The Magic of Recluce (Tor Fantasy)

Rating:
Summary: not bad, but not great
Review: This book is hard to describe. It's certainly not the worst fantasy I've ever read, but it's far from the best. The writing is uneven. The characters are extremely blase about events around them and don't bother questioning a lot of what happens. The main character, Lerris, just suddenly has magical powers that should be astonishing and he merely yawns as if he knew and goes about making a table. Having said all that, the story is interesting in parts and it moves along.

The worst things about L.E. Modesitt's writing are the sounds. He gives sound effects to every tiny stupid thing in the book. Every time the horse whinnies, it has an imitation sound that no real horse would make. A door slams and there's the attempt to make the noise into words. It's very distracting and pointless. I became very frustrated with this style very quickly.

On the whole, it wasn't a bad way to spend a few days. But I don't think I'll be reading anymore about Recluce in the future.