After the events detailed in the Chronicles Of The Deryni, Civil War is brewing, again. A disillusioned bishop joins forces with an equally disillusioned princess and nothing will stand in their way.
Kurtz returns to the life of Kelson after a gap of a decade. It's noticeable that this tale isn't vastly different in structure to the previous Kelson trilogy. Again, it deals with the move towards war as petty arguments and personal vendettas force the course of history. What has changed is the emphasis. This time events are allowed to play out with a natural flow rather than one that has been dictated by Epic Fantasy conventions. It has its own style, its own history, its own logic, its own character types who are real within the setting. The author winds them up and sets them against each other. Small events lead to bigger events and history is written. There is no inevitable ultimate battle between Good and Evil, just believable nations populated by real people who are attempting to resolve their issues.
The only thing that stops this being a complete success is the rather out of tune final volume. It ought to be a classic, telling a personal tale and involving the greatest of the Deryni universe's characters, but it turns out to be fairly plodding. Perhaps it might have worked as a stand alone book, but even then, the book adds little to the known fate of Camber.
