The Deer's Cry: A Book of the Keltiad [Mass Market Paperback]

Once, and not so very long ago, Patricia Kennealy-Morrison wrote fascinating books setting the Kelts in space. She created one of the best-loved fantasy heroines in Aeron, and rewrote the Arthurian legend. Then she wrote the turgid Blackmantle. I hoped it was an aberration, a necessary cleansing of her memories and grievances that somehow missed the editor's desk, and looked forward to her next book.

The Deer's Cry is the story of Brendan the Astrogator, the Kelt who led his people to space, and it should be a rollicking, wild ride. Instead, Kennealy-Morrison puts the reader to sleep with an overlong volume of endless bickering between Brendan and Padraig, also known as St. Patrick, using their feud to symbolize the conflict between pagans and the Church. That, I could have handled; the pagan world's reaction to Christianity was not always awe and acceptance, and it would have been a treat to show some real arguments and debates between the two principals--if Brendan had been less self-righteous, or Padraig the least bit sympathetic. Instead, the characters are all drawn in black and white, the battle is overbalanced in favor of the pagans (who always manage to get in the last word), and everything about the Christians or the early Celtic Church is shown in the darkest light possible.

I'm not looking forward to another book in this planned trilogy. If this is the form Kennealy-Morrison plans to espouse from now on, I dread thinking about what her Gwydion trilogy will look like. For now, I'll keep my "Keltiad" and "Arthur" trilogies as an example of what Kennealy-Morrison can do when she's focused and uses an editor.

Let me state, first and foremost, this is the most egregious example of Mary Sue-ism I have ever read. It stinks; it wreaks; it screams Mary Sue. I didn't know you could do that with an entire book, not just a character. If you don't know what Mary Sue means, Google it and chortle.

The entire book reads like bad fanfic. While I can admire well done flowery prose, detailed descriptions and an attempt to differentiate the speech of an ancient people, the prose clunks along, a well-turned phrase suddenly crumpling into ungrammatical pain. The book is full of interminable descriptions with tongue-twisting dialogue even the characters would have protested if they could speak their minds. I would skip several paragraphs at once to get to the heart of a scene because her descriptions rarely had bearing on the action and were too boring/distracting to plow through. To publish such poor writing should be a crime.

There was nothing resembling tension, action, risk or excitement in this book. Ms. Kennealy is simply relating to her readers the events of the Celt's (Kelt's) immram from Earth and she's managed to strip every last hint of passion from it. Despite the fact her readers know it succeeded there's not the slightest bit of worry that some of the key characters may not make it. There is not the tiniest fear that their plans will be found out by Patraic or his followers and nefarious plots hatched to stop them. There is not the teensiest concern that a close friend might betray them. There is so little danger to the character's or their endeavor you wonder why you're reading it at all.

I honestly disliked the childish manner in which she portrayed both faiths. I'm a Pagan and even I found the way she treated Christianity to be offensive and rude, using the same hack arguments without thought. And she did equal disservice to her version of ancient Celtic faith (not that anything is actually known other than what little Irish monk-scholars recorded at the time) by holding it up as the one and far better faith. She becomes guilty of the hubris she decries in Patraic and his followers.

This book could have been so much better if Patraic were as sympathetic and admirable as Brendan and they had honest debates about the merits and flaws of each religion. But that would have taken away her cardboard cutout bad guy as well as her catalyst for the immram. Then Ms. Kennealy would have had to do something she seems incapable of - coming up with a better, more compelling reason for the Kelts to leave Earth. So, Patraic and his followers are brutish thugs and Brendan and the other Gael/Danaans proclaim themselves and their faith superior with a smirk and a wink. Yeah, that's mature.

If you need a Kelts in Space fix, go back and read her first three books. They are far, far better than this effort.

I have been an avid fan of the Keltiad since I first read The Copper Crown many years ago, and will probably continue to be. However, Blackmantle was quite disappointing, and The Deer's Cry was also definitely not one of the author's better efforts. I admit, I was somewhat uncomfortable with the vitriolic perspective on Christianity, but in all fairness, the Church has perpetrated some awful stuff over the centuries, and has usually been very successful in hushing it up, so it was very interesting to read a truly alternative perspective (even it did stir up some discomfort). My main beef with this book is one which has been evident in her others, but which is becoming more, rather than less, obvious: her characters are too black and white. They are either good/perfect/wonderful/admirable or evil/shallow minded/stupid. Let's face it: most of us are halfway in between the two. I think that Patraic would have been more believable had he been somewhat less hypocritical and less someone who deliberately and openly twisted facts for his own benefit (a religious fanatic who truly could not see the illogic of his beliefs is far more believable and would have achieved the same result); similarly Brendan would have generated more sympathy had the conflict been a little more evenly balanced. For one thing, if the conflict was as unsubtle as the author describes, why would the King and Queen have kept giving in to Patraic's demands? I think that the author's personal bitterness and anger is dominating more and more of her work, to its detriment.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 26 reviews  3.2 out of 5 stars