I went into town today and saw that Katherine Kerr's new book The Gold Falcon is out. I'm just over fifty pages in so far, and I've already squee'd twice (something I'm not generally disposed to doing).
Update: One thing that is different about The Gold Falcon compared to Kerr's earlier books is a distinct lack of parts and chapters.
Earlier volumes in the Deverry series had, to the best of my recollection, a normal proportion of chapters for novels of their length and were typically divided into several parts each set in a different era as events required, or invited, the introduction of some historical context. The Gold Falcon, on the other hand, has a few pages to reintroduce the central plot (about which is constructed several hundred years of engrossing stories and characters) and a single part spanning the current era and some 400-odd pages. No chapters, no detours through eras past, nothing.
Finally: Having finished the book, I'm struck by just how much I like Katherine Kerr's writing. I found myself, with every revelation, thinking "I remember him, or her, or that;" I could identify the origins of her characters by their patterns of speech; I could foresee some of the problems the characters encountered but the eventual outcome (of the next few books) is still very far from obvious.
One point that did occur to me is that if I hadn't been reading the Deverry books for years I might think that certain aspects were somehow inspired by recent events. The desire of the main martyrdom expressed by Alshandra's worshippers and the problem of dealing with them is reminiscent of fundamentalist Moslem suicide bombers and the problems (or, more accurately, failures) that Western countries have had in responding to them.
All up, this is another awesome book in the Deverry series. It takes a bit of a departure from the previous books in its structure, but the end of the saga is in sight.
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1 comment:
Ah, the text is much easier to read, now. Thanks!
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