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Book Cover |
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Excerpt |
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"What
are you doing?"
Cardiel moved to Morgan's side and
peered into the pool. His words brought the other two from their
studies, and they, too, watched as Morgan stripped off mail and leathers
until he was left with only a sleeveless linen singlet and his belt
dagger.
"I think there's a passage
underneath," Morgan said, lowering himself into the water and easing
himself over to the rock face blocking their way. "I'll be back in a
moment."
With that, he took a deep breath and
ducked his head under water, sending himself downward with a stroke of
his arms and a powerful frog kick. The three watched as he disappeared
into the murky depths, then waited as he did not surface. With a frown,
Duncan herded the light sphere closer and peered into the pool. Finally,
they saw bubbles breaking the surface a few yards out from where Morgan
had disappeared, and then a sleek golden head broke the surface. Morgan
grinned as he shook the hair from his eyes and swam toward them.
"I found a passage," he said,
shaking his head again to clear the water from his ears. "It's only
about three feet long, but it's at least six or seven feet down.
Bishop Cardiel, can you swim?"
"Well,
I--yes. But I never..."
"That's all right, you'll do
fine," Morgan grinned, reaching up to slap the bishop's ankle
reassuringly. Kelson, I'll let you go first. It's dark on the other
side, of course, but the edge of the pool is only a few yards away. As
soon as you make shore, conjure up a light and then get back in the
water to help Cardiel. I'll wait with him until you've had a chance to
finish."
Kelson
nodded, shrugging out of the last of his outer garments as Morgan
finished. "What about our weapons? We can't take them with us, and we
may need them on the other side."
"We can get more in my tower room.
We'll go there first," Morgan replied, reaching out a hand to assist
Kelson into the water.
"All right,
show me this underwater passage of yours."
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Synopsis |
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Morgan, the half Deryni, and his cousin,
Monsignor Duncan McLain, travel to Dhassa seeking out the section of the
church that has broken away from the other half of the church that is
prosecuting Morgan and Duncan. Derry, Morgan's spy, is captured by the
renegade Deryni, Wencit, and warped by the Deryni's magic until he is
convinced that someway, somehow, someday he will betray Morgan. Wencit
also convinces the Earl of Marley, Bran Coris, to join his army to
Wencit's.
Duncan's father's army welcomes Bran's army with open
arms, only to be slaughtered by Bran's army in a surprise attack.
Duncan's father is captured and hauled to Wencit's castle. Morgan
and Duncan finally reach Dhassa and are restored back into the church,
thereby dropping the Interdict placed on them by the church in Deryni
Checkmate.
Kelson's army meets them in Dhassa and they travel to
Morgan's city, Coroth, because Warin has taken possession of it. Warin,
the healer who may have gotten his powers from God, is convinced to join
his king and the two armies merge.
After returning to Dhassa, Morgan
meets Bran Coris' wife, and realizes that this is the woman he has
glimpsed a few times in the past, and knew that she was his destiny,
especially when she mentions it first. He has quite a dilemma to
solve: her husband is a traitor and must be killed. Will she possibly
want to be with him if he is the one to kill her husband? And what of
her 4-year old son who worships his father?
High Deryni is the third book of The Chronicles
of the Deryni trilogy.
There is debate about which series should be read
first, either this one or The Legends of Camber of Culdi trilogy, which
take place 300 years before this story, or this one. According to the
author, the books should be read in the order that they were originally
published.
This is a fantasy tale about a man who must avoid being
prosecuted because of his blood, and also stop a war from brewing. The
church firmly believes that all Deryni must renounce their heritage and
swear to never use magic again. Their main target is Morgan, but they
also focus on Duncan once they learn that he is also Deryni. And what of
King Kelson, who is also half Deryni? Will he be next?
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Review |
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High Deryni starts off a little slow, but
after the first 80 pages, the pace of the story picks up and moves along
at a fast pace.
I was a little happier this time around as the main part
of the story focuses on all three of the main characters, Kelson, Morgan
and Duncan. I really do like reading about them as a group. This story
mainly centers around the defeat of the renegade Deryni, and Morgan,
Duncan and Kelson being accepted as full Deryni because of the talents
that they have shown.
Questions are finally answered in this concluding
story as everything comes to a nice close. But is it the ending I
expected . . . NO. I am not sure if I felt a little gypped, or if the
way High Deryni
ended was a good thing. I will let you be the judge of that.
I rated this book an 8½ out of 10. |
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