Wednesday 23 September 2020

A Time of Justice by Katherine Kerr

All this progress on the Redwall readthrough was making me feel like I was cheating on my other readthroughs, so let's get back to business and wrap up the second mini-series of the Deverry Cycle.

First Time

The horsefolk have started a war. It's up to Rhodry and his new dragon buddy, Arzosah, to end it. And maybe mete out a little justice on the way.

Something I've pointed out a few times in this series is that the titles are pretty to the point. Well, this book is fair concerned about justice. That's pretty obvious from the flashback that forms the first part of the narrative, in which a young pair of Silver Daggers named Rhodry and Jill stumble on a plot to murder a noble lord, and follow it all the sorry way to a murderer - a murderer Rhodry is sure he now recognises many years later, despite dispensing lethal justice himself.

That murderer is deep in the war for Cerr Cengarn of course. It's hard to work out who's in a worse position  - the beleaguered garrison, or the Horsekin standing in the way of the hammer that is Cerr Cengarn's allies. Which isn't a bad way to depict a war really.

Kerr shows the war from all angles, which I appreciate. As a result, we see all the terror and tension, all the brief glorious moments of elation. She shows a fine touch of depicting the politics of war too, with the will-they won't-they of some of the allies' faithfulness on both sides. The result of both is a page turner.

The pages are filled with emotion too. We've walked a long road with these characters and now we're in the hardest days of a war, not every character gets to survive - and those that do, they have lessons to learn. When it comes to fulfilling arcs and making memorable endings, A Time of Justice delivers. Spoilers to that will come in the second time section as per usual.

As for the rest of it, this fits into the standard Deverry mould - pseudo-Celticisim abounds, the characters act with a mix of pragmatic brutality and kind-hearted nobility, magic abounds in secret and has a sacred natured, and so on. Anybody who has got this far in the series knows what to expect.

And here the execution as is good as any point in the second quarter - the Westlands quartet - making this a more than worthy ending.

Second Time

So much to say. So little idea of how to say it. So much desire to not unload the good stuff right here at the beginning of spoiler country.

I guess I'll start with the idea that this is where the Deverry Cycle changes from one story to another. To reiterate, the original four books were the story of how the tangle between Jill, Rhodry, Nevyn and Cullyn finally became untangled. Time of Omens and Time of Exile solved some loose ends and expanded the world, but it's only with Time of War that the new story became clear. However, this being Deverry, strands overlap. As such, Time of Justice is not only the ending to that original Jill/Rhodry/Nevyn/Cullyn arc (or at least, an ending), but an ending to a series, and a transition from one story to another. It's a lot to fit into one book but here I think it works. The book doesn't feel busy but still has a lot happening, which in many ways seems ideal to me.

Without knowing what goes ahead - I do, but pretending I don't - I'd say the new story interests me, but hasn't totally grabbed me. The chance to find out more about the elves and dwarves intrigue me. I don't particularly care for the Horsefolk though, and the people of Cerr Cewnen lack the marvellously flawed and attractive nature of Deverry. I am currently working on posts about the dangers involved in expanding fantasy worlds; I think the Deverry Cycle makes a fine case for its inclusion there.

One new element that does work is Arzosah. I dimly recall - or think I do - not being that impressed Kerr had added a dragon back on the first read. How many dragons does the genre need? Arzosah is one of the better examples. A little alien, casually violent and malicious, yet often a source of empathy and frequently a source of wisdom, she's full of great lines and fits a good model of dragonkind to me. Best of all though, is the dynamic she's got with Rhodry. Letting us see Rhodry as the least bloodthirsty, and most powerful, person in a relationship is a good way to see the ways he has - and hasn't - changed. Him granting Arzosah her freedom is one of the most satisfying moments of the book, a truly worthy climax.

The other great ending - Jill's death in combat with Alshandra - is right and well placed, but cursed if I can remember details. Which is kinda sad, you know? Great deaths should be memorable. Something about this moment slips away from me.

Something else that has slipped away from me are Evandar and the Guardians, a fairly vital part of the plot that I have not mentioned all series long. Not once. Which is, in itself, its own comment. Sitting here, typing dispassionately, the tale of an entire race being reborn from plane of incarnation to another should be awesome. It's a fantastic fantasy conceit. And it never took here. Is that because I regarded it as a sideshow, a prop to the story of Dalla (one of my favourite characters for reasons I can't quite pinpoint), a distract to the story of Rhodry and Jill? Or was it because the Guardians themselves didn't capture me with their somewhat infantile take on alien non-comprehension? I don't know. 

They are important thematically though, as Imyril pointed out in the comments of the last one. They're a walking talking embodiment of the growth of personal responsibility from childish beginnings - which is probably why Kerr made them seem so immature. They're the race that never grew up, they're a host of Peter Pans, spirits that simply want what they want and don't think about the consequences. It's nothing personal, they just don't really know how - except for Evandar, most powerful of their breed. And even for him, it is a long road, full of misunderstandings and petulance. I should look his arc better than I do. But I don't. I do like the coda where he confesses his love to Rhodry and they have weird etheric sex, proving once and for all this series really is about the erotic adventures of Rhodry Maelwaedd. I really shouldn't be cheering for a series based solely on the author saying "yes, people have sex" but here we are. It provides a little balance to some of the less flattering examples of homosexuality earlier in the book too.

One final observation. This is a very good book. It's a good series. Do I feel the need to tell people about it the same way I do the original quartet? No. Because at the end of it, something vital has been lost. Daggerspell and its kin burned with the passions of its heroes and had a clarity equal to any felt in the halls of light between lives. That same force is not evident there. This is fine stuff, but not the same. And I have to say, I think I would like it better were it not have Deverry's name. 

But it does, and I don't. 

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