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Camber of Culdi (Legends of Camber of Culdi, Vol 1)

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Author: Katherine Kurtz
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$4.95~~
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

12 reviews
Sales Rank: 259672

Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 30
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.2 x 1.1

ISBN: 0345347676
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345347671
ASIN: 0345347676

Publication Date: August 12, 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Also Available In:

•	Mass Market Paperback - Camber of Culdi
•	Paperback - Camber of Culdi
•	Mass Market Paperback - Camber of Culdi (The Legends of Camber of Culdi, Vol. 1)
•	Paperback - Camber of Culdi (Legends of Camber of Culdi)
•	Mass Market Paperback - Camber of Culdi
•	Paperback - Camber of Culdi
•	Mass Market Paperback - Camber of Culdi (The Legends of Camber of Culdi, Vol. 1) (Chronicles of the Deryni, Vol. IV)
•	Paperback - Camber of Culdi (The Chronicles of Deryni, IV)
•	Paperback - Camber of Culdi (Her the Legends of Camber of Culdi ; V. 1)
•	Mass Market Paperback - Camber of Culdi (V.1)
•	Mass Market Paperback - Camber of Culdi (The Legends of Camber of Culdi, Volume 1) (Legends of Camber of Culdi)
•	Hardcover - Camber of Culdi (The Legends of Camber of Culdi)

Similar Items:

•	Camber the Heretic (Legends of Camber of Culdi, Vol 3)
•	Saint Camber (Volume II in the Legends of Camber of Culdi)
•	King Javan's Year (Heirs of Saint Camber, Vol 2)
•	Bastard Prince (Heirs of Saint Camber)
•	Deryni Rising

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Camber was the greatest of the Deryni who wanted to retire. But it was not to be. The kingdom of Gwynedd groaned under the tyranny of Imre and his sister and mistress, Ariella. And when Camber learned that Cinhil Haldane, a descendant of the previous kings, still lived, he was determined to set him on the throne in place of the evil ones....

Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Best of the Deryni Books April 10, 2007
Camber, a man torn between his sense of duty and his sense of right and wrong, the Deryni lord who led the war to end the tyranny of his kind and restore a human king to the throne of Gwynedd. Now he must witness the consequences of his moral act as the humans, now in control of the kingdom and the church, systematically strip all Deryni of power, title, land, and humanity. This may be a fantasy novel, but it brilliantly and starkly illustrates the horrors of fanaticism, intolerance, and oppression. It is a dark and tragic book(no escapism here!), and its emotional impact will stay with the reader forever. If you've ever longed for a fantasy with REAL depth, then read this series.

5 out of 5 stars

Camber is real enough to sit beside me while I write this... March 15, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Or so it seems. I've been a fan of Katherine Kurtz' work for quite some time. I read this book first, since it was chronological in her canon, but it was not her first book of the Deryni series. The feeling of mystery and mysticism are very strong in all Kurtz' works, but I find her Camber series books to be the most intriguing. The characters of Camber and his family are so beautifully and intricately described that you can almost feel their presence in the room with you as you're reading. The plot and all its convoluted intrigues are finely wrought and believable, as long as you suspend belief, of course, in the ordinary course of things. Kurtz' world, so much like ours of the medieval period, fools you for a moment into thinking it's just a Dark Ages religious story. Then the magic is woven, subtly, lovingly, into the story. The religious aspects are very detailed and clearly are based on Catholic theology, but diverge when the magic enters. But the magic only heightens the solemnity of the faith, not detracts from it. Some people have criticized Kurtz and others like her for toying with the Catholic faith, but I see she means no disrespect, but instead, reveres the faith. Most of all, her Deryni stories are moral tales denouncing religious and ethnic persecution. This is really the essence of her work. Read them for the power of faith over prejudice.

4 out of 5 stars

Good, but not flawless April 25, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

I have to admit that I was a little nervous when I started reading this book. One of the things that drew me into the other Deryni books that I've read was the characters, but this book is the start of the prequels to the two series that I've already read, and is set approximately two hundred years earlier. It involves a whole different set of characters, most of whom I had never heard of and those that I had were only legends in the books I had already read. Would they be able to draw me in the way the characters in the other books had? What if I didn't like them? Would I be able to enjoy this book as much as I had enjoyed the other series that I had read?

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. The characters in Camber of Culdi drew me in perhaps even more rapidly than the ones in the other Deryni novels I'd read. In particular, I liked Evaine, and not just because she represents a group that seems to be lacking in most fantasy novels-strong females. That was, of course, part of it, but I also found her to be an endearing character in her own right.

Most of the other characters were similarly endearing, though Evaine was my favorite, which really drew me into the book. It only took a few chapters for me to genuinely care about what happened to these people.

I will, however, admit that most of the characterization was not terribly complex. It seemed that the bad guys were bad and the good guys were good and there is only one character that I can think of off the top of my head that was really a mixture, only one that I couldn't tell if I was supposed to like or not. I found that to be a little disturbing, because while generally a person is predominately good or evil, most people do have some demeaning or redeeming qualities, and I found those to be far and few between.

One thing in the book that I have very mixed feelings about is the use of magic. On the one hand, I enjoyed seeing the spells that were only legend in Kelson's time actually be used, but on the other hand the integration of magic with the Church was even stronger here than in the books that take place later, and I found that to be a bit disturbing. The Church in this world is a Christian Church, basically the Catholic Church, though it's never actually called Catholic, and it was disturbing to have Christian Saints invoked for magical spells. I'm not a practicing Christian, but I was raised Christian, and I can definitely see how this would be disturbing to someone who was a practicing Christian.

However, I do think that the inclusion of the Church made the world seem more real. Religion does play a big roll in the lives of many people and so many fantasy writers completely ignore it. I liked the added realism and the similarities with an existing religion did make it easier to relate to than some completely made-up religion.

I thought that the plot of this book, while enjoyable, was its weakest point. There were several things that just happened too easily for me to readily accept them and there were a few rather obvious holes in the plot as well. It wasn't anything that ruined the book, but there were places that left me wondering why or how and other places that just seemed too easy, but never turned out to be that way. It seemed that the Deryni magic, though well done in terms of how it worked, was fallen back upon a little too often and just made a few things a little too simple to accomplish.

Still, I thought that the characters more than made up for that lack, keeping me interested in reading even through the jarring plot moments because I truly did want to know what happened to them and how things worked out in the end.

4 out of 5 stars

Classic historical fantasy book that almost hides its age. April 8, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This was a re-read for me. I had been a fan of the Deryni books many years ago and had read most of the series. When I saw Camber of Culdi on the shelf, I picked it up out of curiosity to see if it would inspire me to circle back around and pick up the books that I hadn't yet read.

I am pleased to report that this first book in the series holds up well under time. Kurtz is a master at creating a sense of foreboding. Unlike many writers in the fantasy genre, you always have the feeling in her world that you might not be getting a happy ending. This is a rare talent, and gives her work its own kind of attractive tension.

For the modern reader the largest drawback of Camber of Culdi is its length. The books were released at a time when the average book length was significantly shorter than now, and the result was often multi-book series. The titles in these series often have the feeling of being either a little bit overstuffed or a little bit thin. I really enjoyed Camber of Culdi. However, as a modern reader used to being served my fantasy in larger chunks, I felt frustrated that it was forced very quickly to a kind of resolution. Had Kurtz been working in a longer form, I think we would have seen some much more interesting development of the political and religious threads which are among the major strength of the book.

If you have not read any of the Deryni books, be sure to begin here. The necessary background is laid for the rest of the series and you will miss it if you do not have it. This book should appeal to fans of historical fantasy or people interested in the link between religion and magic. Although adult situations are implied, it should be both suitable and enjoyable for teenagers.

1 out of 5 stars

don't be fooled by the fanboys February 28, 2005
5 out of 17 found this review helpful

I got this book many years ago and never started it because it didn't look particularly interesting. I finally did start it because I was bored and this was on the top of the stack of books I hadn't started yet. I'm now writing this review two thirds through and wondering if I will even be able to finish the book.

There are three problems with this book, and they are pretty significant to me. First, there are cliches left and right. Second, much of the writing is downright loquacious. Lastly, and most importantly, is the difficulty in suspending disbelief.

The problem of cliche is one highly common to the entire genre. In that light, I can't be overly critical of this particular book beyond noting that I'm just tired of reading the same old thing again and again. There's a wicked princess, complete with slutty attitude and deep, plunging necklines on all her dresses. There's an evil king with a napoleon complex. The good girls are all beautiful, serene, intelligent, and perfectly mannered. The good guys are all handsome, rugged, and unquestionably just and noble. The characters all fit a horribly cliched mold, and quite far into the book have shown no signs of growing. The plot is no better, as it's just another rehash of the evil king/empire that must be overthrown for the good of the world. Again, this is a common problem in the genre, but other authors tend to make up for this deficiency by adding other interesting aspects to distract you from the cliches. Kurtz does not provide this distraction, but more about this later.

Secondly is the grating loquaciousness of the book. Kurzt constantly uses six words when three would do. I imagine this book was written with a thesaurus at hand. This style is obviously supposed to enhance the atmosphere of a pseudo-medieval world, but it comes across as the author simply trying too hard. In some cases, this problem went hand in hand with the cliches, such as the watchmen all speaking like embiciles (e.g. "well I says to him, I says"). I would also criticize the naming of people and places in this book. One of the many things Tolkien did so well was to have a logical naming scheme. You could always tell if the person in question was a dwarf or an elf or a man. Even Robet Jordan's thinly veiled allusions to real world countries provided a coherent naming scheme. In this book, most of the names seem chosen merely for the fact that they sound vaguely archaic.

The third and worst problem is the absolute inability to let the reader suspend disbelief. The biggest impediment was, of course, the presence of Christianity. Christianity is not an inherent impediment, of course, as the magical stories of King Arthur have shown since those myths are supposed to have taken place on earth anyway, but in this book we are clearly on another world. 95% of the names clearly have no relation to any real world names, the kingdom is obviously not supposed to exist in this world as the geography and naming suggests, and the presence of a different race if magic using pseudo-men drives this point home. Then we have Christianity thrown in our faces and we must pause and ask ourselves if we have mistakenly picked up the wrong book. Even the portrayal of religion apart from the plot is unbelieveable. We are told about these fictitious religious orders and holidays, and then the name of Jesus Christ himself is invoked along with mention of Christmas. It would be one thing to have a religion for this world that heavily mirrored Christianity so we could have a point of reference, but to base such an integral part of this imaginary world around the life of the most famous real human of all time is incredibly jarring and obnoxious. Even worse, Kurtz places dates in our real world, giving birth dates in XXXX year, Anno Domini. For example, she places an important date of birth on December 28, 843 AD. That's a very concrete date in our real history being applied to a fictitious reality and it simply doesn't fly when we know that the lord these people are talking about is Christ.

When you combine cliche and awkward language with this horrible reality-jumping, you get a book that is simply NOT worth reading. I'd even suggest Robert Jordan over this, and he's practically a plagiarist.

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