There was I minding my own business on Twitter (lie number one, the point of Twitter is not minding your own business) when I saw him talking about a Deverry readalong. I'd been musing over what to read next despite having about four books unfinished - nothing seemed to appeal. But a re-read of Daggerspell seemed to make an awful lot of sense.
And the next thing I knew, I'd joined the Daggerspell Gang,
Since the poor handful of people who read this blog are about to hear a lot about this creation of Katherine Kerr's, I thought I should explain a little about what makes it so special to me.
Back when I was a mere slip of a lad, I tended to read the same Epic Fantasy series over and over. I knew what I liked but I struggled to find new varieties of it. I'd find other fantasy books but most of the time, nothing about the blurb or a quick flick inside grabbed me. I was picky. Then one day I found a battered copy of Daggerspell in a second hand bookshop in Newport.
What I immediately loved about Daggerspell was that it was both your standard 80s Epic Fantasy and it wasn't. Yes, it was a bildungsroman with a sorcerous mentor, where the good guys were good and the baddies were bad. But the setting was something else. Instead of the usual 'History's Greatest Hits' kitchen sink, there was this cohesive feudal Celtic society. And instead of using it as so much ice for skating over en route to the quest, the plot took us delving deep into it. Many fantasy cultures feel like direct extensions of our own. Not the world of Deverry.
The older I've grown, and the more I've re-read these books, the more this sense of "something else" has grown and established my love of this series. A lot of my childhood favourites have palled over the years but I still feel like Daggerspell is just genuinely great. I still feel like I'm reading about this wild not-here place where people don't think like this and don't act like us. I've nothing against fantasy worlds with a very modern feeling - big Discworld fan here - but I've got a real soft spot for that sense of alien.
It helps that I'm very fond of the characters, warts and all. The cast have a very good charm to wart ratio for my liking - human, flawed, occasionally irritating, but ultimately admirable and interesting. Their flaws feel very true to life too. How many of those handsome, powerful 80s-90s young fantasy heroes just wanted to have it away with every pretty woman they saw? Right. Now, how many young heterosexual males do you know who don't want to have it away with every pretty woman they see? Right. Thank you. They argue over money and bicker over drinking.
In short, Kerr's book feels like an honest portrayal of humanity. Which is not to say that Eddings, Feist, Jordan, Lackey, and so on and so on weren't honest, but there were certain omissions in their accounts. Kerr has less. And while I don't dislike those authors for their omissions, I do like Kerr more for her lack.
So a re-read it is. Or maybe a re-re-read, as I accidentally finished the book in a day. And I will talk lots about it, because it's a book where I really don't have to pay attention to read it which means I can pay attention to the tiny details, and because I hope that I can persuade someone to pick it up and enjoy it as well. A lot of classics flourish late. Hopefully Daggerspell can be one of them.
Now back to myplotting heists with the daring Daggerspell gang reading.
The older I've grown, and the more I've re-read these books, the more this sense of "something else" has grown and established my love of this series. A lot of my childhood favourites have palled over the years but I still feel like Daggerspell is just genuinely great. I still feel like I'm reading about this wild not-here place where people don't think like this and don't act like us. I've nothing against fantasy worlds with a very modern feeling - big Discworld fan here - but I've got a real soft spot for that sense of alien.
It helps that I'm very fond of the characters, warts and all. The cast have a very good charm to wart ratio for my liking - human, flawed, occasionally irritating, but ultimately admirable and interesting. Their flaws feel very true to life too. How many of those handsome, powerful 80s-90s young fantasy heroes just wanted to have it away with every pretty woman they saw? Right. Now, how many young heterosexual males do you know who don't want to have it away with every pretty woman they see? Right. Thank you. They argue over money and bicker over drinking.
In short, Kerr's book feels like an honest portrayal of humanity. Which is not to say that Eddings, Feist, Jordan, Lackey, and so on and so on weren't honest, but there were certain omissions in their accounts. Kerr has less. And while I don't dislike those authors for their omissions, I do like Kerr more for her lack.
So a re-read it is. Or maybe a re-re-read, as I accidentally finished the book in a day. And I will talk lots about it, because it's a book where I really don't have to pay attention to read it which means I can pay attention to the tiny details, and because I hope that I can persuade someone to pick it up and enjoy it as well. A lot of classics flourish late. Hopefully Daggerspell can be one of them.
Now back to my
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