Daggerspell

I think it is fair to say the setting is inspired both by Tolkien and the Celtic (e.g. Mary Stewart take) on the King Arthur/Merlin myth.

There are some interesting plot twists that also serve as character development.

As someone who grew up around the time the book was written, I found the "New-agey" take on magic a bit jarring. Reincarnation plays a big role, as do things like "the astral plane" and "auras". It might be just me, but it feels like that terminology ties the book to the 1980s a bit.

Full credit to Kerr for giving her female protagonists agency and complexity in a way that works in a traditionally patriarchal setting.

Kerr is among the best at fantasy storytelling and world-building. This book is the first of her Deverry cycle, in which she follows a group of souls through various incarnations in an early Celtic-type world. The story centers around a group of mercenaries called "silver daggers" for a distinctive weapon each fighter carries, obtainable only after being sworn to the band.

Other characters include a wizard, Nevyn; Jill, the young daughter of one of the silver daggers; and elves, dwarves, and wyrmkind. Adventure, magic, politics, good and evil, war, and love...they're all here in abundance and well-told. Highest recommendation!

It took just about one week for me to read this book, which is a short time for a quite long book.

I enjoyed this story. The dating is a little odd to me. 400 years may have passed, but it seemed like all the past lives that were brought up were very early on. I think they either should have been more spread out or more past life stories should have been included. I find it a little sad that because of Nevyn's vow, he will never be romantically involved with the woman he loved and vowed to help her find her Wyrd.

I did find some aspects of this Wyrd stuff confusing: such as while Rhodry has Blaen's Wyrd where the Brangwen/Gerrowen/Blaen issue is concerned, he also seems to have another Wyrd not associated at all with Blaen.

I am moving right along onto the next book, Darkspell.