The Adept 2: The Lodge of the Lynx

Kurtz does an excellent job of weaving a mystery and giving the Reader an inside glimpse of ritual magic. Each book in this series can easily stand alone, but I recommend reading them all, starting with the first one, of course. If you love a good mystery, and are intrigued by magic, this series is for you!

I absolutely loved this book and the series overall. The friendship that develops between Adam and Peregrine is wonderful without being over the top. I particular enjoyed the lack of pages worth of details. I don't care about the color of the leaves, etc. I myuch prefer the dialog between the characters and this series fit that requirement for me. While there is some mention of girlfriends and wives I was glad that I was subjected to ongoing drama from the usual emotional female. Likewise it was great not to have to deal with an unrealistic, half dressed, woman on horseback weilding a sword that weighs more than her. The main characters through the 4th book are men and we don't get subjected to female hysteria until the 5th book. A wonderful modern day story about adepts that takes you all over Scotland with a group of handsome, courageous gentlemen who happen to wealthy as well.

I love occult fiction and a friend recommended the Adept series to me because he knew I liked Dion Fortune's fiction. Unlike Fortune's fiction, this novel won't gift you with verses for your rituals, but it certainly captures the feeling of the astral realms and the battle of good versus evil. Okay, so the hero is wealthy and lives a life of luxury we can only imagine, but, hey, this is a fantasy, no? And what better to fantasize than the genteel life of a British gentleman? Even if one is female (like me), one can still fantasize about such privilege. A very good read.

I find the writing to be wonderful. The historical details, imagery and incorporation of magic into a modern setting are all too rare in sci-fi, occult and fantasy literature. Although the characters are not fully developed as individuals and their interrelationships are not fully explored the excitement and potential for these stories to reflect "authentic" modern occultism more than compensates for these defficiencies. I expect very few books to hold up to the standards of great literature... ie Tolkein, Hardy, Dickens, Doestoevsky etc. and these books are certainly not timeless classics. However, these books are quite pleasant reading for an educated audience and a far cry better than the common pasteboard series.

One characteristic of Katherine Kurtz's writing that sets her apart from her contemporaries is her attention to detail without bogging the reader down in unnecessary prose. At her best, as she is here with her co-author Deborah Turner Harris, she involves her audience to the point that they feel they are watching the action of the story through a looking-glass, close enough to touch, care, and long to join her protagonists in their ongoing struggles and joys. Not since _The King's Justice_ has she succeeded so admirably. _The Lodge of the Lynx_ brims with her love of architecture, geographical accuracy, and historical overview, from its descriptions of the Scottish highlands and motorway system to the marvelous rooms of Sir Adam Sinclair's estate at Strathmourne. The remarkable thing is that all this is done without sacrificing plot or pacing. Sinclair and his two companions, Chief Inspector Noel McLeod and the artist Peregrine Lovat, are arguably her most interesting and diverse trio, ranking with, and perhaps paralleling, Kelson Haldane, Alaric Morgan, and Duncan McLain. Their battle, similar to the three Deryni attempting to stop the genocidal machinations of Edmund Loris et al., is to locate, identify, and halt the forces of evil (the Lodge of the Lynx) intent on bringing destruction to a select group of individuals, namely Masonic brethren, for the benefit of their satanic cause. As we learn more of the fascinating resources and personalities Sinclair and company possess, we are inexorably drawn into their "reality", with sharp intake of breath at every new twist and danger. At the last, we cannot do anything else but cheer for them, and their creators, as they bask, hungry and tired, in the satisfaction of a job well done.