Rating: 
Summary: Gee, I wonder where this is going?
Review: Magi'i of Cyador is, as usual for Modesitt, an intelligently written, ever-so-slightly distant installment in his expanding saga of Recluce--even though it has moved well beyond Recluce by now.Presumably the setting is several centuries before the founding of Westwind (if my vauge memories of the time between the establishment of the barrier around the Great Forest and the fall of angels is correct--about 80 generations I think it said) in the empire of Cyador founded by Anglo-Rationalists. The story follows the travails of Lorn, a young man not so devoted to his country as everyone thinks he should be and far more devoted to a young female merchant than anyone in the very patriarchal and strictly hierarchal society feels appropriate for the son of a high ranking Magus. Consequently, Lorn is sent off the Cyandoran version of the army to learn how to fight and kill and maybe be killed. The rest of the book is more of the same--people plot against him, he comes out on top, more people plot against him and so on. You never really feel like you get to know Lorn, certainly not well enough to guess his rationale for his actions, there is none of the internal struggle that has marked Modesitt's previous heroes, only a cold logic that runs at odds with his feelings for his lady-merchant. The terribly obvious thing about Magi'i is the fact that when the angels fall, they do so right next to a city-state called "Lorn"th. Hmmm. . .
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Modesitt paints a more and more detailed history of this wich land. The play of Law vs Chaos rather than Good vs Evil is refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: Comfortable continuation for Recluce fans
Review: O.K. Read the other reviews; it is right down the middle of the other Recluce books. It is about Cyador, the home of the white magicians, before it fell. In this book, you will understand the details of why it will fall, but we are not near that point. There are new wrinkles. It is a cliff-hanger. I expect a sequel for the future plans of the protagonist. You won't learn anything new about how Recluce magic works if you have read the other books, but you get a nice gap filled in for history, an interesting good guy, and some thoughtful extensions of things you already knew. I enjoyed this book as a part of the series, but if you are expecting the same buzz as from the first one you read in the series, you will probably have to go find a new series.
Rating:
Summary: Comfortable continuation for Recluce fans
Review: O.K. Read the other reviews; it is right down the middle of the other Recluce books. It is about Cyador, the home of the white magicians, before it fell. In this book, you will understand the details of why it will fall, but we are not near that point. There are new wrinkles. It is a cliff-hanger. I expect a sequel for the future plans of the protagonist. You won't learn anything new about how Recluce magic works if you have read the other books, but you get a nice gap filled in for history, an interesting good guy, and some thoughtful extensions of things you already knew. I enjoyed this book as a part of the series, but if you are expecting the same buzz as from the first one you read in the series, you will probably have to go find a new series.
Rating:
Summary: Ok, so I was disappointed, but it's still a good book
Review: Ok, this book enters yet another era of the war between chaos and order.with the conclusion of cerryl the white mage in the lsat book I was looking forward to another good read, and hey it was. But did Modesitt write this or just provide the idea? The language changed as did the entire style, though the world and ideas are still right up the alley of the former recluce books. An overall good read, but alas the other books are better. I just hope that I wont be as dissapointed when I read Scion of Cyador...
Rating:
Summary: A pre-prequel
Review: The book was a little slow, but i enjoyed the world -- the kingdom before Recluce. Would enjoy more books about this time period. Also would like to see the different eras tied together more.
Rating:
Summary: A pre-prequel
Review: The book was a little slow, but i enjoyed the world -- the kingdom before Recluce. Would enjoy more books about this time period. Also would like to see the different eras tied together more.
Rating:
Summary: A rational approach to Rationalists
Review: The cut and dried dialogue and narration that open this story sets the tone of a "rationalist" viewpoint which one quickly sees is both fearful and overtly unemotional simultaneously. The use of the screeing glass by the Magi'i to invade the privacy of the hero and his family is quite chilling for it is a powerful tool for constraint on their behavior and ability to even speak with one another. One learns that the families of the magi'i have no freedom for they can be truth read and spied upon at the whim and will of the magi'i and they are forced to live in a prison of fearful restraint. But, as the story unfolds our hero Lorn begins to evolve into a quietly passionate, deeply intelligent and clever man. He is forced to manipulate and master increasingly hostile environments into which he has been forced to survive the plots against him simply because of his heritage as mage-born. He finds himself uncommitted to the prospect of spending his years trapped within concrete and marble buildings devoted to the boring (to him) future of spending his own life force (chaos) on refuelling energy cells. These energy cells power the firelances of Mirror Lancers and the firewagons used for transportation in the ongoing struggle against the accursed forest and the barbarians. The story is largely spent describing his struggles to overcome the aforesaid barbarians and accursed forest as an outcast magi'i in the role as mirror lancer. However, one has a sense that this is stage setting for his unfolding evolution into the highest echelon of the magi'i. He has acquired wealth and power from that wealth through his own foresight and the skills of his merchanter consort Ryalth. He is destined to become a mover and a shaker in the next part of this saga. The love story is charming even though Lorn is forced to commit multiple murders to protect his lady Ryalth from villans. I would like to know the hero better as a man. He is rather one dimensional, but then this may be part of the plot to separate within the reader's understanding the concept of the cold "rationalists" in contrast to the more passionate and emotionally driven "barbarians". One senses that the author plans a number of "rationalists" novels which will provide, hopefully, a thorough understanding for the reader as to who and how the cold blooded magi'i came to rule Cyad and its people. This is a very good "mirror" to Modesitt's book "Fall of the Angels" in the Recluse series. Hopefully the author will write a book that will enrich this perspective for it is deep territory for intrigue and dark plots. Perhaps more of the machinations within the inner circle of the Magi'i of Cyador and their manipulation of their "dense" Emperor. In any event, the future of Lorn and the city of "Lorn'eth" will unfold in due course.
Rating:
Summary: About the Saga as a whole
Review: The saga has a few main characters. They are:
Lorn, Nylan, Creslin, Dorrin and Cerry, Justen, and Lerris. Generally each book follows a pattern.
First, they exile the main character. This happens in some way to all but Cerryl.
Then the main character finds a trade and works there for some time, often as an apprentice. Happens in every book.
At some point of the book he meets a woman. Again, happens to everyone.
It all ends with an epic battle where the main hero defeats a huge army/enemy almost all alone. Only the story of Cerryl differs somewhat. Generally the best book of the series... Or shall I say books... Are the ones about Cerryl. The White Order and Colors of Chaos. These are very good books. The ones about Lerris (Magic of Recluce and Death of Chaos) are pretty good also. Nylan, Justen, Dorrin and Creslin though kinda bored me. I read the books about them rather slowly.
Lorn... He is boring me as well ;-). Anyway, all the books deserve say 4. But the really good, the fives are these about Cerryl and maybe Lerris.
Still, to get a feel about the world you will probably want to read them all...
The chronological order is: Magi'i of Cyador, Scyons of Cyador, The Fall of Angels, The Chaos Balance, Towers of the Sunset, The Magic Engineer and the Cerryl books (White Order and Colors of Chaos) are at the same time, then The Order War, Magic of Recluce and last comes The Death of Chaos.
A long series indeed...
Well... It's interesting. The Wheel of Time is becoming slower and slower... Sword of Truth, Shannara and some other cool series are still fun... Though somewhere after the 5 th book they can get repetetive ;-). Not really. Anyway, I had lotsa fun reading about Recluce. The Cyador books are boring me, sadly... Cyador is just not a normal fantasy land... The hero worries only about himself... Family... Nothing big... Really, read about Lerris, then maybe about Dorrin or Justen and then about Cerryl... Cerryl is a must read.
After that make your mind about the others... I hope this rather... Incosistent review helps.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent New Modesitt
Review: This book continues to explore the humanity of both camps--the Rationalists and the Angels. When I first read the Magic of Recluce, it seemed that there was a clear demarkation of "good" versus "evil". What Modesitt has continued to explore is the complexity of "what is good? what is evil?" His books such as Colors of Chaos and the new Magi'i of Cyador present the position that the whites are not more or less "evil" than the blacks--they are two sides of the same coin--humanity. I look forward with a great deal of anticipation to the follow-on for which he has prepared us in this newest book. Lorn is an engaging character whose development and advancement are due to a combination of circumstance and deliberation. His choices are like those faced by most of humanity--what can he do that creates the least destructive result for both himself and those he loves.
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