A Time of Omens
Book Two of The Westlands Cycle
A FASCINATING AND DRAMATIC JOURNEY THROUGH THE MYSTERIOUS WESTERN LANDS
In her last novel of the Deverry saga, A Time of Exile, Katharine Kerr started a new part of the story: THE WESTLANDS CYCLE, in which she explores the history of the Elycion Lacar, the elves who inhabit the strange lands to the west of Deverry.
A Time of Omens takes up many thread in the rich tapestry of Deverry's history: it tells of Dallashandra's struggle to help Evander's people – the strange and evanescent Guardians – survive, by finding them a new home on the material plane.
It charts the progress of the Deverry civil wars during the ninth century, and especially focuses on the return of the true king – Maryn – to Dun Cerrmor and his marriage to the young Bellyra; of Rhodry's adventurings as a silver dagger during the wars; and of the strange talisman entrusted to his keeping.
And we meet once more the seductive and infuriating Salamander as he searches for and finds a lost love; and witness the beginning of Jill's search for the lost elves of the Southern Isles.
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Katharine Kerr
In the realm of epic fantasy, few names echo with the same fierce clarity as Katharine Kerr. Best known for her immersive Deverry Cycle, Kerr didn’t just create a world—she wove a tapestry of time, memory, and reincarnation that spanned centuries, yet remained achingly intimate. Her stories pulse with Celtic inspiration, layered timelines, and flawed, deeply human characters who evolve across lives and generations.
But Kerr’s journey to fantasy legend wasn’t charted from childhood. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she was more interested in jazz and science fiction than medieval swords and sorcery. It wasn’t until she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area—where myth and counterculture have long danced together—that her path bent toward high fantasy. A longtime fan of roleplaying games, she began designing complex worlds for tabletop campaigns before ever writing a novel. That attention to internal logic and continuity became a hallmark of her fiction. Unlike many traditional fantasy epics, the Deverry books don’t rely on prophecy or fate. They depend on choices—some noble, many terrible—and the way consequences echo through lifetimes.
Deverry Series
Deverry Series consists of fifteen primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
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