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1.0 out of 5 stars
A great disappointment . . ., Nov 13 2000
It's hard for me to be objective about this novel. I grew up with the Deryni books, I read them over and over again, and the first six (Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, High Deryni, Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, and Camber the Heretic) represented one of my favorite fantasy novel sagas of the time, huge in scope, vast in the apparent stretch of time, richly detailed by an author who knew the historical period, ahhh, it was hard for me to find anything that could measure up.I waited, with great anticipation, the arrival of the third trilogy, heavily advertised. Bishop's Heir proved excellent and The Kings Justice was also quite interesting (and although I didn't know it, the seeds of my disatisfaction were sown here). The Quest for Saint Camber, though. The title implied so much, and I knew that this author, so brilliant so far, would never do anything trite, easily expected, or trivial. However, from the get go, the novel led me down a path of anguish. All the characters started going in odd directions, as if a great fleet had lost its commander, they stumbled around, failed to see things right in front of them, and then were surprised when they were bitten. I felt sick to my stomach, literally. I went through a short term depression over my disappointment with this book (at that age, my novels were all I had). I will most certainly never read this novel again. I wish it had never been published, much less that I had spent money on it. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but then, eight previous novels had led those expectations to a high pinnacle . . . the fall hurt.
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