Kurtzes, foiled again
Jun. 8th, 2010 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat1138I've been re-reading Katherine Kurtz's entire "Deryni" saga in publication order (skipping some short stories) for the first time in years. Some thoughts:
1.) Ursula LeGuin's opinion notwithstanding, Kurtz's approach now seems a clear precursor to George RR Martin's ASOIF saga in several ways-- instead of "high fantasy", it's a very solidly-grounded world with a strong sense of daily life and human interaction. It also has some nasty political infighting and the sense that anyone could get killed.
2.) Kurtz still has a far "cleaner" world than GRRM does, though. Characters get tortured, but actual deaths are *usually* quick kills. Her knights don't say "fuck" and there's very little overt sex in the narrative, though there are countless opportunities for slashtastic interpolation. (Which she seems to disapprove of, at least in the sense that she doesn't particularly approve of sexually explicit fanfic of her work regardless of the participants.) Her dialogue also has a very modern American flavor to it, with characters saying "I dunno" and talking about things like underlying emotional repression.
3.) Compared to the drawn-out fantasy deathmarches of 10+ volumes that've cropped up in the past 20 years, in which individual books mostly seem to be arbitrary packaging decisions, Kurtz's plot pace is *damn* fast, esp. in the first three trilogies. Entire plots-- *multiple* plots!-- can get wrapped up in a single book, though there are always some loose ends to pick up later.
4.) The main exception is her fondness for describing rituals-- which I mostly still enjoy, but I keep thinking that it seems perfect for an anime series which would just whip out an elaborate henshin-type stock animation sequence for a Wards Major construction or calling the four archangels to cast a circle. And *everything* always sounds more impressive in Latin.
5.) I'd forgotten the utter bleakness and claustrophobia of the fourth trilogy. Instead of riding across the countryside, the characters are trapped in hopeless circumstances, expending enormous effort for relatively little tangible payoff-- and in many cases, they're only winning temporary gains that get backlashed down to worse than they started from. King Javan's Year is especially bad at this, because you already know from previous background info (and the title itself!) how quickly Javan's reign is cut off. Even without remembering the exact end, I was getting a Hopeless Sense of Doom within the last 50 pages because it was obviously approaching the end of the book and thus Javan's death. I can't even quite make myself finish reading the last chapter right now.
I'll probably go back and read some of the short stories that I skipped. I'm unlikely to continue the series re-read after King Kelson's Bride since I don't own either of the two "Childe Morgan" books, having browsed through them in the store and found them nearly unreadable. I suppose I could borrow them from the library and give them another try, but that's still two more books away.
The Bishop's Heir may be my favorite at this point, somewhat unexpectedly: good mix of political intrigue, action sequences, character interactions, and overall emotional depth. I remember being completely stunned by the ending the first time I read the book, and the buildup even more heartbreaking when you know what's coming. Oddly, I find Sidana the most sympathetic of Kelson's love interests-- maybe because I'm utterly creeped out by Kelson and Rothana's mad crush originating when she shows him a rape scene.
1.) Ursula LeGuin's opinion notwithstanding, Kurtz's approach now seems a clear precursor to George RR Martin's ASOIF saga in several ways-- instead of "high fantasy", it's a very solidly-grounded world with a strong sense of daily life and human interaction. It also has some nasty political infighting and the sense that anyone could get killed.
2.) Kurtz still has a far "cleaner" world than GRRM does, though. Characters get tortured, but actual deaths are *usually* quick kills. Her knights don't say "fuck" and there's very little overt sex in the narrative, though there are countless opportunities for slashtastic interpolation. (Which she seems to disapprove of, at least in the sense that she doesn't particularly approve of sexually explicit fanfic of her work regardless of the participants.) Her dialogue also has a very modern American flavor to it, with characters saying "I dunno" and talking about things like underlying emotional repression.
3.) Compared to the drawn-out fantasy deathmarches of 10+ volumes that've cropped up in the past 20 years, in which individual books mostly seem to be arbitrary packaging decisions, Kurtz's plot pace is *damn* fast, esp. in the first three trilogies. Entire plots-- *multiple* plots!-- can get wrapped up in a single book, though there are always some loose ends to pick up later.
4.) The main exception is her fondness for describing rituals-- which I mostly still enjoy, but I keep thinking that it seems perfect for an anime series which would just whip out an elaborate henshin-type stock animation sequence for a Wards Major construction or calling the four archangels to cast a circle. And *everything* always sounds more impressive in Latin.
5.) I'd forgotten the utter bleakness and claustrophobia of the fourth trilogy. Instead of riding across the countryside, the characters are trapped in hopeless circumstances, expending enormous effort for relatively little tangible payoff-- and in many cases, they're only winning temporary gains that get backlashed down to worse than they started from. King Javan's Year is especially bad at this, because you already know from previous background info (and the title itself!) how quickly Javan's reign is cut off. Even without remembering the exact end, I was getting a Hopeless Sense of Doom within the last 50 pages because it was obviously approaching the end of the book and thus Javan's death. I can't even quite make myself finish reading the last chapter right now.
I'll probably go back and read some of the short stories that I skipped. I'm unlikely to continue the series re-read after King Kelson's Bride since I don't own either of the two "Childe Morgan" books, having browsed through them in the store and found them nearly unreadable. I suppose I could borrow them from the library and give them another try, but that's still two more books away.
The Bishop's Heir may be my favorite at this point, somewhat unexpectedly: good mix of political intrigue, action sequences, character interactions, and overall emotional depth. I remember being completely stunned by the ending the first time I read the book, and the buildup even more heartbreaking when you know what's coming. Oddly, I find Sidana the most sympathetic of Kelson's love interests-- maybe because I'm utterly creeped out by Kelson and Rothana's mad crush originating when she shows him a rape scene.