a somewhat obvious tie in with the reformers.The Christian Church is made up of humans. It seems to suffer most (and please understand what I mean by "suffer") when it "has" of "achieves" worldly power and riches. There was a time when the church at Rome became THE religion of Rome and from that point on the struggle within the Church became more about centering itself on Christ and the Commission He left and not being poisoned by the gold and temporal authority that it began to accumulate.This book is very difficult for me as Christianity is very real to me and lack of understanding of the issues at hand "in the story" and then the distorted reflection they can give of real events. The events of history happened. Christians have failed to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ often in that history. But "that"...the error, or "those"...the mistakes are not the Church. When Loris and the bigoted bishops place Corwyn under Interdict, I was reminded of the actions of the Pope in excommunicating all of Scotland to "force" the people to overthrow Robert The Bruce. He felt sure that the people would turn on the King rather than be excommunicated. That was the birth of The Church of Scotland. Here in this book we see the Church leaders acting out of ignorance, hate and a greed for worldly power, even to the point of provoking a bloody persecution that may kill hundreds or even thousands. They are in effect backing a bloody man who is fueled by hate in their actions. Remember this isn't history and the debate about magic is taking place in a fantasy world where the ability is inborn in the Deryni race.When I was finished with this book I was drained and worn out. It opened with the ignorant and hate filled clergymen "rewriting" events of the last book, even the events they themselves had been present for. It ends with Bishop Loris still intent on destroying the Deryni and humbling the King. I'm not big on fictionalizing some of the worst errors made in the name of Christ (and admitted to be such even by the Roman Church) so while I'm not a Roman Catholic, this is still draining and painful, at least for me. I'd say, be aware of it going in, and get the facts if curious not accepting fantasy as history. Read this book as what it is, a story. (hide spoiler)]
This was the second installment of The Chronicles of the Deryni. There were plenty of people who did not care for this book as much as the first one and I can only imagine it was due to a lack of real action, magic casting, etc. However, as I suspected, Ms. Kurtz uses her books to build her world so this installment was great in explaining more of the world we find ourselves in. I thought it was a good read. There was one segment within the novel that I felt was just fluff; almost a tangential storyline that really did not do a good job of entwining itself back into the overall story (Rimmell). I kind of see what she was trying to accomplish with it, but it simply fell flat. Regardless, I am looking forward to the third and final installment of the Chronicles. I also look forward to reading more books she has set in this world (though it will probably be a while as I have a sizable backlog!).
What do You think about Deryni Checkmate (1987)?
Not as good as the first book. It doesn't deserve a 2 star, but maybe 2.5My review of the first book applies to the second also.Even less female influence in this one, though I can easily imagine much of the dialogue occuring between two women rather than two men. I suppose I can excuse it by accepting that the magic bond between certain male figures creates an intimacy that would not exist otherwise. But seriously, the male characters don't hide anything. They really lay there feelings right out there.Character development was so heavy I lost the plot a few times in the book.The characters were likable and all very 'good'. In fact things were going so well at times and the characters were so pure and without malice that I became paranoid that disaster lurked right around the corner for several chapters.
—Legsoffury
These comments apply to all 3 books of the original Deryni Trilogy, Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, and High Deryni. I really enjoyed this series. I liked Kurtz's writing style, and she did a great job creating and describing the fantasy world of Gwynnedd. I could see a lot of Welsh influence in the world she created. I think the series teaches a good lesson about tolerance of minorities and overcoming ignorance. However, the story line seemed to have some anti-religious undertones which I wasn't crazy about, not unlike the more-recent novel The Golden Compass by another author, though not as brazen. Though I did like the series, I never went on to read the other novels by Kurtz about the Deryni or the Land of Gwynnedd. I got the impression from what I'd heard about the other novels that they were merely repetitions of the same themes, with different characters. I'd gotten the message the first time with the original trilogy, I didn't need to read more.
—Fred D
Commento alla Trilogia: Unico erede di Re Brion, avvelenato dalla maga Charissa durante una battuta di caccia, il Principe Kelson, ormai maggiorenne, si prepara a governare sugli Undici Regni. Ma Charissa, assetata di potere e vendetta, non gli concede tregua, e perché Kelson la possa affrontare in un duello di magia è necessario che un grande potere osteggiato dalla Chiesa - il potere Deryni - gli venga tramandato dal padre defunto la notte che precede l'incoronazione. Ma il rito di trapasso è
—Federica Leva
