The Black Raven: Book Two of the Dragon Mage - Softcover

Kerr, Katharine

4.14

3,842 ratings by Goodreads

9780553379501: The Black Raven: Book Two of the Dragon Mage

Softcover

ISBN 10: 055337950X ISBN 13: 9780553379501

Publisher: Spectra, 1999

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

For the devoted followers of the dazzling Deverry and Westlands cycle, Katharine Kerr continues the magical epic saga she began in The Red Wyvern.

In her latest tale, the scene shifts seamlessly between the shattered land of the Rhiddaer and the historic end of the Civil Wars, when Lilli, newly apprenticed to dweomer, fought with her untried powers to save her beloved Prince Maryn from evil.

Centuries later, in the city of Cerr Cawnen, the old evil awakens yet again when the sorceress Raena schemes to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her bitter enemy during life after life. But her malice will draw the intervention of astral powers--and unleash the ravaging rage of Rhodry's guardian dragon. Only another untried dweomer can buy safety for the city and the berserker himself--and only at a most fearsome price....

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

The Black Raven is Book Two of The Dragon Mage and the 10th volume of the Deverry series, a fantasy epic consisting of three interrelated quartets. As Katherine Kerr says, the past and the present are woven together in these novels, and the final volume will link with the first to reveal an overall design akin to a Celtic knot threading back and forth upon itself. This is a strange, pseudo-Celtic world in which reincarnation is a reality and past lives forever affect the present in surprising and unexpected ways. So, while The Black Raven can stand alone, it is advisable that readers begin with the first book, Daggerspell.

In this complex novel of civil war, sacrifice, and power, what impresses most is that Kerr uses an epic canvas to tell a strongly characterized and very human tale of hatred and destructive evil, and of the consequences of past malevolence on both the heroine Lilli and the Prince Maryn. By keeping the narrative tightly focused around a small number of characters, and by maintaining strict limits on the rather elaborately conceived elements of magic and the supernatural, Katherine Kerr ensures that her fantastical history does not overwhelm the more personal and affecting dimensions of the tale. The result is a polished, emotionally involving, and powerful novel in which even the dreams of a dragon may come evocatively to life. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Katharine Kerr

"Katharine Kerr is both a good writer and a thorough Celtic scholar. Indeed, her work is beginning to invite comparisons with Katherine Kurtz's massive Deryni saga."
-- Chicago Sun-Times

"Kerr fluently and gracefully limns her Celtic-based medieval world, depicting attractive and colorful men, women and elves."
-- Publishers Weekly

The boundless imagination of Katharine Kerr
Her novels of Deverry and the Westlands
Daggerspell
Darkspell
The Bristling Wood
The Dragon Revenant
A Time Of Exile
A Time Of Omens
Days Of Blood And Fire
Days Of Air And Darkness
The Red Wyvern

Available from Bantam Spectra Books

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.