Though I have been a fan of fantasy fiction since high school, I had never read any of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books. Having recently moved to Toronto, and having to put most of my books in storage, I took the Chronicles of the Deryni with me so that I could finally read this first Deryni trilogy. Overall, I found it entertaining but not as engaging as I had hoped.

The first novel, Deryni Rising, tells the story of Kelson Haldane, a young prince, whose father is murdered. Kelson not only must take up the crown, but also try to hold together a fractious kingdom, threatening to tear itself asunder over the Deryni question. The Deryni are an ancient race gifted with magical powers. The Church condemns all Deryni due to a historical wrong committed by some of the Deryni. Alaric Morgan, the late King's counsellor and friend, and mentor of young Kelson is half Deryni. The kingdom is divided between those who tolerate the Deryni and those who wish them destroyed, and Kelson must try to both hold the kingdom together and stop the Deryni persecution, all the while aware that his father's murderer, a powerful Deryni sorceress, now stalks him.

While an excellent read, this novel seemed slightly rushed. Now, the thing to remember is that this novel, published in the early seventies, predates the heyday of fantasy fiction, and Katherine Kurtz was one of the authors creating the tropes and paradigms that have come to dominate fantasy fiction. As such, Ms. Kurtz laboured not only to create a setting and character, but, in essence, a very genre. Under these considerations, one can accept a certain sense of urgency, a feeling of haste, that one might be missing something, or that not everything has been explained. By the end of the book, most of the loose ends, at least those loose ends that are not drawing one to the next work.

The setting of Gwynedd is an accessible, original and compelling one. Ms. Kurtz's background and studies in history served her well in the creation of the setting. Gwynedd is one of the more unique settings in its mixture of real institutions and cultures--such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Moors--with a wholly fabricated nation, characters and history. There is an air of reality that permeates Gwynedd's unreality. This world, fully realized, draws the reader into and along the story as much as the characters do.

And the characters are enjoyable and fashioned with the same loving detail as the world. I do have one gripe with the characters presented. The good guys are all too . . . good. Their faults as presented are so minor compared to their virtues as to seem like an errant thumbprint on the Mona Lisa, or a scratch on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It seems--and I may be way off base here, but--like Ms. Kurtz realized the need for her characters to have flaws. Her love of the characters is evident, and one can well imagine the difficulty one might have in finding a fault for the witty and charming Alaric Morgan, or the noble young Kelson.

This is, of course, heroic fiction, and so such considerations are not terribly important. These are heroes, not anti-heroes. They live epic lives of grandeur, and are not touched by the cares and labours of the common man. Their challenges are immense, and so the characters must be exceptional to overcome them. Looking back, I can criticize the characters as too perfect. While I read the book, I hardly noticed it. This is gripping, enjoyable heroic fantasy.

Ms. Kurtz's talent as a writer was best illustrated when I missed three subway stops, having become far too engrossed in this first novel for my own good.

The second novel, Deryni Checkmate, relates the further adventures and misadventures of Kelson, Alaric and Alaric's cousin, Duncan McLain, who is both a priest and half Deryni. While Kelson wrestles with a kingdom on the verge of a simultaneous civil war and invasion by a foreign power, Alaric sets himself against the Church which threatens to place his duchy under interdict because of Alaric's heritage. In aiding cousin and King, Duncan must reconcile his Deryni blood with his religious calling.

The pace of this novel is much more even. While it is by no means a slow-paced work, gone is the sense of urgency that made me wonder if the first book had some deadline or restriction. Perhaps it was simply that this novel had the foundation of the first novel to work from. In any case, while there was some attempt to create faults in the immaculate facades of the characters, they remain more decent, more wondrous and more heroic than any real figure. A lack of reality is, of course, an important facet of fantasy. For myself, though, realistic character--especially in unreal settings--are very important to my enjoyment of a fictional work. Ms. Kurtz, though, drew me in with her heroes by the sheer excitement of the narrative and her gifts as a storyteller.

Maybe it was my imagination, or maybe because I read the novels in order and had become very accustomed to Ms. Kurtz's style, but I thought I could recognize a maturation in technique. While the character's occasionally devolved into a faux-Shakespearean dialect, for the most part, the dialogue and action never slipped into the melodramatic or ridiculous. While events were foreshadowed, nothing hinted of contrivance. As much, and maybe more so than the first, the second novel of the trilogy was enjoyable and full of good, old fashioned, rollicking adventure.

The trilogy closes with High Deryni. In this book, the secrets of the Cambrian Council, the identity of Morgan and Duncan's benefactor, and the fate of Gwynedd are all neatly wrapped up. I would not term this a happy ending, because the Kingdom of Gwynedd has not completely solved its Deryni problem, but it is as happy an ending as one can expect.

This, like its predecessors, is a novel of high adventure--as the saying goes--and it gripped me and wouldn't let me leave Gwynedd. I had to exert a great effort to keep myself from missing any more subway stops. However, if I had to make a criticism, and I feel I must, I would say that for a people ready to slaughter the Deryni, too often individuals come to terms with and overcome their hatreds too easily. I hesitate to point out the durability of anti-Semitism in the world, and we live in a--hopefully--much more enlightened age.

While too often solutions seemed to pat, I would say this is no more an impediment to enjoyment than coincidences in the lives of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and any regular reader will know my feelings on that particular duo. If one were to ask my opinion on whether to read this trilogy, I would whole-heartedly recommend it. Any fantasy lover will enjoy these book. I'm not saying that any fantasy lover will love them, and I cannot say that I love them, but a regular reader of fantasy fiction looking to score more of the same could do much, much worse.

I would lay some of the success of the modern form of fantasy fiction at Katherine Kurtz's door thanks to the work she did with the Chronicles of the Deryni, and I need no longer hang my head in shame and admit I have not read them. Now I suppose I have to cure that dreaded lack of Eddison in my diet.