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Summary: Understanding & Enjoying the World of Recluse
Review: -L.E. Modesitt jr's Recluse series is a world of magic and balance. a world that will grab you and make you loss track of time as you are unable to put his Recluse books down. The author, recommends that you read his book in the order of they were published. If you are the person who likes to read the last 50 pages of a book first, and then skip around to different areas of the book as you read it through, then by all means, read the Recluse series in the order of publish. WAIT!..... If you are a reader who truly enjoys finding yourself part of the on going story, as read a series from the start of he story to its end. Then the Recluse series will grab you and not let you go until the conclusion of the series. L.E. Modesitt, jr. has written an 11 books series of the Recluse world so far. This author wrote the Magic of Recluse first. As be has published books, he has jumped around throughout the story time line of the world of Recluse, and put together books of set, and other single books, which he may add another book to that part of the story in a future published book. This author has written the story in books of set, that is the first three book of story: 1st book) "Fall of Angels", 2rd) "The Chaos Balance" & 3rd) "The Tower of the Sunset". Tells the birth and the destruction of kingdom of highly skilled warriors, with the third book leading into the creation of a new kingdom, (Recluse). Then the next book is, 4th book of the World of Recluse) "The Magic Engineer". Then Modesitt, jr. switches to the side of Chaos, and tells a story where the character's of Chaos will became heroes in your eyes too. So with time, you will gain a better understanding of the World of Recluse through the following books: 5th book) "The White Order", & 6th book) "the Color of Chaos". The next set of books that go together in the World of Recluse, are: 7th book) "The Order War", 8th book) "The Magic of Recluse", & the 9th book) "The Death of Chaos". As for the last two book that the author has written, he has drifted into the life of some of the troops found in the World of Recluse. My $0.02 worth.
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Summary: Another fine book
Review: Another fine book in the Saga of Recluce series. It is the story of the Angels and how they carved a niche on the Roof of the World. Personally, I got hooked into the book by the origin of the Angels. I was truely interested in their war against the deamons and in the structure of how their two societies were set up. Unfortunately, that is the first chaper or three. From there it became a survival story on the planet. Which all in all isn't bad, but the ending left me wanting more. To me there are issues between many of the characters that need to be resolved. Especially the Men vs. Women in society. It needed to be resolved for better or worse. I know the next book is out already. I hope it answers the question I have. With the quirky references to some of the other stories, it was a fun read. The unresolved tensions kept me going through the book. It is also a good place to start if you are new to the series
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Summary: Very Good
Review: Great book, well worth reading
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Summary: Love it
Review: I loved this book, although some things bugged me like how sometimes you didn't know who was talking, and I didn't like how it was written in present tense, unlike most books which are written in past.
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Summary: Great read :)
Review: I want to first mention that I'm not a big fan of sci-fi in books. I love fantasy (dungeons and dragons) books, but (generally) dislike fantasy TV/Movies because they don't do it well. My feelings on Sci-fi are usually the opposite. When I first started reading Fall of Angels I thought I'd made a huge mistake because it starts off as a straight sci-fi book, and yes, maybe those ray guns on the cover should have been a warning, but the covers on the previous Recluse books have been completely unrelated to the story inside, so I basically stopped looking at the covers. This book has the usual extremely slow, hard to get into introduction that I've found in all the Recluse books I've read so far. This one was slightly less boring than usual, but I still found it took me a week to past the first quarter of the book. Once you get into the book, describing it to you would make it seem really repetitive. Nylan builds a weapon, Ryba and the Guards use it to decimate the attackers, Nylan gets sad because of the use of force, repeat. ;) Sprinkle that with Nylan's comments about how stories ignore the boring building of societies and infrastructure, and pay attention to the big battles etc. Anyway, I really enjoyed the twist of an advanced civilization getting used to the backwards word of Westwind. I liked getting the full story/background of the beginnings of Recluse. I think this was one of the better books from this series.
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Summary: Good but with a flaw
Review: I would of gave this book a ten but there is a single flaw. The author needs to be more descriptive. Their was too much dialogue for me.
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Summary: Wish it was better.....a lot better......
Review: I'm not done this book yet, and so far am page 232. I am forcing my self to read it in the vain hope that i will be able to justify to myself the spending of 8 odd dollars. It seems too predictable, and the characters seem soo one dimensional it makes Curious George books look like university literature. I will continue to read it, if for no other reason than because i do like some books in the series......
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Summary: Interesting for the history.
Review: If you are a fan of the Recluce Saga, you will enjoy this book immensely. It is something of an origins story to tell where many of the philosophies and ideologies of the world come from. Nylan is definately one of the easiest of the Black Mages to identify with, due to his thought patterns containing more modern concepts. One of the best things about the Recluce Saga is Modestitt's attention to the actual details of day-to-day life in different settings and time periods. This is more obvious than usual in the setting of "civilized" people forced to "rough it" in a new, primative world.
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Summary: The beginning of the blend
Review: If you have yet to experience Modesitt's Recluce Series then this book is the perfect place to start. Fall of Angels is the first book in the timeline of the story, and is consistent in its approach to the rest of the series. What Modesitt does that few other writers can or will, is blend science fiction and fantasy together, and it is in this book where this is most easily seen, for the survivors from the spaceship must learn to adapt from a universe where science rules to one in which magic is the master. Modesitt also focuses in depth on one particular character in each of his books, and what this does besides add to character development in general, is let the reader see and feel what it is like to be a blacksmith or a carpenter. Other fantasys use these occupations as a general piece of the setting, but Modesitt seems to have a firm grasp of the importance people place on what they do, especially in a society in which work is still done on a hands on basis and not on an assembly line. In this book, we see the character of Nylan up close, who apparently in addition to being an inventor, engineer, blacksmith, and carpenter, is also the founder of the order of black mages. What we see in this character is a scientist, not one in a futuristic setting, but one who must learn to do things that we take for granted even today. What this book does not make as clear as the others in the series is the role that chaos and order play. The reason for this is, of course, that Nylan is just learning how to use Order. But even here one can begin to see how different this series is. Modesitt takes Order and Chaos, two scientific concepts, and through the use of his blending of science fiction and fantasy, turns them into magical concepts. This is more realistic than the normal antithesis between good and evil, and allows the characters to have more depth. If you're a fantasy lover and want something different than this book is for you.
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Summary: Very Good
Review: If you're reading this 6th book of the Recluse Saga, you probably know what to expect from this series by now. For many, however, this is the first book read of the series because, chronologically, it is the first. (By the way, I have read that the author would prefer us to read them in the order they were published). Regardless, I found it to be quite a good story, quite capable of standing on its own. Modesitt has flirted with blending science and fantasy elements together with his magic engineers, but now he brings that tactic to the forefront with his marooned spacecraft and crew becoming the leaders of a low-tech culture. The entire Recluse series has epic qualities and this novel is essential for the full effect. I only gave it four stars for the same reason as other novels in this series. There are too many times when the plot drags. Details are very good to have in a novel, but how many times is it necessary to tell us they are having dry, crusty bread for dinner? I like these sorts of mundane details because it really makes the characters real, but I would prefer there to be some variety. Anyway, that is my only real beef and overall, I think you will enjoy The Fall of Angels.
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