The Red Wyvern
Book One of the Dragon Mage
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4.3 • 12 Ratings
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Katharine Kerr's richly imagined cycle of novels set in Deverry and the Westlands has earned a devoted following—and a reputation as the finest Celtic fantasy being written today. Now she returns to Deverry's war-ravaged past. . . .
In a kingdom torn by civil war, young Lillorigga seeks to shield her dawning powers from her cruel mother Merodda's manipulation. Mistress of a magic that, untamed, could kill her, Lilli brings her terrifying visions under the kindlier tutelage of the mysterious dweomermaster, Nevyn. But soon she must choose between her own clan and the true king who fights to claim his rightful throne, between sanctuary and blood feud, loyalty and love. Little does she dream that the slaughter she invites, and the malevolence she defies, could stalk her across the ages...twisting and twining the strands of timeless destinies.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in Kerr's fantasy land of Deverry (Daggerspell, etc.), this launch of the Dragon Mage series imagines an archetypal clash between Good and Evil, unleashed in the forms of the astral Lords of Harmony and Havoc. The plot is woven from three chronologically distinct story lines. The atmospheric outer line, set beside Loch Ness in an unspecified medieval winter, shows the Lord of Harmony sheltering a lost hunter on a magical island. In the second story, a poor but Sighted girl of Deverry's year 1116 is caught up in the wicked Raven Woman's occult dealings with the Lord of Havoc. The wordy bulk of the novel finds its adolescent heroine, Lillobrigga, in the Deverran year 849, when the forces of Deverry's pathetic boy-king, led by Lili's parents--earlier versions of the Raven Woman and her brother-lover--are threatened by the rebel armies of Prince Maryn. Suffering when loyalty to her clan collides with duty to the truth, Lilli masters her burgeoning supernatural powers under the tutelage of Maryn's master magician to bring peace out of chaos. Sketchily linking the three narratives is Evandar, Lord of Harmony, who seeks to thwart the disruptive aims of his brother Havoc. This coming-of-age tale, which is strongly dependent both on previous series installments and on Kerr's amorphous theory of "thought forms," dangles so many loose threads that the entire fabric threatens to unravel time and again. Sadly, the storytelling magic promised by Kerr's Celtic trappings never comes to fruition.
