Rating: 
Summary: There'll be a sequel to this one!
Review: A worthy addition to the Recluce Series. Backfills where THE CHAOS BALANCE and FALL OF ANGELS left off..exploring CYAD in all it's glory. As usual, Modesitt introduces a heady young man, in this case, SMART, HARD-WORKING, but not a highly-motivated young Mage. The kid gets sent to the Lancers, where he learns the Military ways while secretly strengthening his magely ways. Modesitt provides glimpses into the founding of CYAD, and references to the First Born, i.e., the White Angels. As usual in the Recluce Series, Modesitt *REALLY* gets into Lorn's head. While not as strong as some of the previous books (Magic Engineer, Recluce, The Order War and The White Order are my faves), it still stands cubits ahead of other fantasy authors or worlds. I _EAGERLY_ look forward to the next volume!
Rating: 
Summary: Something old, something new...
Review: Allow me to begin by stating that LEM captured me when I first absconded with a copy of _Dawn for a Distant Earth_ from my brother's bookshelves. Afterwards, I found myself keeping a weather-eye on the bookstore (not to mention my brother's) shelves for more from his pen. Having encountered LEM's use of shifts from past to present tense in his writing to delineate action surrounding the protagonist and other plot threads which didn't include the protagonist, I expected a shift in tense once again when we reached the "current" plot line. I was taken by surprise, but not to the extent that it detracted from the story. This story revolves around a young man whose depth we glimpse but may never fully plumb. I think that the prose paints an excellent picture of a man raised in a society in which one is never free from observation. The thought of going through life concerned by the political ramifications of ANYthing you do is (I feel) wonderfully portrayed. While some complain about the length vs. action ratio in this particular novel, I feel gratified by it. With such a complex setting, I am grateful that LEM takes the time to provide such an in-depth foundation for what I am sure will follow.
Rating:
Summary: the (chronologically) first novel of Recluce
Review: Book 10 in the Saga of Recluce Even though this is the tenth volume in the Saga of Recluce, it is chronologically the first. Long before Creslin founded Recluce, long before the angels fell and Nylan built Westwind, long before all of the recorded history of Recluse there was the Empire of Cyador. Cyador is an Empire built on the power of Chaos mages and Chaos towers (supplying the Chaos energy required for much of the technology of Cyador). The Empire uses the army (Lancers) to hold back the barbarians from Cyador as well as hold the Accursed Forest (the forest that the Druids are later from) back from spreading into Cyador. Lorn is a son of a Magi family. He is one of the most talented and proficient students in his classes, but he lacks the love of chaos that is necessary to become a Magi. Lorn can do the work better than perhaps anyone and is capable of being a Chaos Master, but he isn�t obsessed with it nor does he truly love Chaos. If you have read other Recluce novels, you know this will lead to Lorn�s exile from his family and the city of Cyad. This is most similar to Lerris being exiled from Recluse and going on the Dangergeld (The Magic of Recluce). The difference is that Lorn knows why he must leave Cyad, where he is going, and what the risks are. Lorn is made a Lancer undercaptain and must fight on the frontier of Cyad against barbarians. Lancers have a low survival rate, Magi Lancers have an even lower survival rate because they get the most difficult assignments (so that they will be killed. A personal capable of wielding chaos but not a magus is too dangerous to the Empire, or so the higher ups have decided). Lorn knows what he is getting into, but actually becoming a Lancer is the only way that he sees to live. Lorn is essentially a moral, honest man, but at the same time he is ruthless in protecting himself and his loved ones from threats, both real and perceived. If Lorn sees someone as a threat, he will kill that man but hide the crime in such a way that nobody is sure who committed the murder (and in some cases that a murder even took place). He is a very guarded individual, mostly because he knows that the Magi�i in Cyad do not want him to live, despite his family connections. The more you read in Recluce you will begin to see that Modesitt is essentially telling the same type of story over and over again. You can see clear comparisons between Lorn, Creslin, Nylan, and Lerris. There is the recurring theme of exile, and the protagonist trying to find his destiny without quite knowing how he will accomplish it. In one sense, if you have read one Recluce novel you pretty much know how the other ones will work out. Magi�i of Cyador is slightly different in that Lorn has more knowledge and intent in his actions, but the book still follows the basic pattern that Modesitt set up in the first Recluce novel. That said, this remains one of my favorite fantasy series because of the depth of development in the created world and in the characters. We get to see what the characters are thinking, why they are planning their actions, and what the repercussions are of those actions. Modesitt is not gentle towards the protagonists, they suffer more than any other character in the books, and maybe that�s part of why I like the books so much. My one suggestion is to take breaks between the books or you can get tired of the repetition fairly quickly.
Rating:
Summary: the (chronologically) first novel of Recluce
Review: Book 10 in the Saga of Recluce Even though this is the tenth volume in the Saga of Recluce, it is chronologically the first. Long before Creslin founded Recluce, long before the angels fell and Nylan built Westwind, long before all of the recorded history of Recluse there was the Empire of Cyador. Cyador is an Empire built on the power of Chaos mages and Chaos towers (supplying the Chaos energy required for much of the technology of Cyador). The Empire uses the army (Lancers) to hold back the barbarians from Cyador as well as hold the Accursed Forest (the forest that the Druids are later from) back from spreading into Cyador. Lorn is a son of a Magi family. He is one of the most talented and proficient students in his classes, but he lacks the love of chaos that is necessary to become a Magi. Lorn can do the work better than perhaps anyone and is capable of being a Chaos Master, but he isn't obsessed with it nor does he truly love Chaos. If you have read other Recluce novels, you know this will lead to Lorn's exile from his family and the city of Cyad. This is most similar to Lerris being exiled from Recluse and going on the Dangergeld (The Magic of Recluce). The difference is that Lorn knows why he must leave Cyad, where he is going, and what the risks are. Lorn is made a Lancer undercaptain and must fight on the frontier of Cyad against barbarians. Lancers have a low survival rate, Magi Lancers have an even lower survival rate because they get the most difficult assignments (so that they will be killed. A personal capable of wielding chaos but not a magus is too dangerous to the Empire, or so the higher ups have decided). Lorn knows what he is getting into, but actually becoming a Lancer is the only way that he sees to live. Lorn is essentially a moral, honest man, but at the same time he is ruthless in protecting himself and his loved ones from threats, both real and perceived. If Lorn sees someone as a threat, he will kill that man but hide the crime in such a way that nobody is sure who committed the murder (and in some cases that a murder even took place). He is a very guarded individual, mostly because he knows that the Magi'i in Cyad do not want him to live, despite his family connections. The more you read in Recluce you will begin to see that Modesitt is essentially telling the same type of story over and over again. You can see clear comparisons between Lorn, Creslin, Nylan, and Lerris. There is the recurring theme of exile, and the protagonist trying to find his destiny without quite knowing how he will accomplish it. In one sense, if you have read one Recluce novel you pretty much know how the other ones will work out. Magi'i of Cyador is slightly different in that Lorn has more knowledge and intent in his actions, but the book still follows the basic pattern that Modesitt set up in the first Recluce novel. That said, this remains one of my favorite fantasy series because of the depth of development in the created world and in the characters. We get to see what the characters are thinking, why they are planning their actions, and what the repercussions are of those actions. Modesitt is not gentle towards the protagonists, they suffer more than any other character in the books, and maybe that's part of why I like the books so much. My one suggestion is to take breaks between the books or you can get tired of the repetition fairly quickly.
Rating: 
Summary: Dropped the Ball
Review: I enjoy this series, but I can not understand this book. I was very diappointed aftere waiting months for this book and to be given a book that doens't even end well. I understand that there has to be yet another book but to go 400 plus pages and just end. I was upset that once the story showed signs of life and the next page just ends. I know of no other book that ends as poorly as this book did. I could be entirely wrong and the sister book to this book is total awesome but next time I wil wait until it comes out in softback instead of getting it as soon as it hit the stories as I hae for the last books.
Rating: 
Summary: Choppy but a good book to get from the library
Review: I have rather enjoyed all of Modesitt's books, but this was one of the hardest to get into. The plot was extremely choppy. Just when the story started to get engrossing, the setting would change, and that plot line would be over with. It very much seemed as if the author was a little bored with the story as well, causing this disjointed thought process. It was a good book, but wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Choppy but a good book to get from the library
Review: I have rather enjoyed all of Modesitt's books, but this was one of the hardest to get into. The plot was extremely choppy. Just when the story started to get engrossing, the setting would change, and that plot line would be over with. It very much seemed as if the author was a little bored with the story as well, causing this disjointed thought process. It was a good book, but wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: a disappointment
Review: I realize that sometimes it is necessary for an author to set up a whole detailed background and backdrop for his characters to exist in, but 400 plus pages of it? This is the first book of the Recluce series that really let me down. I think Modesitt does an excellent job of letting his readers get into the heads of his characters (as usual), but considering how expensive hardcover books are becoming, you would like to see at least a little action in a four hundred page novel. I expect the next novel will be the one where things really start happening for Lorn (and of course I will buy and read it), but I think it might better have served Modesitt's fans to have combined this book and the next one coming up into one really large book.
Rating:
Summary: Magi'i of Cyandor
Review: I was reading a well written book and had three others waiting when I came across this book. I've been enchanted with this author since I read his first three publications now in a single volume. I was not disappointed, except as one reviewer wrote that one could have wished the publisher could have included the second half of the story in the one jacket.
Rating:
Summary: Modesitt-ly Misleading
Review: L.E. is one of the few authors I actually still read. I am a large fan of the Recluce Saga and wait patiently for the next book which details more and more history of the land. I am not completely sure, but it seems to me that his writing style has changed a little (I noticed this more-so in Gravity Dreams than Magi'i, but anyway) over time. I suppose you could say it has grown, but it took me a few chapters to get used to it. The book was slow at times, and as stated in some other reviews, just as it starts to really pick up, he ends the novel. BAM! Story over, with not even a "To be Continued in <next novel>" which really just hurt my opinion of L.E. Anyway, it's worth the read, but probably not in hardcover.
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