Rating: 
Summary: Exciting, engrossing, and wondeful
Review: "The Towers of the Sunset" injects so many new fantasy elements into the genre that I found this book to be fun and engrossing. Modesitt's books aren't action-oriented and his plots would not work if there were that way. The interplay of Creslin and the other characters is intricate and exciting. Modesitt's imagery is beautiful, making this book more of an incredible movie than another standard fantasy novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but not as good as Magic of Recluce
Review: As much as I enjoyed 'Magic,' I was eager to read this one which purpoted to explain the origin of the society of Recluce. The book was very confusing to me in the beginning; some people in the past somehow talking about Creslin or involved in the history of Candar, but it was difficult at first for me to tie it together. I had to re-read the first several pages of the book several times to "get" what the author was writing about. Once I passed this, I started to enjoy the book, especially where young Creslin was running for his life and in danger. Once rescued from the slave-work on the Wizard Road, the story went downhill for me. I never really felt after this that Creslin was ever really in any danger, and that took a lot of the suspense out of it for me. He was just so powerful that you knew no one could touch him. Megaera's disgusting and shameful treatment of him irritated the heck out of me, too, and I was left wishing that Creslin would just zap her and put her out of my misery. It seems that the author did not really put much effort into fleshing out the world as he cold have. Despite these criticisms, I didn't regret reading the book, as I'm sure it will be important in future books. I never was really quite sure what the Towers of the Sunset were.
Rating:
Summary: By far the best.....
Review: By far the best in the series, beating the others by a mile. I have read it several times already, and it just seems to get better. Modesitt has a unique style of writing, and you will either love it or hate it. The first time i read this book, i didnt get past page 20. The second time i forced myself, and glad of it. If you can get through the first 100 or so pages, you'll like it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Towers of the Sunset was good.
Review: Creslin journeys towards Fairhaven, a city a long way from where he begins. He has some difficulties at Fairhaven but escapes to find a woman that he is mentally conected to by sorcery. She doesn't like him much, but to save both of their lives, they have to get married and travel to a city called Reluce to become its rulers. The Towers of the Sunset is a great book because it has an interesting plot, it has a lot of action, and you get to know the characters so well, it might seem that they are real. The plot was very interesting. With all the new places Creslin goes and all the new people he meets the plot keeps you wondering what happens next. During the troubles Creslin has at Fairhaven I couldn't stop reading it because he gets enslaved and you want him to escape, but don't know how he will. There was also a lot of action. During the battle was involved in at Reluce, the book was hard to put down because he was riding on a horse and swinging his sword around trying to eliminate as many enemies as he can. Through all of his actions, you get to know Creslin a lot. He has a kind personality, like when the woman he is mentally connected to is upset he will hold her, but he can be brutal when he needs to be, like when he was in the battle at Reluce and was killing people. You end up caring what happens to him along with the other people he meets. This book was great and anyone who likes getting into a book and a lot of action would think so too. You should definitely getb this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty awful fantasy
Review: First off, I'm very uncritical about fantasy generally. I've even read tons of TSR paperbacks without getting sick. So I think a bad review of a fantasy book from me says quite a bit. Secondly, I greatly enjoyed the first book in this series, The Magic of Recluce, which diverged from typical fantasy in pleasant ways. Unfortunately, this book is typical fantasy...but written badly too boot. You have your sex-hungry, macho, magically gifted future-ruler, your good-looking female lead who can defeat the brawniest swordsman after a few weeks of training and runs from a life of privelege to join the male lead, you have your totally inept bad guys who keep throwing bigger and badder stuff at the leads, only to fail. This formula gets tiresome after a while, but it's pretty bad when it's in such obvious use. Hopefully this is not telling of Modesitt's later books in the series - I will never know because I gave up after this one.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and absorbing
Review: I consider this to be the best of Modesitt's works. It is not easy to get into--I suggest skipping the first three or so chapters the first time you read it--but once you delve in, you should be trapped by the travails of the protagonist, Creslin. Perhaps the most distracting part of this book is that it's written in present tense. Some people simply cannot handle it, but I managed to disregard it after a couple of pages. It's well worth the effort, I promise. The world here is not your typical fantasy setting. Creslin is a male in a female-dominated society, and in an ironic twist of the willful-princess-tale, flees an arranged marriage and manages to get into trouble on his own. He is wry and earnest, in some ways too young to handle the world--but it's watching him overcome those hurdles that makes this story so remarkable. Modesitt thoroughly explores his characters. They have flaws, like all humans: Creslin can be insensitive; Megaera has a temper. Yet we can understand what they're going through and even though I didn't expect the dramatic acts a perfect hero would give us, what they do manage to accomplish is much more meaningful. Some may believe that a great deal of the story is meaningless wandering, but I was too fascinated by the process rather than the actual resolution. This is not a book you rush: it is a thoughtful piece of work. His system of magic is based on order and chaos, and is eminently logical. These are not simple substitute-in synonyms for "good" and "evil", simplistic alignments which I've always had trouble swallowing. Much of what Creslin learns is the relationship between the two and the need for balance between them. Short chapters might seem to ruin the flow, but instead I found them more helpful because they helped Modesitt cut straight to the meat of the scenes. The writing itself I found quiet and smooth, well-suited for both description and action. I would've re-read it for that alone (but there was also the matter of *finally* understanding the first several chapters). And the end is simply gorgeous. I remained on the last page, letting my eyes scan in that final line over and over. But the beauty of it is that the last line would be meaningless without the entire preceding novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Bridging Story
Review: I did not enjoy this book as much as the first. It was clearly a "Bridge" between stories to give the reader information needed to understand this world. Also I feel I must warn other readers that the way he begins this book, throwing you into the middle of conversations where you don't know who the characters are or what they are talking about so you need to reread the first 20 pages, seems to be his habit. Even with those drawbacks it is a fun book and an excelent series.
Rating:
Summary: So Much Better Than the First One
Review: I disliked the first book, "Magic of Recluce" so much I wasn't going to read this book. The only reason I did was because I had already bought it before I read the first one. This book is so much better than the first one, I was amazed. The Towers of the Sunset is the "prequel" to Magic of Recluce, but was released after the first one. I've read that the author prefers them to be read in the order that they were released. Towers of the Sunset fills in the history behind the Island of Recluce. The story revolves around Creslin and Maegara. Creslin was raised in a very matriarchal society, and when it was arranged for him to marry Maegara he ran away rather than being bargained into what he sees as virtual slavery. Creslin has some latent powers to control the weather, and when the Chaos wizards find him, they take him into slavery and clear his memory. When he is found by an Order healer, she helps him by setting him on his way to recovering his memory. Creslin then escapes from the Chaos wizards and finds a temporary place to stay with a family on their farm. When Maegara finally finds Creslin, they are forced into the very marriage Creslin was trying to escape from in order to rule the Island of Recluce. All in all I enjoyed this book, although at some points I think that Modesitt has no idea whatsoever what women think, or that he made Maegara very unstable. Maegara gets made at Creslin for every reason and for no reason. While this seems to make perfect sense to her, it doesn't to Creslin, and I personally, am more inclined to agree with Creslin. I had no idea why Maegara was angry with him all the time. Also, I really dislike the way the books don't seem to come in any logical order. It seems like you can pick up any book in the series and read and it doesn't matter which one you read before or after it. Some people that are not fond of series' might like this however.
Rating: 
Summary: Blah
Review: I guess I just can't get into this "series" after reading Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, and others. My idea of a series follows one or a couple main characters throughout the entire story. Recluce books do not!! They are confusing to read. Things happen inthe story and you have no idea how they happened. I have read the first and second books of this series and will most likely not read any more.
Rating:
Summary: I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK!!
Review: I kept being surprised and i didn't care for the dramatic climax because i still believed it to be interesting! = ) I admire the author who wrote this and i just love the whole story.. Black symbolizing good and white symbolizing evil gave the story a whole new twist, and Creslin being a warrior and a wizard was just great! The ending is a little blah blah but it depends on yer taste...All in all, i loved it...(read it 5 times and never got tired of it)
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