The Chaos Balance

Rating:
Summary: A good story, but very similar to others in the series.
Review: This books chronicles the fall of Cyador and the rise of Naclos. Even though the history and information about chaos/order relationships contained in this one are important for a reader wanting to understand the world of Recluce, I was somewhat disapointed by the fact that this book reads almost exactly like the others in the series. Basically, Nylan, your typical smith/order-mage, spends most of the book struggling to understand and master his powers. The book ends in the same way most of the others have- Nylan destroying a huge White army at the last possible second and being punished for it just like all the other heroes have been, by going blind and aging. I did like the characters in this one, good and bad, but I felt like I knew what was going to happen the entire time (which it turns out I did) so I didn't really get caught up in the suspense very much, just tried to get through it in a hurry to more on to the next one, which doesn't make for enjoyable reading. Hopefully in future books, Modesitt will change up the general story outline, maybe detailing the colonization of the planet by the Rats.

Rating:
Summary: A good story, but very similar to others in the series.
Review: This books chronicles the fall of Cyador and the rise of Naclos. Even though the history and information about chaos/order relationships contained in this one are important for a reader wanting to understand the world of Recluce, I was somewhat disapointed by the fact that this book reads almost exactly like the others in the series. Basically, Nylan, your typical smith/order-mage, spends most of the book struggling to understand and master his powers. The book ends in the same way most of the others have- Nylan destroying a huge White army at the last possible second and being punished for it just like all the other heroes have been, by going blind and aging. I did like the characters in this one, good and bad, but I felt like I knew what was going to happen the entire time (which it turns out I did) so I didn't really get caught up in the suspense very much, just tried to get through it in a hurry to more on to the next one, which doesn't make for enjoyable reading. Hopefully in future books, Modesitt will change up the general story outline, maybe detailing the colonization of the planet by the Rats.

Rating:
Summary: more of the same
Review: This was first Modesitt book in which i was bored from start to finish. seemed to be mainly a repeat of hi sother works, mainly "The MAgic Engineer" using the charactors from "Fall of Angels". Even the ending comes as completely predictable to anyone who has read the rest of the series. Unrecommended. Try his first in the series, best in the series, "The magic of Recluse" instead.

Rating:
Summary: more of the same
Review: This was first Modesitt book in which i was bored from start to finish. seemed to be mainly a repeat of hi sother works, mainly "The MAgic Engineer" using the charactors from "Fall of Angels". Even the ending comes as completely predictable to anyone who has read the rest of the series. Unrecommended. Try his first in the series, best in the series, "The magic of Recluse" instead.