 At the time, it was the highest ranking for a Deryni novel in the annual poll, though Kurtz' "The King's Justice" would later rank sixth in the 1986 poll.At Fool*Con V, a science fiction and fantasy convention held in Kansas City in April 1982, the fans selected "Camber the Heretic" as the winner of the coveted Balrog Award for fantasy novels.The other finalists for the award were Piers Anthony's "Centaur Island", Stephen King's "Cujo", F. Paul Wilson's "The Keep", and John Crowley's "Little, Big".