I am surprised there are no other reviews of this book, as it is part of one of the truly outstanding series in fantasy fiction, and certainly deserving of some of the attention currently being heaped upon the contemporaneous "World of Time" series by Jordan, or the recent "A Song of Ice and Fire" begun by Martin. While lacking in some of the richness of detail and characterization present in those works, nonetheless this series is deserving of serious attention by fans of the genre.

Set within a celtic realm, Kerr's tale actually follows the interwoven stories of several different characters spread across a time span of several hundred years in the history of the Westlands. Some readers used to the more conventional use of a linear plot may find this disconcerting, but Kerr has used it effectively and originally in evolving her story over the past six books. The realms of Westlands are varied and richly landscaped, and the mythology behind the world intriguing. The only flaw that prevented me from assigning 5 stars to this book was Kerr's sketchy handling of Jill's time spent in Anmurdio, a problem similar to those that plagued Kerr's first book, "Daggerspell." Nonetheless, a worthy successor to previous books in the series, and definately well worth the read.

One final note of complaint, directed at the publisher: It would be helpful, for those of us with a geographical bent, to provide maps of the Westlands with all of the books in the series. Since the second, book maps have been absent, except for a partial map available in "The Dragon Revenant." Even more irritating is the lack of provision in certain books of a full and complete character list covering at least the major characters in all six books. With all the shifts in plot line in time that take place, as well as the reappearance of certain characters in later books, it would be helpful to have this aid for one's memory.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it is told in a nonlinear, braided style, alternating between the 'present day' with Jill and Rhodry, and various narrative threads in the past. Characters who fail to learn lessons in a current life are reborn to work through their problems until the souls involved finally get it *right* - so characters can die, and tragically, and only the magicians of the dweomer know that it ends nothing and solves nothing.

This volume picks up the thread of the Time of Troubles where _The Bristling Wood_ left off, and is continued in _The Red Wyvern_. In the present day, picking up a thread from _The Dragon Revenant_, Salamander has turned his talent for dweomer into a living as a stage magician in the Bardek archipelago; as a half-elf, he has a life long enough to search for the soul of his beloved wife, dead untimely of fever, until he finds her reincarnation. Alas, the dweomer can't just be turned on and off like a lightswitch, and he'll pay for his abandonment of his true calling someday if he doesn't look out.

In the time of troubles, Maryn, the young Marked Prince of Pyrdon, is being groomed by Nevyn as the high king who can bring the wars to a halt, since he has close blood ties to all the contending claims for the throne, except Cerrmor - and since Cerrmor's heir is Princess Bellyra, an unmarried girl of Maryn's own age, that's not a problem. Cerrmor is in dire straits, and will welcome Maryn as a suitor for Bellyra with open arms - if he can get there alive. (Bellyra, for her part, is intelligent enough to realize that he'll never love her; she's just what he needs for the kingdom's sovereignty, and maybe a friend and ally, but no more.)

Some followers of the dark dweomer attempted to work magic against Maryn by creating a curse tablet. Nevyn has managed to get hold of it, but daren't destroy it, discard it, or be caught with it while trying to unravel the spells on it without harming Maryn. (This thread eventually doubles back on itself, in Kerr's nonlinear, braided storytelling style, giving him the idea for creating the Great Stone of the West (the opposite of the curse tablet) which we saw back in volume 2, _Darkspell_.)

Be warned, the dark dweomer workers did something VILE to enchant the tablet - Nevyn finds the evidence with the tablet. Grisly. Also, while Maryn has been groomed to be a warrior's ideal of a king, he's not a saint (the silver daggers when in transit introduce him to a brothel, which actually turns into a hilarious if bawdy scene through no fault of Maryn's).

Bellyra, for her part, is not only intelligent, but unusually well-educated and intellectual, and will grow into a formidable political force if she survives the siege of Cerrmor. Like Maryn, she is one of the recurring characters being reincarnated at different stages in the history of the series. One of her incarnations appears in _A Time of Exile_, while both she and Maryn have been reborn late in the 'present' day.

This was the first Deverry book I read, and I spent the summer of 1994 reading it. Then I spent the rest of 1994 reading all the previous volumes! Then it was time to read the next volume in the series, and then the next...hopefully Katherine Kerr will never stop writing about Devrry!

While I'm a longtime Wolfe fan, this is the first time I've read him in a short story collection. It really worked for me. Fritz, Archie and Wolfe are all in fine form. The truncated storylines do not mean diminished character involvement. The plots are tense, the villains are neatly and economically drawn. I had a fine time with it.

Trouble in Triplicate tells a trio of tales in which the murder victim comes to Wolfe before being killed. In "Before I Die" a crime boss brings a blackmail case to Wolfe, never expecting to die. But just in case, he makes Wolfe the executor of his estate, thereby making Wolfe and Archie Goodwin the prime suspects in his murder. Wolfe's task: solve the crime boss's murder before he and Archie are erased by the boss's vengeful hit man. In "Help Wanted--Male" Wolfe blows off a prospective client who has received a death threat mere hours before the man's brutal murder. Then Wolfe receives an identical death threat. Wolfe is as concerned about the threat against himself as he was unconcerned about the threat against his prospective client. He goes to remarkable lengths to preserve his skin, makes the biggest blunder of his career, and discovers his mistake just in time by inspecting furniture. "Instead of Evidence" presents a situation where a prospective victim hires Wolfe for $5,000.00 to avenge his impending murder by his business partner. When the man dies horribly, Wolfe has a ready-made suspect but a paucity of evidence. It looks as though the killer will go unpunished, but at the last minute Wolfe gets the picture. At least two of these stories ("Before I Die" and "Help Wanted--Male") have been televised on the A&E series "Nero Wolfe" (long may it run).

One of the 3 short stories herein is set during WWII, after those of _Not Quite Dead Enough_, the others in the 18 months following. Wolfe spent the war working for U.S. Army Intelligence. Archie was in the Army as a major, but couldn't wangle a transfer to a combat assignment; he was assigned to Wolfe, essentially doing his normal job, and General Carpenter said that's where he'd stay. General Carpenter and Wolfe's Intelligence connections appear occasionally after the war, as in _The Silent Speaker_ or "Home to Roost" in _Triple Jeopardy_.

To date (the beginning of the 2nd season of Nero Wolfe), A&E has adapted 2 of the 3 stories herein. I've sorted them here by chronological order rather than as they appear in the book.

"Help Wanted, Male" - May 1944. Adapted for A&E's 2nd season. Wolfe isn't taking any private cases while working for Army Intelligence (and anyway, Archie is technically in the Army rather than doing legwork for Wolfe in his private capacity). When Ben Jensen (having met them during the court-martial of a man selling Army secrets for political purposes) comes to Wolfe asking for help after receiving anonymous death threats, Wolfe turns him down - although he would anyway, since there is ultimately no protection against a determined assassin. It's material, though, because Wolfe himself receives similar threats after Jensen's murder. (Granted, his first reaction is that Archie provided these last as a gag.) Then when Archie gets to Washington to request a combat assignment yet again, he sees a *very* unusual newspaper advertisement, seeking someone matching Wolfe's description.

"Instead of Evidence" a.k.a. "Murder on Tuesday" - October 1945, 1 week after Archie is officially out of the Army. Many attempt to hire Wolfe to keep someone from killing them, but none have ever been accepted - because a sufficiently determined killer can always succeed (and with enough patience, maybe not even be caught). Eugene Poor owns half of Blaney & Poor, manufacturers of novelties, but Blaney is determined to get sole control without paying full value for Poor's half - so Poor says. Mrs. Poor would rather see Eugene sell out for a pittance than run the risk of being murdered. Wolfe, in the end, undertakes only to see that the cops are tipped off properly if Poor is murdered - and the neatly typed list of facts is called for before bedtime by Cramer of Homicide, now that a bomb disguised as a cigar has blown Poor's face off.

"Before I Die" - Adapted for A&E's 2nd season. 7-8 October 1946, when Wolfe is desperate for a controlled substance - meat, under post-WWII rationing. Another desperate man - Dazy Perrit, king of the black market - can provide a quid pro quo, if Wolfe can protect his daughter. Even Beulah herself (through a combination of circumstances) doesn't know that Perrit is her father, but some of his underworld associates have been trying to find her, so he hired Angelina Murphy to play the role of daughter. "Violet Perrit", however, has become greedy, blackmailing Perrit by threatening to expose the charade. He's come to Wolfe to get him out from under without endangering Beulah.

The title quote is actually from Archie, who's really scared by this case, since they now know far too much of a dangerous man's secrets for comfort.

It sounds from the synopsis as if this book was the one originally titles "The Bristling Wood".

She's been re-writing her series from the beginning. I thing her original names for the first few books were terrible (almost kept me from reading them), but changing them is confusing!

Katharin Kerr has created another classic celtic fantasy with her book, Dawnspell. Once again, Rhodry, Nevyn, and Jill battle to save Deverry from the forces of evil. The best part of this book, however, is the lenthy reincarnation flashback, dealing with the formation of the Silver Daggers. I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys reading fantasy, because it is a wonderful book! (Make sure you read Daggerspell and Darkspell first.)

a time of war is written in the eloquent style of katherines other deverry novels. following the bloodline of rhodry maelwaaed and jill cullyn of ceermoors daughter. if you liked the others in this series you will undoubtedly like this one. make sure you've started this series with the first book darkspell however.

A Time of War: Days of Blood and Fire is another of Katherine Kerr's wonderful novels of Deverry and the Westlands. It is a classic celtic fantasy, full of reincarnation, dweomer (magic), and more. Jahdo, a ratcatcher's son from north of Deverry, volunteers to travel with Meer, an eyeless bard of the people known as the Horsekin. Jahdo's decision pulls him into a web of dweomer and war, preventing him from returning to his parents. This book has all of our favorite characters from Katherine Kerr's other books, like Jill, Rhodry, and Dallandra. I would reccomend it to fans of Katherind Kerr, but make sure you read the earlier books in this series first!

For the people that don't know, Dragonspell is also called The Dragon Revenant, which is published by Bantam Books. Kerr can definitely can do better. I kinda found the book quite tedious, despite all the action. Because the 4/5 of the book was pretty much devoted to getting Rhodry back and from his mistress (whom with their love affair I found absolutely revolting), I thought it was a complete waste to have the last 1/5 of the book to be set on the "painful separation" of Rhodry and Jill because of dweamor, and Rhodry's new wife. I mean, COME ONE PEOPLE! If anything, cut the boat trip short and all, because I don't want to waste my time just reading about how bored they were on their boat trip back.

This is such a sweet book - well I think so anyway. Nevyn finally gets Jill and all that. I don't know why I read this one third last - I've read all the others. I love this series and it deserves recognition.

Okey, this is a fanatsy book but it feels so real. After reading a while you begin to belive in gnomes, dwarfs and other things that are described in this book. Its a wonderful descibition of a country that relly doesnt exist. This book take place in Bardek, the islands in the southern sea.

This book was ok...but definitely not what she could really do. Compared ot Daggerspell, this one didn't really outshine the rest. As I read each one, it got better and better, therefore I expected this one to be the best so far. But the Red Wyvern was like the climax...I hope the rest of the books don't turn out to be like this one.

This is the second book in the Dragon Mage series, which chronicles the fortunes of the inhabitants of Deverry and those of the Northlands and Westlands in various centuries.
I found this sequel to The Red Wyvern slightly unsatisfying, but still an absolute charm of a novel, with the kind of detail a fantasy trainspotter like me thrives upon. Kerr does feudal villages and castles and fantasy/history exceedingly well; her characters are multidimensional and challenging - particularly the women, which I believe is deliberate: the men tend to be more distant - romantic figures or even caricatures - which I suppose might annoy you if you are a man. But this is quite unashamedly a book from a woman's point of view: for instance, when the men go to war the action of the novel tends to stay with the women left behind. This works very well indeed: it's not a feminist treatise, just an honest authorial perspective.
In The Black Raven, we meet my favourite Lillorigga again, this time on the horns of a different dreadful dilemma, torn between her good, honest, loving, considerate, brave, strong, boring husband-to-be and the not altogether natural charisma and charms of the importunate Prince Maryn; working with dangerous magic to unravel a deadly curse on the Prince at the expense of her health and not entirely free of the spectre of her evil dead mother.
But it's Niffa who takes my fancy in this one. Just coming into the awareness of her psychic abilities and hounded by Raena, the misguided sorceress with little conscience and too much power for her own - or anybody else's - good, Niffa mourns her murdered husband and is comforted by the family ferrets, unaware that her pain and persecution is a repetition of that of Lillorigga and her mother, doomed to continue, cycle upon cycle, in different incarnations, until, presumably, the battle between the supernatural forces which blights the lives of the inhabitants of Deverry and, centuries later, Cerr Cawnen, is resolved.

As a fan of this Katharine Kerr series in its entirety I found this book to be a must read, and one that I could not put down. Her style of writing has remained as easy to read and all engrossing as when she first began the series. This last series though has tended to focus on fewer time-line scenarios than her previous books. While in after-thought I find this a little tedious (the book mainly revolving around the Llilorigga-Maryn, and Rhodry-Raena story-lines) you can tell that the story is coming to some grand conclusion which makes it worth the read!If you have read the series from the beginning it is a little disappointing compared to the excitement of the initial Daggerspell series, but we are still comparing greatness to not-so-exciting greatness! Its not a book to be read out of sequence, start with Daggerspell and from there you can't go wrong!

This book caught my interest, despite the author's uneven and at times weak writing skills. Kerr has created a wonderful celtic world and culture in Deverrey, with strong if unfully realized characters, and certainly has a story to tell. I simply wish she had taken more time to flesh out her plot and characters. Also, the transitions between time periods that occur are more often awkward than smoothly segued. Nonetheless, there is enough here that is original and captivating that I will continue on with the second book of the series. Furthermore, the author appeared to be reaching her stride by the second half of the work, offering hope that the sketchy storyline and sparse detail that detracts at the start will resolve itself into fuller expression as the tale continues. It's definately worth a read, and I suspect will improve with the telling.

Finally, I must say that many of the reviews I find herein, both for this work as well as others, seem to ignore any proportioned approach or critical evaluation, burdened by an emotional bias that refutes credibility. It beggars belief that every book written deserves either 5 stars or an opposing trashing. It would be nice to see a bit more balance in these reviews, as well as evidence of thoughtful and comparative approach.

For one full year, I had red the complete Raymond Feist series (Midkemia stories). After it was finished, I was still in need of magic and heroic fantasy. Then, I've discovered Katharine Kerr and her celtic inspired stories, about elves and wizard. I have been very pleased to read these stories, very well written, but sometimes difficult to follow with all those flashback all along the book. But, nevertheless, I'm falling in love with this Deverry serie. For those who love reading about magic and elves, I recommend warmly this book.

Medieval times have always intrigued me. This book was an incredible illustrator of how the times were. Some parts were very graphic and they make you believe that the book may of actually taken place, once long, long ago. Daggerspell has a little bit of everything. Katherine Kerr left out no detail ever so small about gore, romance, the beautiful scenery and any other thing. But a word to the wise: this book did take place around the middle-English period, and some of it can be hard to read, but it is easy to figure out if you think about it for a second or two. But if you cannot understand most of it I would strongly recommend not reading it at all. I say this because at the end of the book I could not stand to not read the second book in the series. Yes it was that good.

I'm a little confused as to why this book is being called "Book One of the Dragon Mage," as though Kerr has begun a new series. The story takes up right where the last book, "Days of Air and Darkness," left off. In addition, Kerr spends much of the book returning to an earlier thread of her story that was left unfully told several volumes back. This book therefore seems a direct descendent to her first eight. But why quibble?: This is a worthy successor to her earlier work.

As mentioned above, I was pleased to find her finally completing her tale of the Civil Wars, begun so many books back and left dangling for so long. I had begun to despair ever finding out in full about the conquest of Deverry by the High King and his supporters, so many of whom have played successive roles as Kerr's series unfolds. And, I gather, this part of her story is not yet fully over. In a similar vein, I was also heartened by hints that Ebany will once again be appearing, after being rather unceremoniously dumped back in "A Time of Omens." A complete jettisoning of these plot and character elements would have done much to diminish my opinion of this series. As I have thus far enjoyed it greatly, I was pleased that my faith in Kerr's writing had been rewarded.

Much more episodic than the current and, apparently, more popular works by Martin and Jordan, this work is nonetheless their equal, and deserving of more attention. While I believe this series overall is deserving of five stars, I gave this particular entry four, as I found Part 3 somewhat weaker in plot than the rest of the book. I realize this may be due to demands placed upon the author for setting up the next book, but nonetheless found this chapter unbalancing to the book's overall structure. This doesn't, however, lessen my anticipation for the publication of the next book. And for those fans already missing the passing of Jill and Nevyn, I suspect Jill in other guise is already back, and Kerr has indicated that Nevyn will shortly follow; Take heart!

If you're into Celtic history and mythology, read this! It puts Celtic beliefs into a fascinating story and is easy to follow - you don't have to have read all the previous books. (If there are any who follow the Wiccan Way reading this, I'm sure you'll find the whole series interesting.) For the best understanding, start from scratch; the first to read is DAGGERSPELL. The Red Wyvern is a wonderful tale, winding it's path amongst intrigue, honour, malevolence and pure fantasy. Please read this book, I swear you'll enjoy it!

One of the best things I've ever done was to buy Daggerspell several years ago. Since then, I've sweated blood trying to put together the rest of the series, and finally I've succeeded - until the Black Raven comes out, that is. I also agree completely with the fact that this series is deserving of more attention compared to Jordan, Goodkind, etc.

For those of you who are waiting for the Black Raven with bated breath, I would suggest visiting www.voyager-books.com - where, oh joy, the first chapter is online to read. For people interested in the Deverry series in general, Katharine Kerr has a website that you can link to off of tor.com. And as to what is coming after the Black Raven, there will be either 2 or 3 more books - I've got conflicting information on that.

Supposedly, at the end of this series, things will all link up into one big Celtic knot, and we will finally see the whole story line. Also, all the characters are supposed to come back in the end for a grand finale. Personally, I can't wait till this happens - and I have plenty of speculations about WHAT will happen. Is Jill Rhodry's daughter in this incarnation? Will Haen Marn ever get back to Deverry? Will Nevyn be incarnated as Domnall Breich's son? Will Evandar and his people all be born into the world of men? Will I ever quit asking all these questions? No. Well, I have one final question, which is certainly one that EVERYONE will want to know. WILL THIS SERIES HAVE A HAPPY ENDING?!?

Kerr is the first Celtic fantasy author I've read, and I find her books very compelling. Darkspell is quicker moving than Daggerspell, but still has the same flavor.

In this book, the influence of Dweomer is much more pronounced--however, she manages to make it believable.

After reading Daggerspell, I thought Kerr was a good writer but wasn't really sure her story could really merit more than one book. However, Darkspell got me thoroughly hooked. It seems as though she really has two plots that intertwine: the time-spanning reincarnations and the present dweomer war, and this book introduces the reader to the intricacies of each and the relationship between the two. I enjoyed the plot developments and further explanations of the type of magic she has created. I also loved the ending because it resolved enough for me to feel satisfied, but left enough hanging issues to keep me reading. I wouldn't recommend making a decision about the series until you've read this book.

This book is just the beginning. It is one of the best books I have read as far as style and content go. But it seems that the people who are not satisfied only look at this book. In my opinion the first three books, Daggerspell, Darkspell, and The Bristling Wood, are just setting the stage for what is to come. She did an excellent job of keeping the plot moving while keeping you interested. Also the way the characters souls are all intertwined and locked with each other puts an interesting spin to things. It is almost like watching a child growing and never knowing what to expect next. Overall I feel that the world she has created starting with Daggerspell will be a part of me forever.

Fans of Deverry might want to give me a beating here, but in my opinion- Kerr is definitely capable of better stuff. Until I got to this book, everything she put out amazed me. I even gave Bristling Wood 5 stars. Through out Dragon Revenant there were some traces of the Katherine Kerr I know and love- especially in the beginning and the end, but the middle (the entire portion that involved Rhodry as a slave) bored me and dragged out for way too long. I kept waiting for Kerr to erupt into one of her trademark flashback sequences- but was left hanging. I respect the possibility that maybe she was bored of doing this, but I still want to know how the Silver Dagger group's origin story turns out- a tale left unfinished from the middle of the last book.

I have a confession to make... Halfway through, I quite frankly gave up on this book and went on to read twelve other books. But for the first time in my life I resumed reading a book I had given up on- This was solely because of how much I enjoyed her first three books, and my hope that the next few would be up to her usual par.

A few things did impress me here though. Salamander- a very interesting character is fleshed out for the first time. Kerr's dialogue and Deverry's culture give her works a wonderful feel. I would have enjoyed a grander resolution between Rhodry and his brother/enemy Rhys, but the ending made the book worth while with several surprises and a very neat closure to the whole series. Or was this just a bridge? On to Omens and Exile for the answers I go. And I can't wait to get to Dragon Mage since I previewed the first chapter- looks exciting!

Kerr has a good series going here. While I always seem to compare stories to my two personal favorite authors, Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan, this series has definitely landed a close third on my list behind Goodkind. I enjoy Celtic storylines and her characters do come to life well. It can slow down at times, but I am half way through and enjoy it. A book that I look forward to reading when I get home is a rare thing for me to find now days, and this series has supplied me with several.

I read this book over the summer and enjoyed it very much. The three main characters; Jill, Rhodry, and the wizard, are very well developed. I was moved to the point of being disgusted with Rhodry's self centeredness and self absorbed behavior typical of a spoiled monarch's son. He is the only survivor of his older siblings and becomes only heir to the throne, but there is a plot afoot to get rid of him and start a war that will devistate the people of Deverry. Then there is the wizard who is responsible for the deaths of Rhodry and Jill in their previous lives and wants to correct it. Reincarnation and other beliefs are expressed in this book and make it more interesting. Half of the book describes Rhodry's exile and captivity arranged by his captors until Jill and the wizard come to rescue him and the book then goes into describing their escape. It is slow moving at times, but has a very good ending. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy.