Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting and different fantasy book
Review: This book is very powerful and introduces new elements to
a tired and old genre. New aspects of magic are introduced
in a world that is not located in some strange faraway
land. The environment feels real and the characters are
realistic. This book introduces a great world that is
defined in later books of the series. Definitely a quick
and easy read that keeps your attention and lets you laugh.
Rating:
Summary: First book in a compelling series.
Review: Excellent new way of looking at magic. L.E. Modesitt hasbrought epic fantasy to a new level with the start of thisseries. Although it is the first one published it actually occurs fourth in the series as it exists now. The main switch from traditional magic systems is that, while there is good and evil magic, good magic is Black and evil magic is White. This relates to science where chaotic, white light contains all the wavelengths and black, or order, is the absence of all light. I eagerly await his next work.
Rating: 
Summary: EVER SO DULL....
Review: Looking for a nice meaty lengthy series to get into? Pick another. This is quite possibly the most boring book I have ever had the misfortune to read. Perhaps the other 10 or 11 books are better, but I was so turned off by the first I'll never know. After dragging myself through the last few pages I flung this book like the excrement that it is.(I hardly ever throw things I'll have you know) VERY DISAPOINTING MR. MODESITT JR.
Rating:
Summary: A good beginning of a different world.
Review: The Magic Of Recluse introduces us to the world of well, Recluse. MOR has it's own neat little magic system where Order and Chaos balance and play off each other.
The story unfortunatly has the same cliched 'young man, with powers who knows not how to use and control! Powers great enough to change the world!' story line. But the way it's played out moves at a quick enough pace with enouhg twists and turns to keep you interested.
The story keeps shifting between two different perspectives, as two youths go their seperate paths in the journey to learn more about the world. And they do, and they save the world. Yawn. Maybe I shouldn't give this a 5. I did enjoy it at the time, didn't I?
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good, and certainly unusual....
Review: This was a fairly entertaining read with a totally unusual style. I spent some time in the early parts of the novel feeling inexplicably blank, as though I were not quite registering what I was reading. I think that is the result of the book's unusual style, which puts some distance between the reader and the characters until you get used to it.
In all honesty, I prefer the Corean Chronicles, as I feel that in that series, Modesitt tells a story which flows much more naturally. Also, since the Corean stays with one primary character, rather than changing around like Recluse does, it allows the reader to get closer to the characters in the long haul.
One lovely feature of the Recluse set, though, is that it it totally unique. If you gobble down D&D, along with all the other hyper-stereotypical fantasy on the market, you will probably hate this. I would reccommend it to Robet Jordan fans that need something to do while waiting for the next book.
One other nice thing is that Modesitt kicks books out pretty fast, so, unlike Jordan or or (psychologically) dearly departed Goodkind, you won't have to wait until you 90 to read the next book.
One final note. The plot is a bit shaky at times, and a few odd conclusions are reached (I think everybody was surprised by Justin), but one particular point bothers me. Our bored little teen-ager, who is SO sick of order, is rather obsessive about it himself. I guess it comes from his upbringing, but it would seem that such a neat-freak would be happy in Recluse. At least, that's what I think.
Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing and unputdownable
Review: It worries me that some say that this is the worst they've read. In my experience, it is far from that. Has pulp fantasy and role-playing video games so tarnished our ability to distinguish readbility apart from "action"? I fear so.
Having read (and re-read) literally hundreds of fantasy novels, I believe this is one of the best out there. Swish, swish, crackle swiiish went the pages...
Seriously, I read the first 250 non-stop. Yes, at times the plot is slow, but during its development Modesitt offers imagery that makes the Recluse world seem very tangible. It is highly readable.
For comparison, it is much more readable than Jordan's work, which although epic, is often hindered by his writing--the awkward phrasing that promotes skimming through his novels. Unlike the Wheel novels, I read this novel word-for-word. Moreover, after rereading my favs from my youth--Brooks and Eddings--I found this work less stereotypical and more thoughtful. The prose are definitiely better. I actually enjoyed it more than Goodkind as well because it was less stereotypical. It is probably most like Feist's early work in terms of readability and in terms of story like Feist's Magican or Edding's Pawn of Prophesy. In retrospect, I may be partial to these coming of age novels: Edding's Prophesy, Card's Ender's, Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage, etc. I found each of those hard to put down.
To be fair, the writing style, as mentioned in other reviews, may seem a little awkward at times (verb tense changes, his corny sound effects, etc.), but overall it doesn't distract from the story. In sum, if you like sterotypical pulp fantasy with incessant action, this book is not for you. If you like a thoughtful and detailed fantasy with a unique take on ethics and magic, I'd recommend this book. I found it to be captivating--far, far from the worst I've read.
Rating: 
Summary: not bad, but not great
Review: This book is hard to describe. It's certainly not the worst fantasy I've ever read, but it's far from the best. The writing is uneven. The characters are extremely blase about events around them and don't bother questioning a lot of what happens. The main character, Lerris, just suddenly has magical powers that should be astonishing and he merely yawns as if he knew and goes about making a table. Having said all that, the story is interesting in parts and it moves along.
The worst things about L.E. Modesitt's writing are the sounds. He gives sound effects to every tiny stupid thing in the book. Every time the horse whinnies, it has an imitation sound that no real horse would make. A door slams and there's the attempt to make the noise into words. It's very distracting and pointless. I became very frustrated with this style very quickly.
On the whole, it wasn't a bad way to spend a few days. But I don't think I'll be reading anymore about Recluce in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Charmed, again.
Review: I picked up this book 11 years ago (1992) after having read most of TSRs Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms offerings. It was not what I expected. Unevenly paced, but compelling and real, this novel drew me along and helped me deal with some of my real life issues.Although I lost track of the series after the second volume (so many books so little time) I had such fond memories that I read it again (2003), and still found it enjoyable, with some caveats: - As other reviewers have mentioned, Modesitt spreads onomatopoeia a little too thick. - In places the grammar is so bad that it interrupts the flow of the story, though that may be evidence of a clumsy editor and not the fault of this seasoned author.
- When he deals with secondary characters' plotlines he shifts entirely out of the story's first person past tense mode into third person present tense - very distracting to some readers. - Although large portions of the book are devoted to describing woodwork there are only three woods mentioned in the book: lorken, oak and pine. Of these three only one is ever used as a building material. That's just plain sloppy research, unless I'm missing some deeper symbolism in his use of three colours of oak: white, red and black... - Some portions of the book appear to have been "cut and pasted", with identical descriptive passages appearing in several different contexts. The book's emphasis on independent thought, hard work, and honesty, and its exploration of themes of the balance between order and chaos, and good and evil make it an excellent coming of age story. Strongly recommended for readers aged 16-20.
Rating:
Summary: Holden Caulfield Goes to Fantasyland
Review: Here's the plot of "The Magic of Recluse": a teenager named Lerris is expelled from the island of Recluse because he is bored with his apprenticeship. He stays at an inn. Then he buys a horse. Then he rides to another inn. Then he runs away from the inn. Then he stays at another inn. Then he meets another wizard who agrees to be his mentor. Then he stays at another inn. Then he uses his magic power on some sheep. Then he stays at another inn. Then he stays at another inn. It was around this point that I quit reading, for the obvious reason that nothing was happening. L. E. Modesitt apparently feels that he holds an amazing gift for onomatopoeia. He frequently provides long streams of letters that are apparently supposed to communicate sounds such as doors creaking and leaves rustling. The coup de grace is Lerris' horse, which makes a wider variety of sounds than a full chamber orchestra and unfortunately makes them very often. We also get to spend a huge amount of time reading about what Lerris has for breakfast, what he's wearing today, what weapons he's carrying, and lots of other insignificant details. Other details are left out, for instance characterization. Despite the fact that he's wandering through a land he's never seen before and supposedly learning about his surging magical powers, Lerris' only reaction is to repeatedly state his boredom with everything so frequently that it becomes like a mantra. Minor characters fair even worse, and invariably seem to disappear after only a few chapters on screen. There is also a bad guy drifting around somewhere, though we never really see him doing anything bad, so it's tough to tell why we're supposed to be frightened of him. Also, what's the big deal with the conflict between "chaos magic" and "order magic"? Order magic is supposed to be good and chaos magic is supposed to be evil, but we're never shown any actual justification for any of it. I got the feeling that this was just a silly gimmick inserted by the author in a desperate attempt to generate interest. For a much better analysis of the topic in a fantasy novel, I recommend "The High House" by James Stoddard.
|
