Rating: 
Summary: After 'The Magic of Recluce' you're comming home.
Review: The Magic of recluce was the first book to get me hooked. I'm dutch and couldn't wait until the towers of the sunset got to the stores, so I bought it online. The first time reading in English, but it was worth it. The other books of Recluce are ordered.
Rating: 
Summary: As good as any in this series.
Review: The Reculse series is set in fairly standard fatasy world. There are several made up cultures that are interesting enough to write a decent book about, and characters that are a good step above the average. Modessitt writes with a solid stle that holds up well over this meduim size book. In this book, two nobles start a new colony on a remote island off of the main continent, and find that their unlikely love will teach them how to use their magical powers to save themselves. This sterotypical novel will not overwhelm anyone, but will certianly kill a boring afternoon. My main problem with this book and the rest of this series is that all of these books are based on one formula. I have read three or four of these books, and all of them could have been written from the same outline, with just name changes being made....
Rating:
Summary: Much better than book 1
Review: This book brought up my opinion of Modesitt a lot. It was much more enjoyable when written in second person and with fewer hard-to-make sound effects. The overall plot of the book was great, introducing the beginnings of Recluce as a Black wizard isle. While the evil characters could really have been developed to a greater extent, and some of the more exciting scenes seemed a little hurried, I truly enjoyed this read and am looking foward to reading the rest of LE's books. P.S. If anyone has a hardback copy of this book, I'd really like to negotiate for it.
Rating: 
Summary: terrible dialogue
Review: This book has a great story line, but it's very poorly written and the dialogue is painfully bad.
Rating:
Summary: Here we go again.
Review: This book really just mirrors the story in the first book. Young lad ventures out into the world, learns how to control and use his powers, and confronts the enemy in the last chapter.
Even worse this book is a prequel to the first book, so unless you've read the first book recently, you're likely to be a little lost in the beginning. Although the story is mostly self-contained.
Towers of the Sunset still uses the really good background of Order vs Chaos introduced in the first book, but it just tells the same story again.
Rating:
Summary: getting a little better
Review: This book was better written that the first, The Magic of Recluce. I see that a lot of people have trouble with the present tense used in the narrative. I found a trick to get over that. I use my imagination and think that I am watching a movie. It happens in realtime.
As for Megara, she is a little chill toward Creslin but in her condition, it is understandable.
There is a little more action in this second book, fortunately. I wouldn't have forgiven Modesitt this time.
Rating: 
Summary: STAY AWAY!!!
Review: This is an awful book. It's very confusing (the confusion started before the story did, when it was said that this was the 3rd book in the series, and the second was "upcoming"). Next, a crudload of new characters was dumped in there with no reference to the others, and it was made as boring as possible. Read the first one, though.
Rating:
Summary: Unique
Review: This is the 4th Recluse book I have read. The story centers around young Creslin, a storm wizard. The story is broken down across 3 stages of young Creslin's life, Blade Master, Storm Master and Order Master. As usual the pacing is slow and purposely deliberate but none the less told by a master storyteller. Modesitt's characters are some of the strongest characters that I have read to date. They are strongly developed and the reader usually finds something within each character to bind with, thus you care about Creslin and you want to see him succeed. There is also a very serious love story here, also very strongly developed and loaded with conflict. The love story made the book memorable in my eyes as it opened not only Creslin's eyes but mine. These are the qualities that make Modesitt the writer he is. He writes of fiction and fantasy but in all his books the reader comes away with an underlying real world message.
Rating:
Summary: A new look at magick, politics and the morality of heroism
Review: This is the first book of Modesitt that I have read. The first of many. The style grasped me from the first word. A storytelling style with shards of information that you had to pull together. I found myself rereading parts as I had missed them in the rush to get to the more powerful scenes. Another thing I enjoyed was the many chapter breaks which allowed me to pickup much eaier than most books where I left off. Modesitt's hero is continually sickened by the depths that he must plunged for the sake of a stable future. Giving up more than he could have imagined. Hi dualistic magick system also caught my attention. I only wish I could write a review on par with he style I read in the book. A must read for any fantasy enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: My personal favorite of the series...
Review: While The Magic Engineer is the best book of the series, objectively speaking, The Towers of the Sunset is still my personal favorite. Modesitt doesn't write Creslin in a manner that makes you love him or despise him, but simply respect him for what he can do. Yes the book can be excessively confusing, and it's true that the reader simply knows that Creslin can't be beaten. Nevertheless, Creslin's growth from naive pawn to master of his world is superbly entertaining and real. As usual, Modesitt makes the reader question what is right and what is wrong. The difference is that Creslin, unlike most of Modesitt's other Order Mages, rarely questions his decisions and motivations. He's arrogant and authoritative, and does what he needs to do to suceed. There is also an interesting look at the the sacrifices that must be made, in this case by both Creslin and Fairhaven, for a life safe and secure. With the possible exception of Fall of Angels this is the best book to read stand alone from the series. If you enjoy harsh and real portrayals of powerful figures, then this is the book for you.
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