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DerynifanK

March 17, 2024, 03:48:44 PM
Happy St Patrick's Day. Enjoy the one day of the year when the whole world is Irish.

The King's Deryni

Started by Laurna, December 02, 2014, 12:29:37 AM

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Evie

Hi!  We're all hoping for a Codex third edition, once KK manages to get Rob's files from his widow and update them.  If you can think of any discrepancies between the Codex and the book series (or within the Codex entries themselves) that need to be fixed, here is the thread to post them in:  http://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,453.0.html.  IIRC, the Michaelines who managed to escape Gwynedd eventually merged with (or perhaps evolved into becoming?) the Knights of the Anvil, which would make Sir Se one of the beneficiaries of those merged strains of magical training.
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

drakensis

I don't recall the exact date, but the Anvilers are indeed the current form of what was once the Michaelines. Having been driven from Gwynedd and lost their one Torenthi holding to an invasion of the Norse around the turn of the millenium, they refocused on their southern holdings and on guarding the routes to the Holy Land (somewhere south of Bremagne).

They seem to have adopted a number of Islamic - or at least Arabic - practises.

Laurna

 ;D ;D Dancing!  ;D ;D clapping!  ;D ;D Done!
More please!
We need a spoiler thread where those who have read it can play. Dessert Rose, shall I send you the book to read. Because you have to administrate to the forum, I'm guessing we should not start such a spoiler page until you have read it yourself. So read on, soon, good lady, read on.
May your horses have wings and fly!

DesertRose

I'm not terribly concerned about spoilers at this point.  Most people have read it by now, and since I do most of the moderating (which mainly consists of reading posts, really), I knew I'd get spoiled when I realized I wasn't going to get my grubby mitts on it right away.

Besides, we all know Alaric lives to the end.  :)

Now if the library will get their copy and let me know I can get my grubby mitts on it and read...  :P
"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls.  (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

Jerusha

I'm still pressing onward, and am just over a third of the way through (which is over 200 pages, come to think of it.)

One thing I am enjoying is having characters from the initial Deryni trilogy put in appearances at younger ages.  Getting to see them in their earlier years and environments is quite interesting.
From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggity beasties and things that go bump in the night...good Lord deliver us!

 -- Old English Litany

Alkari

My copy has finally arrived!  So naturally I spent most of last night reading ...

According to Amazon, the expected delivery date was last Monday, but nothing appeared that day.  When I checked the Amazon site, it said there had been a delivery delay because of 'problems with the carrier'.   I decided that I would send an SOS to Santa if it hadn't arrived by Friday, but when I staggered up from the car yesterday evening with several bags of Christmas supplies, there was the package waiting for me at the door  :D 

revanne

I really enjoyed TKD - obviously there is not the tension of most of the other books but that is the nature of fill ins. Anyone else agree that Alaric is let down by Brion - it might explain his darkling phase.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46 v1)

Curlytop

#67
Quote from: revanne on December 02, 2014, 12:43:43 PM
:-\ Worries in case a previously undiscovered deryni ability has diverted Evie's copy towards the UK :D
So that's how I got my copy so quick.

I have now read it through, and I must say "very ingeniously done". The action covers the time period of two short stroies, "The Priesting of Arilan" and "Swords against the Marluk", but here these events take place more or less offstage so there is no need to incorporate those short stories into the text.

I've found a little typo already. At the top of page 500, King Brion discusses events that have just occurred in the battle against the Marluk, and he is reported as saying "My father, King Cinhil, entrusted a few of those abilities to me before his death . . ." I have supposed the use of Cinhil to be a simple typo for Donal, for even if Brion had been speaking poetically about Cinhil his forefather, the details that follow could not possibly apply to Cinhil.

Curlytop

#68
Quote from: drakensis on December 14, 2014, 03:48:36 AM
Those two are a powerful combination, to my mind. Alaric's name (from the gothic 'all-ruler') blond hair indicating his ties to the 'germanic'* Deryni of the east (See also the blonde Charissa, and blond MacRories),
As my avatar might suggest, I was a natural curly blond when I was little. (Still curly but . . .) Whenever I have tried to visualise young Alaric at various ages, the images I come up with look more like myself at that age!

I was reckoned as something of a child prodigy with a strong mathematical bent when I was little, so yes, I reckon at age 13 I could have done the things that Alaric did - his development is not too far-fetched. And if I had the ability, I could have prepared the king for battle with the Marluk. And yes I too would have resisted the amorous interest of Princess Silke.

Laurna

Quote"My father, King Cinhil,
I saw that typo as well, and had thought to point it out, but then forgot. I am in with another author who allows a small group of beta readers to preread his stories before they are published to catch things like that, which an editor less familiar with the characters might miss.  I think that getting beta readers like Evie and Desert Rose to give KK a full review before the book was published would have fixed the few things that were incorrect or redundant. It seems to have worked for this other fairly known author quite well.  Though I myself do not feel I am qualified to be a beta reader for this quality a novel.
May your horses have wings and fly!

Curlytop

Quote from: revanne on December 18, 2014, 01:32:45 AM
Anyone else agree that Alaric is let down by Brion - it might explain his darkling phase.
No I wouldn't say so myself. For Brion the choice was Alaric or Jehana, and I feel he made the right choice, to reclaim the queen to enable him to get his son and heir, with Alaric happy to take up his duties in Corwyn.

Alkari

#71
Agree.  For the sake of the kingdom, Brion needed an heir a.s.a.p. and until then, it would have been extremely dangerous for him to stand up for Alaric too openly.   If Brion had done so, Archbishop de Nore and co would have ensured that everyone in the kingdom was told that 'the evil Deryni' had somehow bewitched Brion and was responsible for the marital rift and therefore no heir.  Brion was already treading a fine line with the Church as regards Alaric, especially confirming him in his titles at such a young age: openly siding with Alaric against his queen so early in the marriage would have endangered Brion himself, brought the Church down on Alaric and opened the way for even more anti-Deryni persecutions.

Perhaps behind the scenes Brion could have been a little more determined in his efforts to make Jehana understand that he was not going to give up Alaric, for her or anyone else, but equally, he could not be too emphatic about it to start with lest she and/or her religious advisers run off to de Nore. 

The name 'Alaric' is also often given as meaning 'noble ruler', which I think is slightly more appropriate in Deryniverse than 'all-ruler'.    Some years ago, I was with my mother when a friend of hers happily announced that she had a new grandson, but the parents had given the poor child a very strange name which she had never heard of - Alaric.     They were both totally startled when I said I not only knew the name (from RL history as well as fiction) but was able to give them the meaning!!    Friend was still a little dubious, but I assured her that the name was easy to spell, and that as it wasn't a common one, the kid was unlikely to meet any other Alarics running around at school   :D

jemler (RIP)

I caught that one too. There was another. Jamyls' father was sick, and Brion claimed that Jamyls grandfather was Seisyll. Seisyll was Jamyls uncle.

Jerusha

I've finished it and enjoyed it immensely.  So many characters and events - I confess, I had a little trouble keeping all the pages and squires names straight at times, especially when they were out of sight for a bit.  I still ache for Alaric in his return to court after Kenneth's death, even with Llion at his side it would never be the same.  I'm rather sorry that it's over now, but I will read it again.   :D

From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggity beasties and things that go bump in the night...good Lord deliver us!

 -- Old English Litany

Alice

I got my copy from Amazon early in December and am looking forward to reading it.  It's been hard keeping my mitts off it till Christmas vacation. 

Have a question for anyone.  Did anyone re-read "In the King's Service" and "Childe Morgan" first?  I thought perhaps reading the bios of the main characters from the Codex would refresh my memory enough. 

This is my first post on the newer forums - used to post back in the old newsgroup years ago.  Thank you again Desert rose for helping me to register here.   Look forward to reading the discussions about TKD after I get done reading it.  Happy New Year's everyone!   :)