Deryni Novels

The Deryni novels are a series of historical fantasy books written by American-born author Katherine Kurtz. The first novel in the series to be published was Deryni Rising in 1970, and the most recent novel in the series, Childe Morgan, was published on December 5, 2006. As of May 2007, the series consists of five trilogies (one not yet completed), one stand-alone novel, one short story, two collections of short stories, and two reference books.

The series is set in the land of Gwynedd, one of the fictional Eleven Kingdoms. Gwynedd itself is a medieval kingdom that roughly parallels 10th, 11th, and 12th century England, Scotland, and Wales with a powerful Holy Church (based on the Roman Catholic Church), and a feudal government ruled by a hereditary monarchy. The population of the Eleven Kingdoms includes both humans and Deryni, a race of people with inherent psychic and magical abilities. Throughout the course of the series, relations between humans and Deryni result in ongoing political and religious strife that is often interconnected with the individual lives of the main characters. While the plots of the novels often involve political, ecclesiastical, and military conflicts on a grand scale, they are counterbalanced by details of the characters' personal lives. Neither race is depicted as inherently "good" nor "evil", as both humans and Deryni are depicted as protagonists and antagonists at various points of the series. Additionally, the novels often depict the characters engaging in various forms of magic, and such scenes vary in importance from minor events to significant plot points.