Like the books in the Deverry series, Daggerspell is set in the imaginary European Kingdom of Deverry, in post-Roman times, between the seventh and eleventh centuries. The Celtic peoples who live in the area are ruled by local feudal lords who themselves are loyal to the King; all live under conditions that are historically accurate for the time and place. A few people, however, through a combination of inherited talent and lifelong training, are able to employ magic, called the dweomer, and communicate through higher levels of reality with a wide variety of magical creatures, ranging from the whimsical mute gnomes called the Wildfolk, which normal people cannot see, to godlike beings far removed from human reality, but nevertheless very interested in and able to indirectly have powerful effects on the affairs of men.

Critics have praised the setting for Daggerspell calling it marvelously rendered, with great attention...