"great Deryni tale"

The King of Gwynedd, Donal Haldane rules through divine right and his powers are said to come of God. The Deryni, a race of sorcerers, are said to be evil and secular. Church law doesn't grant them the same rights as humans. In actuality, the power of the Haldanes and the Deryni are much alike; Donal has no problems using the Deryni to help him maintain peace in the Eleven Kingdoms.

Lady Alycee De Corwyn is the sister of the future duke and a great heiress who knows she must make a dynastic marriage. While she awaits the king's decree, she arrives at court to serve the Haldanes as only a Deryni can. After losing a father and brother to Gwynedd's enemies, Donal implements a plan that would make her child his son's protector by betraying a woman he has come to respect and a man he calls friend.

This novel takes place after the massacre of the Deryni following the Haldane Restoration. The survivors are slowly coming out into the open again hoping to prove to the humans that they are not evil just because a few commit malevolent acts. Still they are feared and the church encourages mankind to hate the Deryni but through their loyal service to the crown, humanity is slowly being shown that being Deryni is not a bad thing. Katherine Kurtz still reigns as the queen of historical fantasies in a series she started almost three decades ago.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 5, 2003

Summary

In this first book of an all-new Deryni trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Kurtz takes readers back in time-before King Kelson's bride...before King Kelson's birth...when the magical Deryni blood was sought by the most powerful men and women in the kingdom of Gwynedd. Back when a man named Donal ruled over all...