The Silver Mage Review
Jan. 29th, 2010 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dweomeroflightOk so I won a signed copy of the last Deverry book by Katharine Kerr and I was so excited to read it I could hardly wait to get back from Fiji to do so. Unfortunately to those faithful readers who have been reading the series since 1986, the concluding novel is in turns both rushed, nonsensical in parts and dare I say it... boring as well as untrue to many of the characters in the previous books.
At the moment I am forced to give it 2 out of 5 stars, a huge disappointment when I would rate every book in the series a 5/5 with the sole exception of The Gold Falcon, which again in my opinion was a waste of everyone's time because it did not advance the plot in any way (we already knew Neb and Branna would be together, the Horsekin defeated etc etc)
My thoughts are under the cut link for big spoilers.
Where do I start with my hatreds?
The Silver Mage started off well enough with the past life perhaps the highlight of the book. Unfortunately, perhaps due to publishing pressures, the storyline felt rushed and truncated. Nevyn's past life was irrevelent to the story as was Evandar and Cadwallon the druid as they appeared for about six pages before disappearing again.
The character of Nalla was reduced to a mere dweomer apprentice who was in the storyline for the sake of being in the storyline.
Rhodry and Jill's romance was rushed, Ranadar was a mere caricature and the story needed fleshing out eg the way the elves lived, the humans they had as slaves etc.
In fact the only point of note that can be taken from this pastlife is that Haen Marn was built by the elves as a place of healing, which ya know Kit could have said in a prologue of a mere twenty pages.
If she had done this than maybe we could have gotten some actual storytelling in, like Maddyn and Nevyn in Bardek, Nevyn meeting the dark dweomer for the first time and meeting Merodda's teacher in the dark arts. If she didn't want to run with that a past life of Salamandar or the dwarfs would have been welcome. I just didn't see a point to this past life. We already knew that the fleeing Gauls had caused the Hordes. It didn't need to be regurgitated again. In fact wouldn't it have been interesting to expand on the way the Gel da Thae lived or the Horsekin for that matter?
Sadly enough, the past life was the highlight which dosen't say much for the rest of the book. The dark dweomer was dealt with not at all, Laz Moj was condemned for how he lived two past lives ago- something that goes against the dweomer itself and Sidro is reduced to being a side character who is a mere nurse maid.
Dallandra is as vapid and as selfish as ever (she and Calonderial never did work for me and I'll always see her as a cold hearted bitch who ruined Aderyn's life without a qualm). After all the talk of her seeking out redemption I was hoping she would receive some comuppance but no, in the end it is revealed that Aderyn is the one who must pay. Aderyn has already paid for Dallandra, over and over again. he did help the Guardians by waiting for them and leading them across the river and oh wait, if it was Aderyn's wyrd to help the Guardians find life, and this was also Dallandra's wyrd than wouldn't it make sense for them to be together? But no, it is apparently all Aderyn's fault and Dallandra can just live her life in peace.
The characters of Pir, Vek and Faharn were pointless, as was the entire otter race. They had no point in the novel's end so why did Kit introduce them in the first place.
All of the chracters conveniantly fell in love with each other... Wynni and Mirryn, oh don't kid me, there is exactly zero chemistry between them. There was more chemistry with Laz Moj and Wynni then there was with Mirryn and the same goes for Kov and Mara though I could accept that union a little more. Val conveniantly finds Jav reincarnated and Sidro and Pir are fine coz Laz Moj is given an undignified ending, that I am frankly surprised came at all from Kit's pen.
In fact the only decent aspect of this entire story was the story of the dragons and Rhodry. Not even Salamandar escaped with his personality intact. After spending all of his time a) hating the dweomer and b)loving wondering, he suddenly decided he's going to live in the wilderness and study dweomer. At least, he's with Rhodry's dragon kin, though again why Kit bothered expounding on the character of Rocca I'll now never know because it seems that suddenly Salamandar dosen't care about her anymore and nor does he care about Marka.
There is zero suspense with the Horsekin becuase they have been defeated SEVERAL times in the last seven books, and as such an angry army attacking yet again has grown very old. Again, if there had been some attempt to humanise them I might have cared, but no Kit, remember her? The one who had no black and white evil, just shades of grey, decided to create the stereotypical bad guy. I have read other unfavourable reviews that claim that this is because she clearly had no idea of where to go next with her story so she rehashed. I find this idea ridiculous. There were so many inventive things she could have done, none of which were even hinted at.
Oh and the note at the end by Cadda Cerrmar, that really jarred with me, it felt like a gimmick to me.
The last four books have been disappointing, the exception being The Spirit Stone with The Shadow Isle also having its moments, though a shadow of former books like Justice and Fire Dragon. The series should have ended there and its a shame. What started out as a great series fizzled out with a mere whimper and whats frustrating is that it could have been so much more... so, so much more.
Like J K Rowling, perhaps Kit just got sick of the series and it ceased to be a labour of love. Th last book certainly seems that way.
Anyone who has read this book, what are your thoughts. I realise my thoughts are largely negative but if you liked the book thats fine by me, just say what you liked and why :)
At the moment I am forced to give it 2 out of 5 stars, a huge disappointment when I would rate every book in the series a 5/5 with the sole exception of The Gold Falcon, which again in my opinion was a waste of everyone's time because it did not advance the plot in any way (we already knew Neb and Branna would be together, the Horsekin defeated etc etc)
My thoughts are under the cut link for big spoilers.
Where do I start with my hatreds?
The Silver Mage started off well enough with the past life perhaps the highlight of the book. Unfortunately, perhaps due to publishing pressures, the storyline felt rushed and truncated. Nevyn's past life was irrevelent to the story as was Evandar and Cadwallon the druid as they appeared for about six pages before disappearing again.
The character of Nalla was reduced to a mere dweomer apprentice who was in the storyline for the sake of being in the storyline.
Rhodry and Jill's romance was rushed, Ranadar was a mere caricature and the story needed fleshing out eg the way the elves lived, the humans they had as slaves etc.
In fact the only point of note that can be taken from this pastlife is that Haen Marn was built by the elves as a place of healing, which ya know Kit could have said in a prologue of a mere twenty pages.
If she had done this than maybe we could have gotten some actual storytelling in, like Maddyn and Nevyn in Bardek, Nevyn meeting the dark dweomer for the first time and meeting Merodda's teacher in the dark arts. If she didn't want to run with that a past life of Salamandar or the dwarfs would have been welcome. I just didn't see a point to this past life. We already knew that the fleeing Gauls had caused the Hordes. It didn't need to be regurgitated again. In fact wouldn't it have been interesting to expand on the way the Gel da Thae lived or the Horsekin for that matter?
Sadly enough, the past life was the highlight which dosen't say much for the rest of the book. The dark dweomer was dealt with not at all, Laz Moj was condemned for how he lived two past lives ago- something that goes against the dweomer itself and Sidro is reduced to being a side character who is a mere nurse maid.
Dallandra is as vapid and as selfish as ever (she and Calonderial never did work for me and I'll always see her as a cold hearted bitch who ruined Aderyn's life without a qualm). After all the talk of her seeking out redemption I was hoping she would receive some comuppance but no, in the end it is revealed that Aderyn is the one who must pay. Aderyn has already paid for Dallandra, over and over again. he did help the Guardians by waiting for them and leading them across the river and oh wait, if it was Aderyn's wyrd to help the Guardians find life, and this was also Dallandra's wyrd than wouldn't it make sense for them to be together? But no, it is apparently all Aderyn's fault and Dallandra can just live her life in peace.
The characters of Pir, Vek and Faharn were pointless, as was the entire otter race. They had no point in the novel's end so why did Kit introduce them in the first place.
All of the chracters conveniantly fell in love with each other... Wynni and Mirryn, oh don't kid me, there is exactly zero chemistry between them. There was more chemistry with Laz Moj and Wynni then there was with Mirryn and the same goes for Kov and Mara though I could accept that union a little more. Val conveniantly finds Jav reincarnated and Sidro and Pir are fine coz Laz Moj is given an undignified ending, that I am frankly surprised came at all from Kit's pen.
In fact the only decent aspect of this entire story was the story of the dragons and Rhodry. Not even Salamandar escaped with his personality intact. After spending all of his time a) hating the dweomer and b)loving wondering, he suddenly decided he's going to live in the wilderness and study dweomer. At least, he's with Rhodry's dragon kin, though again why Kit bothered expounding on the character of Rocca I'll now never know because it seems that suddenly Salamandar dosen't care about her anymore and nor does he care about Marka.
There is zero suspense with the Horsekin becuase they have been defeated SEVERAL times in the last seven books, and as such an angry army attacking yet again has grown very old. Again, if there had been some attempt to humanise them I might have cared, but no Kit, remember her? The one who had no black and white evil, just shades of grey, decided to create the stereotypical bad guy. I have read other unfavourable reviews that claim that this is because she clearly had no idea of where to go next with her story so she rehashed. I find this idea ridiculous. There were so many inventive things she could have done, none of which were even hinted at.
Oh and the note at the end by Cadda Cerrmar, that really jarred with me, it felt like a gimmick to me.
The last four books have been disappointing, the exception being The Spirit Stone with The Shadow Isle also having its moments, though a shadow of former books like Justice and Fire Dragon. The series should have ended there and its a shame. What started out as a great series fizzled out with a mere whimper and whats frustrating is that it could have been so much more... so, so much more.
Like J K Rowling, perhaps Kit just got sick of the series and it ceased to be a labour of love. Th last book certainly seems that way.
Anyone who has read this book, what are your thoughts. I realise my thoughts are largely negative but if you liked the book thats fine by me, just say what you liked and why :)