Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, Camber the Heretic, Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, High Deryni
September 8, 1986
A review of the Camber of Culdi Triolgy and the Deryni Trilogy by Katherine Kurtz.
Copyright © 1998 Property of Deborah K. Fletcher. All rights reserved.
Although the assignment called for one book, I read a series of six books by Katherine Kurtz. Camber of Culdi was published in 1976, Saint Camber in 1978, and Camber the Heretic in 1981. The second trilogy of the series was published previously, with Deryni Rising published in 1970, Deryni Checkmate in 1972, and High Deryni in 1973.
The Legends of Camber of Culdi and The Chronicles of the Deryni are fantasy novels, set in the mythical land of Gwynedd.
Katherine Kurtz is an accomplished and qualified author. She received her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Miami, and an M.A. in medieval English history from UCLA. She has worked in marine science, anthropology, cancer research, cataloging of Chinese painting, educational and commercial television, and police science. She is an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where she is an accomplished costumer, calligrapher, and illuminator, herald, expert on court protocol, and student of medieval fighting forms, as well as Bevin Fraser of Stirling.
Ms. Kurtz is fully involved with her work, to the point of having a husband who wears kilts, a son named Cameron, and a vintage Bentley motorcar once owned by HRH the Duke of Kent. She has recently published a World War II thriller called Lammas Night. He third Deryni trilogy, The Histories of King Kelson, is in publication, with the first volume, The Bishop's Heir, already in the bookstores.
The six volumes of the Deryni series average about three hundred fifty pages each. Each volume is divided into many chapters, all having introductory Bible verses, rather than titles.
The Legends of Camber of Culdi take place in the late ninth and early tenth centuries, while The Chronicles of the Deryni take place in the early to mid twelfth century. They are set in Gwynedd, which is supposedly northern Wales.
The Legends of Camber of Culdi chronicle the last open use of Deryni magic in Gwynedd for two centuries. In this trilogy, Camber of Culdi used his Deryni magic to dethrone the usuper, Imre, and restore the royal Haldane line, embodied by Cinhil Haldane, a one-time priest-monk. In order to save Gwynedd from destruction, Camber was forced to take on the appearance of a dying friend, giving the friend his own appearance. Following the transformation, chance glimses of Camber's true form caused the people to believe he was a saint. The trilogy ended with Gwynedd dying from a holy war, and Camber truly dying.
The Chronicles of the Deryni tell of the struggle of Kelson Haldane, a descendant of Cinhil Haldane, to crush a religious uprising against the Deryni. The discovery that Kelson, King of Gwynedd, was also of Deryni ancestry caused civil, as well as holy, war. The war was ended by the judicious use of magic, proving that Deryniness was not necessarily evil.
Camber MacRorie, 7th Earl of Culdi, was the protagonist of The Legends of Camber of Culdi. The primary conflict which he faced was the deliverance of Gwynedd from tyrannical Deryni and ecclesiastic rule. The conflicts basically translated into a question of the inherent good or evil of Deryniness.
Kelson Cinhil Rhys Anthony, King of Gwynedd, was the protagonist in The Chronicles of the Deryni. The conflicts which he faced were continuations of those faced by Camber of Culdi several centuries earlier, but the emphasis on good versus evil was accentuated.
Chance and coincidence played very little part in the books, since most of the events were controlled by magic. Taking the magical element in stride, the events become logical and plausible.
All six books were written in the third-person, omniscient point of view, allowing the reader to experience mental communication - which was of prime importance - as well as articulate speech.
Katherine Kurtz used complex characters for all of the main roles, and introduced their personalities through simple statements, reactions of the other characters, and through the characters' own behavior.
The characters were all well-developed from the start, and the changes as the story progressed were no more than if the reader had simply been getting to know real people.
The primary theme of the series is good versus evil. The intent is to show that good and evil are individual, not racial, qualities.
The books employ religious symbols, as the characters are extremely Catholic. The symbols show that everyone is capable of goodness and virtue through the Lord.
Love, fear, anger, and grief are strong emotions in all six books, evoking emotional responses from the reader. The emotionalism gives a feeling of reality to the story.
The books are based on fantasy, taking magic as their main point. Everything which happens is based either on fantasy or religion. The use of magic helps to make the point that good and evil are not racially dependent.
Katherine Kurtz uses a smooth, concrete language, and a steady rhythm. The sentences vary in length from one word to several lines as necessary. The flow of the reading is interrupted periodically by passages of ritual Latin which add to, rather than detract from, the story as a whole.
The titles of the individual volumes indicate their placement in the trilogies. Each states simply what the content of the volume will be.
I did not learn from the books, because I was not seeking to learn.
The two things I liked best were ritualistic descriptions and character interactions. The rituals were described in detail, with detailed ritual formulae and dialogue. The characters interacted as real people would, looking out for each other, but ultimately preserving themselves. There was nothing that I disliked about the books.
I feel that these books, as a set, rate an eleven on a scale of one to ten. They are well-written, neatly integrated, chronologically accurate, and contain refreshingly realistic fantasy.
I would like to read other books by Katherine Kurtz, and am currently involved in the seventh book of this series. The books are wonderful, and their historical accuracy is sufficient to make the fiction mildly frustrating.
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