The third book in the Dragon Mage sequence. In this book we spend about half of our time in the past, concluding the storyline concerning Lillorigga, princess Bellyra, Maddyn the bard and the prince Maryn. The second half of the book shifts the plot forwards concerning Rhodry, Dallandra, Niffa, Raena and the dragon Arzosah.In my opinion this is by far the best book written by Katharine Kerr in the whole Deverry series. I was gripped throughout. Of necessity considering the curse of the dweomer tablet, the first half of the story was bleak and heartbreaking. A number of my very favourite characters from this particular timeline came to fairly dire ends, which left me close to tears. Each of the various characters was treated with respect, except for Maryn and Oggyn - by the end of this section, it became very easy to hate both of them.I was mightily relieved that Rhodry's story pushed forwards - but the ending to the book also left me near weeping with how sad, and yet how appropriate it was. Rhodry truly stepped forward to save the people he both cared for and had grown apart from. He and Arzosah became true soul mates in terms of how they viewed each other.The other character that came into her own in this novel was Dallandra. I made no secret in my reviews of the previous Deverry books that I held a great dislike for this Elven dweomer master. Her treatment of Aderyn and the way she pandered to Evandar's every whim annoyed me intensely, and every part of her journey seemed particularly boring in comparison to the other threads of the story that were occurring. However, here she became a compassionate and wise teacher, someone who put others before herself and sought only to do what is right - including trying at the very end to redeem Raena.This novel left a very powerful impact, and I sense that Kerr is starting to unwind the real crux of the Deverry tale. I look forward eagerly to more.
This book just became my favorite (so far) of the series. I'm serious folks. For a long time I've had an idolized vision of Prince Maryn, completely forgetting all the crappy things he did. I realized that while he was the right king at the right time, he was a pretty crappy human being, at least to his women. I've loved Bellyra and Lillorigga fiercly, but never as much as this time through, and with more clarity on their situations than I had before. And while I mourned over the losses of Jill and Nevyn in earlier books, the last few pages before the book moves to Bardek at the very end really had my heart feeling like it was going to fall out of my chest. Other readers have said they felt tired and dragging through the last few books, and while there may have been some slow bits I've never found that to be a fault. But this one, it felt like new life had been breathed into the series for me. While I was dreading (only slightly, and only for emotional reasons) getting to the "end" of the series in a few more books, I feel more motivated now as well.
What do You think about The Fire Dragon (2015)?
In The Fire Dragon we spend about half of our time in the past, concluding the storyline concerning Lillorigga, princess Bellyra, Maddyn the bard, and the prince Maryn. The second half of the book shifts the plot forwards concerning Rhodry, Dallandra, Niffa, Raena, and the dragon Arzosah.In my opinion The Fire Dragon is by far the best book in the whole DEVERRY series. I was gripped throughout. Of necessity (considering the curse of the dweomer tablet), the first half of the story was bleak and heartbreaking. A number of my very favourite characters from this particular timeline came to fairly dire ends, which left me close to tears. Each of the various characters was treated with respect, except for Maryn and Oggyn — by the end of this section, it became very easy to hate both of them.... Read More:http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
—Fantasy Literature
I have read the first 3 books of the series called Dragon Mage: The red Wyvern, the Black Raven and the Fire Dragon. Although I was not familiar with the Deverry world and the style is pretty convoluted, I ended up liking the story: souls are reincarnated until they fulfill their fate (called wyrd). There are several races in the world, and some chosen people posses magic (called dweomer)which some use for good, some use for bad. These wizards are usually long-lived and they live among ordinary people, hiding they powers. The action is split between different times, but we soon realize we follow certain souls in their various incarnations. Although is seems we need the whole series (which has about 12 novels)to come to a conclusion, the story was interesting enough and it kept me guessing: neither character is entirely good or bad, they make decisions based on the hard life they lead and each decision has consequences that span more than the duration of their current lifetime.
—Andreea Pausan
