Katharine Kerr

[Teresa Edgerton]

Another writer whose name comes up from time to time, and yet somehow lacks an active thread.

Katharine Kerr, author of the excellent and popular Deverry books, and occasionally of fine science fiction. She also edits anthologies from time to time.

Come out of hiding and make yourselves known you fans of the estimable Ms. Kerr -- I know you're out there.

 

[GOLLUM]

Another writer whose name comes up from time to time, and yet somehow lacks an active thread.

Katharine Kerr, author of the excellent and popular Deverry books, and occasionally of fine science fiction. She also edits anthologies from time to time.

Come out of hiding and make yourselves known you fans of the estimable Ms. Kerr -- I know you're out there.

Hi again Kelpie!

I'm a Katherine Kerr fan and have enjoyed reading her Deverry series.

Good on you for posting a thread on this author!

All the best..

 

[Tsujigiri]

I last read her work about 10 years ago. I must have changed since then because I just can't get into her style anymore.
Which is a pity because I remeber enjoying it immensely.

 

[dwndrgn]

I always get Katherine Kerr and Katherine Kurtz confused. I don't believe I've read any of Kerr's works. Can you tell me a little bit more? Was the Deverry series her most popular? What is it about? If it was so long ago, does she still publish?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

The Deverry series is ongoing. And they are definitely her most popular books -- particularly in the UK, where, I am told, they sell many more copies than they do in the States, even though she lives here.

Katherine Kurtz's fans will probably beat me about the head for this, but I think Kerr is a much better writer. Her characters are, in my opinion, far more believable.

Think very complex Celtic fantasy, with interwoven storylines that span centuries because the basic story is about reincarnated characters who keep interacting with each other in new (and often even more tragic) ways over the course of many lifetimes. Incest, murder, infidelity, war, dynastic struggles, etc.

 

[rune]

I've read a few of her books. But my current favourite is Snare

 

[dwndrgn]

Thanks for the description, Kelpie, I'll have to see if my poor library has any. The problem with series like this and my library is they generally rely on donations and they'll have #4 and #7 but no others...we'll see. There may be something at the second-hand store also but it is even more sketchy.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Snare is her new science fiction stand alone book, isn't it? I haven't read it. Could you tell us what it's about, rune?

 

[Foxbat]

She wrote Daggerspell didn't she? I remember reading this quite a few years ago and although Fantasy is not really where it's at for me, I remember enjoying this book (I'm sure there were others as well - Dragonspell seems to ring a bell or did I just dream that?)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, and so on. No Dragonspell that I know of, but I believe some of the titles were different in the UK.

 

[Quokka]

Yep like Kelpie said there's some differences of titles between the US and UK (oz) looked it up because Dragonspell sounded right to me as well.

In the UK the Bristling wood was Dawnspell, The Dragon Revenant was Dragonspell. Strangely A time of Exiles and A time of Omens seemed to have been the same then they split again with Days of Blood and Fire/ A time of war, Days of Air and Darkness/A time of Justice (where I left the series) then they join again for the final four The Red Wyvern, The Black Raven, The Fire Dragon and The Golden Falcon.

Despite being a hard series to read with extended gaps (and lots of books) in between I did like this series. Partly for the Celtic components and the reincarnation storylines. I remember I loved the character Nevyn 'No one' and kind of drifted off when his storyline (in that life) ended. Thinking I might try The Red Wyvern and see if i can follow it to the end, not sure I could handle going back to the start though.

 

[GOLLUM]

Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, and so on. No Dragonspell that I know of, but I believe some of the titles were different in the UK.

Yep in the UK books 3,4 are differently titled.

Deverry sequence UK:
Dagerrespell
DarkSpell
DawnSpell
DragonSpell

As per Kelpie's comments in the US:
Dagerrespell
DarkSpell
The Bristling Wood
The Dragon Revenant

Hope that clears it up for everyone.

 

[dwndrgn]

Thanks for clearing it up! I was getting a bit confused...as usual

 

[GOLLUM]

No problem.

Any time anyone has an enquiry on fantasy books, authors, release dates etc.. I can normally help out, so please feel free to ask.

Have a great day!

 

[Princess Ivy]

hmmm, i've tried kerr, but i tend to get a bit put off by the complex pronunciations which are published at the front of the books. i tend to read those, get bored and put the books down.

 

[Mark Robson]

I, too, read Daggerspell when it first came out, but it wasn't really my thing so I didn't follow the rest of her work. A similar theme was used by Barbara Erskine in her novel Lady of Hay, but that was based on a historical figure from the 1400s. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed that one, but you wouldn't find it in the fantasy section of a bookshop, as it would be more classed as historical fiction.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Yeah - a similar experience to Tsujigiri for me, really.
I loved Daggerspell when it first came out and kept reading right up until A Time of War but I just kind of lost interest in the characters.
It's been years (over a third of my miniscule existance on this mudball! ) since I last picked up a book of hers but I may give it another try.
I'm going through a sci-fi 'phase' at the moment so I may pick up Snare. Let's hope I don't regret it...

 

[Princess Ivy]

what'll you do if you don't like it then?

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Put on my 'angry customer' face and try and blagg the bookshop that it was a katherine kurtz book I meant to by or something..... y'know....improvise & stuff!

 

[rune]

Snare is her new science fiction stand alone book, isn't it? I haven't read it. Could you tell us what it's about, rune?

I would say this is fantasy/sci fi and the sci-fi element isnt as strong as the fantasy element.
I tried this because I got bored of the Deverry series, but I still liked her as an author. I was really pleasant surprise, as it's quite a big book and i had thought it would be detailed and slow paced.
This book focuses on a couple of groups, Captain Idres who defects from his army to bring a new leader to his lands. The other plot line follows the man who hunts him, Zayn who joins a tribe to infiltrate the plains. There is some unique ideas in this story, and the character are well written given them depth and feeling which pulled me into their world. Near the end the story moves from a fantasy/magical feel to a more sci-fi element, but not enough to seem strange to the overall story.
I think it's got a unique feeling and if you've not read it your missing a treat