Rating: 
Summary: A good book in parts
Review: The beginning of this book was pretty hard to get through. The middle to late part really picked up and was a good read. The end left me depressed. It had a fairly happy ending but the lead up to it was just hard for me to read. Many people probably won't have the same feeling but I couldn't help it. Oh well I can't decide if I should read anymore of these books. I don't necessarily like stories that always end after one book. I like characters that continue on.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious to the point of losing its message
Review: The series started out with a little promise. Unfortunately this book squanders whatever little promise it had to become a tedious descriptive book with practically nothing happening until the last 20 pages. Some said a 'book for thinkers'. Just becuase its totally devoid of action doesn't mean serious thinking is going on (its not). Instead we have endless descriptions of EATING. How some minor character looks while slowly chewing lamb, the texture of crusty bread, the shape of the wine glass and the flavor of the wine, etc. THROUGHOUT the book. At the beginning our protagonist is banned because chaos is banned on Recluse, and his machines are apparently believed to cause the same. So he is banished to an island. Now, for 400 pages we get the above-mentioned descriptive bonanza which isn't fun, provocative, thoughtful or anything else other than boring. A book doesn't have to be action-packed to be interesting, or vice versa, but this book is neither. Then in the last 20 pages, slam-bang the wbad-guys are dead. In other words this book is not worth anyone's while, unless they like constant descriptions of food.
Rating: 
Summary: Not *bad*, but ultimately disappointing
Review: There's not much actually wrong with this book. The story does drag on a bit in spots, and some scenes are confusing when it is unclear which character is saying what line. But the problem I was unable to get past is that it is so similar to the other books in the series. So far, all the books of the Recluce series have had basically the same plot: young man with powers/ideas he doesn't really understand goes on a journey of self-discovery and thwarts the powers of chaos on the way. True, the second book throws in the arranged-marriage-turns-true-love subplot (obvious from miles away), but this is fundamentally the same as the first two books in the Reculce series. All in all, this is an OK book, just don't expect anything new.
Rating: 
Summary: A Building Book
Review: This author does love details. If the "little things" of daily life make a world more real to you then this book will supply you with a belivable fantasy world. On the negative side- In this book we begin to see the repetition of the same plot with different characters through history. Another drawback is that the stories are alwayse male oriented, there are admirable femail characters but they are never the main character. On the whole a fun world with characters you care about.
Rating: 
Summary: War Is Hell, Great Book
Review: This being the 5th book of my Recluse voyage, I must say that I consider myself a veteran of the series. I have read Fall of Angels and The Chaos Balance, The Magic of Recluse and The Towers of the Sunset. Readers new to the series may wonder where to start. A good site that has the order the books were written in is has the chronological list if you choose to read them that way, suggest reading the books in the order that they were written. In my opinion the Magic Engineer is the best of the 5 that I have read to date and its main character Dorrin, is my favorite. The Magic Engineer centers around a young healer named Dorrin. Dorrin is more than a healer. He is an inventor, a blacksmith, an engineer, a military engineer, a lover and a wizard of order. The themes of order versus chaos are prevalent as it is in all the Recluce books. Modesitt's Reluse series is after all based on his clever order - chaos (good and evil) paradigm and the effects of the world when the order - chaos balance is disturbed. The primary theme throughout the story is young Dorrin's desire to create machines, which by their nature use chaos. Dorrin, being an order wizard, is promptly exiled until he puts more thought into how his machines will play upon his worlds delicate balance between order and chaos. I cannot do this theme justice in trying to describe it, but Modesitt is brilliant in weaving order and chaos and their underlying principles throughout the story. The story is more than a seminar on order and chaos though. There is a major and extremely bloody war which Dorrin plays a prominent part in. Dorrin as a healer touched me a lot. There is a love story which has major issues. Through all of my Recluse readings, Modesitt wraps his characters in real world issues experienced by many of us. Yes, the book is fantasy, but Modesitt makes us think about why his characters do what they do. How they feel when they do something. How others perceive their actions and the consequences or benefits derived. Modesitt is not an author that makes things up as he writes. There is a tremendous amount of thought and creativity put into the Recluse books. Because it is a series and because the books are not written chronologically, Modesitt ensures that everything comes together and his world remains consistent and true. There are no holes. In The Magic of Recluse, we read of young Lerris in the city of Nylan and reading The Basis of Order. In the Magic Engineer, you get to see how Nylan was founded and how The Basis of Order was authored. It is great when an author cares about his readers and that is plainly evident. The Magic Engineer, like Fall Of Angels, has a blacksmith. Modesitt has substantial knowledge of this and other trades which is demonstrated by his writings. It is fresh to read not just that a character created something, but how it was created. The materials that were needed, the design. The recognition that a mistake may have been made in its creation, that there might be a better way to do it or that someone else may be better off doing it next time. What really makes this book great is that Dorrin is a good person, he loves animals, he helps people, he is patriotic to his homeland and he works hard. He is also referred to as a monster, selfish and the devil himself. How can this be? Read and find out. I don't think you will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully bad
Review: This book comes highly recommended (the cover features glowing reviews from magazines and famous names in the field, such as Robert Jordan). However, I found it to be a huge disappointment.
The plot is centered around Lerris, a young order-master from Recluse, and his quest for answers to questions which are never presented to the reader (or perhaps I'm too dense to understand what they are). He is sent out of recluse because he's easily bored. Lerris never actually ASKS the questions he wants answered, but this doesn't stop him getting frustrated when no-one will answer them.
The dialog is at points unclear, and much of it consists of Lerris talking to his pony. Throughout the book we are privy to Lerris's thoughts, which are not very realistic either.
Lerris spends most of the book riding his pony or working with wood, which makes for boring reading. Whenever there is action, it is almost never described. Many times I found myself asking - WHY did he do that? but even though we are privy to Lerris's thoughts, some of his actions are cryptic.
As for the system of magic: it's supposed to be semi-scientific, but it has many inherent contraditions, and is not explained well. I didn't like it much. The actual working of magic was rarely described (Lerris just says "I created a shield" - but not how).
Also, the book is interspersed with ridiculous comics-style sound effects such as "Wheee... uuhhh...." and "whhhssttt" that do little to illustrate the plot, and in many places actually replace descriptions of what is happening. This became very annoying very quickly.
Overall, a low-grade fantasy novel. Don't buy.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Recluce Book...
Review: This book deals with Dorrin and how he incorporates order into his engineering. This book was another great book in a great series...and that's all there is to it.
Rating:
Summary: something for 'thinkers'
Review: this book is really interesting, although the storyline may be familiar to those who have read 'the magic of recluce'. it is a book for 'thinkers' rather than for 'action lovers' since the main protagonist (Dorrin) is an intellectual rather than a fighter (but of course, this novel has its share of action). mr modesitt also overwhelms us with lots of details, but this does not mean that it's boring. on the contrary, i find his slow development of characters and plot fascinating and interesting. i liked this book a lot and would recommend it to any one who admires the power of thought more than physical power.
Rating:
Summary: Not all people think the same on what is right and wrong.
Review: This book shows that you can be different. You have principals and they should be lived regardless of the cost
Rating:
Summary: It was awesome. Better than The Towers of the Sunset.
Review: This book was very well-written. Dorrin wasn't as much of a fighter as Creslin, and that was good. Made a nice change. Lerris wasn't either. But about this book, I thought it was good. As for crusty bread, it's called REAL bread. Maybe the person of that comment is used to soft bread, but oh well;) And Liedral didnt look like a guy, she disguised herself as one, to avoid some troubles as she went around trading merchandise. He did quite a bit in Diev. And remember, a lot of time was spent with Lerris in one city, aswell. Dorrin's adventure wasn't boring at all. It was actually quite exciting. I mean, you don't see Creslin blowing someone to little bite-sized pieces with a homemade rocket launcher:p Maybe it was a little slow at parts, but it was a good book, and Im going to miss not reading more about Dorrin. Most people, I would think, like Creslin better because he can kill anyone in the snap of a finger. So what? Dorrin had to find other ways to get things done, and ! ! Modesitt did a good job with that. Also, one reads more about the whites in this book than in the 2nd. I think a lot of people just got pumped up from Towers, and now they get more of a peaceful person, so they 'boo' it away. Funny, though, that the more peaceful Lerris got 5 stars, and the violent, hot-headed Creslin got 4. what happened there? This book was very fun to read.
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