If you read my review of Deryni Rising you know I didn't spend a lot of time on the fictional (fantasy) depiction of the church. That will not be possible here.

The book itself follows the events having to do with the church demanding that Deryni (all Deryni) renounce their powers and abilities, or be excommunicated. The actions of a rabid and hate filled persecutor will also play a role in the story, which does not complete with this volume.



************* SPOILER WARNING SPOILER DISCUSSION BELOW LINE ************




The Christian Church will apparently always have to deal with the events of what is probably one of it's saddest periods, the Inquisition. The fantasy period in the novel is actually somewhat earlier than the period in which the Inquisition took place. The events in the book put me in mind of a cross between the persecution of the Jews (in which many early Christians enthusiastically took part, including much of the church's power structure which, completely missing the point of the actual written books that existed, proclaimed the Jews guilty of Christ's death) and the persecution of the reformers. There is some obvious comparison in that the Jews were accused of being sorcerers and sorceresses (ever read Ivanhoe?). But then with the rebelling bishops Duncan the part Deryni priest there is also a somewhat obvious tie in with the reformers.

The Christian Church is made up of humans. It seems to suffer most (and please understand what I mean by "suffer") when it "has" of "achieves" worldly power and riches. There was a time when the church at Rome became THE religion of Rome and from that point on the struggle within the Church became more about centering itself on Christ and the Commission He left and not being poisoned by the gold and temporal authority that it began to accumulate.

This book is very difficult for me as Christianity is very real to me and lack of understanding of the issues at hand "in the story" and then the distorted reflection they can give of real events. The events of history happened. Christians have failed to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ often in that history. But "that"...the error, or "those"...the mistakes are not the Church. When Loris and the bigoted bishops place Corwyn under Interdict, I was reminded of the actions of the Pope in excommunicating all of Scotland to "force" the people to overthrow Robert The Bruce. He felt sure that the people would turn on the King rather than be excommunicated. That was the birth of The Church of Scotland. Here in this book we see the Church leaders acting out of ignorance, hate and a greed for worldly power, even to the point of provoking a bloody persecution that may kill hundreds or even thousands. They are in effect backing a bloody man who is fueled by hate in their actions. Remember this isn't history and the debate about magic is taking place in a fantasy world where the ability is inborn in the Deryni race.

When I was finished with this book I was drained and worn out. It opened with the ignorant and hate filled clergymen "rewriting" events of the last book, even the events they themselves had been present for. It ends with Bishop Loris still intent on destroying the Deryni and humbling the King. I'm not big on fictionalizing some of the worst errors made in the name of Christ (and admitted to be such even by the Roman Church) so while I'm not a Roman Catholic, this is still draining and painful, at least for me. I'd say, be aware of it going in, and get the facts if curious not accepting fantasy as history. Read this book as what it is, a story.