Daggerspell (Mass Market Paperback)

The bad things: I found the writing style to be quite bland. The descriptions and details were average at best, although the dialogue rang true in many instances. Overall, though, it was quite unmemorable. In addition to that, it all seemed a little too easy to me. The battles didn't seem hard fought. The characters' hardships were somehow always easily resolved, seeming to be nothing more than minor setbacks instead of real problems. As far as themes go, the incest theme bothered me a great deal. I'm not a prudish person, but just the idea of incest makes me squirm. In this novel, the theme wasn't just touched upon; it was explored in depth, making me unable to truly enjoy the depth of the story. The transition between the past and the present was also quite awkward at times.

Overall, I would not recommend this novel. For those who do end up reading it, it should only be read as a fun, light, fantasy novel and with no greater expectations.

Specific problems I had: few of the characters appear to be readily distinguishable from one another, and again and again Kerr doesn't listen to the most obvious rule in writing-- show, don't tell, so her characterisations suffer. At moments the writing is quite good, so this feels more like carelessness than lack of talent. However, almost without exception, the dialogue is bland and plodding, with consistently inane 'witty' comments.

Furthermore, I found the repeated flashbacks not worth the time. The present-day story, that of Jill, is by far the most interesting, and in general the interspersed flashbacks merely detract from it. After hearing the original story of Galrion, Brangwen, Gerraent, and Blaen, we know it; we do not require a dozen retellings to get the idea. It is certainly impressive that Kerr manages to find different aspects to fit these reincarnations into each time. Some few of these flashbacks are interesting, but Kerr (and her editors) for some bizarre reason decided not to remove the useless chaff and keep the good parts.

In deciding to buy this book, think about why you want it-- If you are looking for something to while away the hours with-- say, airplane or beach reading-- by all means, go for it, but don't go into this expecting a great work of fantasy, because unless your standards are pretty low, you won't find it. And be warned, because you'll end up getting another dozen or so books, none of which are any better than this (and some much worse)