By Divine Right (The Darkwater Saga): A Novella - eBook

By Divine Right, an e-novella by Patrick W. Carr, though short is compelling. War has scarred the people of the medieval kingdom of Collum. Not the least of these is Willet Dura, the king's reeve--a priest by dream and yet a soldier by destiny. With his somewhat supernatural talent of knowing deaths may not be natural, Dura sets out to find out why two of the kingdom's gifted ones have been murdered. Who is stealing their gifts? Why? Is a noble trying to duplicate the Aer given giftings of the king in order to take over the kingdom? Will Dura be timely with his discoveries and warnings? In this short tale, Carr brings suspense and intrigue, drawing the reader into the story almost immediately and keeping interest throughout. The story seems to be the backdrop for The Darkwater Saga and I am looking forward to reading book #1 The Shock of Night.

This novella did a marvelous job of drawing me into the fantasy realm that Patrick has created. Im captivated by the idea that there are individuals that are gifted and they have the ability to pass their gifting on to an heir before they die. Im looking forward to seeing how this progresses in future books in this series.

Willet is an absolutely fascinating character. He is able to read others and relate to people in different levels of society. I thoroughly enjoyed trying to understand him and his past. I know that there are going to be more facets revealed about him.

It does take a little effort to try and understand the nuances of a totally different realm but this novella is well worth the effort.

This is a great novella that introduces us to The Darkwater Saga series. Having read the first full length novel in the series, The Shock of Night, I do recommend reading this prequel to set the stage.

We are introduced to Willet Dura, an investigator to the king of Bunard. He had once studied for the priesthood but had been called to war before his studies were over. He had an experience during the war that seriously affected him. He is a night walker and sometimes he comes back with blood on his cloak.

Dura's specialty is investigating murders. He is called to investigate the death of an old man, thought to have died from a stroke. But Dura sees signs of murder. As he investigates, he finds out this man was gifted. Aer (God) gives gifts, gifts that are to be passed down before death to the next generation. If a person dies without passing on the gift, it may be stolen.

As Dura continues his investigation he is faced with a startling possibility. Is someone systematically stealing gifts, assembling them to have great power? Is it possible that the divine right of kings, the special gifting Aer gave to the ruler, could be duplicated? Dura must find the answer and the culprit before it is too late.

If you like fantasy with a hint of Christian belief, you'll like this series. There is definite good and evil, a three person God, lots of suspense and the possibility of romance. The events of this novella are frequently referenced in The Shock of Night, so read this novella first. It's a free way to be introduced to the fantasy and Carr's great style of writing. And, you'll find out how Dura became Lord Dura.

A couple of years ago I read A Cast of Stones, the first book in this authors original fantasy trilogy, and I was probably in the minority for not being very impressed. I just found it unrealistic in a lot of places, and the writing style rather sloppy and undeveloped. As it was a first novel, however I decided to give Mr Carrs books another try, and purchased this prequel novella to his new trilogy.

Generally, it did not disappoint. The setting seemed generally more credible and detailed, the characters more memorable and writing much improved. Like his previous trilogy, the author takes a fairly generic medieval type fantasy setting, and gives the characters some kind of special power or ability that provides the major basis of the plot. In this story, the elements of political intrigue and a mystery were also cleverly worked in and the gifts endowed on certain character provided an original twist.

As someone who does not do in for sword, sorcery and dragon type fantasy stories, its always good to find what I call 'human' fantasy and historical fiction that is does not go in for the unnecessary and excessive sex references that one finds in those made by so much of the mainstream media today.

Although this is usually required by most of the major Christian publishing houses anyway.

I did have a couple of issues, generally with some of the language and minor historical details. I know that some will argue that fantasy does not have to be accurate or authentic.

Yet I argue that if the setting is reminiscent of a certain historical period (even if its in a fictional country or place), there should be some degree of authenticity and world-building, something that transports the audience into that world, without it feeling too much like the society inhabited by the author. What is the point of fantasy otherwise?

This was a great introduction to the background, setting and characters of the full length novel. I had already The Shock of Night on Netgalley and look forward to reading that one, hopefully later his year.