seeking their new incarnations. His quest contin-
ues in Darkspell(1987), complicated by further in-
terference from the gods. The tendency of the
latter to view humans as play pieces in an elabo-
rate game results in an imminent war in The
Bristling Wood (1989), which is resolved in The
Dragon Revenant(1990, also published as Dawn-
spell: The Southern Sea).
A second set of four novels shifts the focus
slightly. A reluctant heir to the throne of the elves
encounters problems in A Time of Exile(1991),
and war threatens to break out again in A Time of
Omens(1992). A young boy of humble origins sets
off on a quest to find a legendary warrior in A Time
of War(1993, also published as Days of Blood and
Fire), and the concluding volume, A Time of Justice
(1994, also published as Days of Air and Darkness),
brings things to a conclusion when a sorceress and
her allies realize that the war has been caused by a
goddess who is trying to prevent the birth of a
child destined to fulfill a prophecy. Although the
plots of these eight novels follow the pattern of
most contemporary heroic fantasy, Kerr is excep-
tionally skillful at creating a plausible world and
well above average in her ability to people her cre-
ation with multidimensional characters.
A third set of four novels, the Dragon Mage
series, is set much earlier in time. The Red Wyvern
(1997) describes a country ravaged by civil war
and the breakdown of all authority. The conflict
between a sorceress and a warrior, which has con-
tinued through several previous incarnations, stirs
the world again in The Black Raven(1998), and
things get even more complex and foreboding in
The Fire Dragon(2001). A final volume, The Gold
Dragon,is scheduled for late 2004.
The most distinct impression one receives from
reading the Deverry novels is that they are intelli-
gently planned and executed and that the author has
firm control and a consistent vision of her creation.
Her non-Deverry stories have been mostly science
fiction, but “The Fourth Concealment of the Island
of Britain” (2001) is an interesting fantasy.
Keyes, J. Gregory (1963– )
J. Gregory Keyes, whose recent fantasy novels have
appeared under the pen name Greg Keyes, made a
very strong first impression with Waterborn(1996),
which blends familiar and unfamiliar fantasy
tropes. Members of a royal family have begun to
disappear under mysterious circumstances, despite
being nominally under the protection of the local
River God. One of the young male members of the
family decides to discover what is happening be-
fore he becomes the next victim. The story is re-
solved in The Blackgod(1987), as we discover that
the gods are as divided as humans and as varied in
nature. The two-part adventure was well received,
and Keyes followed up quickly with the first novel
of a new and even more inventive series.
Newton’s Cannon(1998) is set in an alternate
version of our own world where magic and tech-
nology coexist. Isaac Newton makes a revolution-
ary discovery that allows France to challenge
English power throughout the world. Newton be-
comes friendly with Benjamin Franklin, and in the
second volume, A Calculus of Angels(1999), the
two must pool their talents in order to thwart a
group of supernatural entities who have diverted
an asteroid from its normal course so that it will hit
the Earth. The combination of science fiction and
fantasy themes, which so often fails, succeeds ad-
mirably in this case. The situation gets even worse
in Empire of Unreason(2000), with a new ice age
threatening to overwhelm civilization and with the
French writer Voltaire added to the list of histori-
cal protagonists. The series came to an apparent
end with The Shadows of God(2001). Franklin and
an Indian shaman conspire to prevent Russia,
France, and England from dividing the rest of the
world among themselves, and assuring their domi-
nance through magical weaponry. The four-volume
set is among the most original and well-written
fantasy of the last two decades.
Keyes’s most recent series is equally well writ-
ten, but considerably less groundbreaking. The
Briar King(2003) and The Charnel Prince(2004)
introduce readers to another magical world, this
one inhabited by the vanished colonists from early
America. There are some original touches, but
much of the plot involves missing heirs and some
form of quest. Keyes is at his best when he aban-
dons the familiar trappings of fantasy, although,
unfortunately, doing so might make his work less
appealing to traditional cautious publishers. He190 Keyes, J. Gregory