I've been eyeing the Recluce books for a while. They tend to catch my eye in the bookstore, because their cover art reminds me of the cover art for The Wheel of Time series. But I'd never really picked them up. I did grab another of L.E. Modesitt's books,The Soprano Sorceress: The First Book of the Spellsong Cycle
, which I'd started but abandoned due to lack of interest. (I'd looked up the author's website, and he does maintain that you might like some of his books and not others, and that's OK with him. I like that.)
Recently, I decided to give Recluce a try, and so I picked up The Magic of Recluce
. And I'm glad I did. As mentioned in my "What draws us in" post, I didn't expect to be drawn into this book like I was. First it's rare, in my experience, to have epic fantasy written in a first person point of view. I enjoyed this change of my perceptions where viewpoint is concerned.
The Magic of Recluce introduces us to Lerris, a young boy, and his family. The Island of Recluce is reclusive, strict in its near worship of Order. This need for Order and perfection bores the hell out of Lerris and after a failed apprenticeship woodworking for his Uncle, Sardit, Lerris is sent to the capital city to undergo a ritual, dangergeld, for those who aren't "Ordered" enough to continue existance on Recluce. The exile isn't permanent, but you do have a mission to complete before you are to return, if you wish to return at all. Lerris is young, and completely untrained, but they send him to Candor anyway.
And that's when the real story begins. We follow Lerris through Candor, where he meets up with Anton, a White Mage (Chaos) and Justan, a Grey mage (who uses both order and chaos trying to balance both.) Lerris follows Justan who sort of teaches him. Along the way, we discover that Lerris is also a Mage, and he must choose between Order and Chaos.
What most interests me about the series is the play on words that help spark your attention. In most works, White is for goodness, purity, logic and acension. Black is for evil, unclean, chaos, and decension. In most of our minds, we probably find some good associations with white, and negative associations with black: Light vs. Dark. Modesitt flips this on its head, by having "Order Mages" be called Black mages. Our hero is shown with a preference for Order, but he isn't shown as evil, where as a White Mage, performing Chaos magic is shown as Evil: starting wars, living beyond his years by stealing the bodies of others. The Magic of Recluce is a novel where one must think. I like that.
It follows Lerris coming of age journey, that he constantly asks "why" and is rebuffed and finally told he needs to accumulate his own knowledge and wisdom and make his own determinations about the world and what is right. And that story is true for all of us. And I think that's what is great about following this story in first person. If we knew too much, from a narrator, or from other viewpoints, the story would not be as good.
The rest of the Recluce Saga jumps back and forth through time. I feel the story is complete enough for me. If they followed Lerris, I might be tempted to add them to my lists to read in the future, but for now, I'm happy with the Magic of Recluce, and have no need to discover the rest of Modesitt's world.
, which I'd started but abandoned due to lack of interest. (I'd looked up the author's website, and he does maintain that you might like some of his books and not others, and that's OK with him. I like that.)Recently, I decided to give Recluce a try, and so I picked up The Magic of Recluce
. And I'm glad I did. As mentioned in my "What draws us in" post, I didn't expect to be drawn into this book like I was. First it's rare, in my experience, to have epic fantasy written in a first person point of view. I enjoyed this change of my perceptions where viewpoint is concerned. The Magic of Recluce
introduces us to Lerris, a young boy, and his family. The Island of Recluce is reclusive, strict in its near worship of Order. This need for Order and perfection bores the hell out of Lerris and after a failed apprenticeship woodworking for his Uncle, Sardit, Lerris is sent to the capital city to undergo a ritual, dangergeld, for those who aren't "Ordered" enough to continue existance on Recluce. The exile isn't permanent, but you do have a mission to complete before you are to return, if you wish to return at all. Lerris is young, and completely untrained, but they send him to Candor anyway.And that's when the real story begins. We follow Lerris through Candor, where he meets up with Anton, a White Mage (Chaos) and Justan, a Grey mage (who uses both order and chaos trying to balance both.) Lerris follows Justan who sort of teaches him. Along the way, we discover that Lerris is also a Mage, and he must choose between Order and Chaos.
What most interests me about the series is the play on words that help spark your attention. In most works, White is for goodness, purity, logic and acension. Black is for evil, unclean, chaos, and decension. In most of our minds, we probably find some good associations with white, and negative associations with black: Light vs. Dark. Modesitt flips this on its head, by having "Order Mages" be called Black mages. Our hero is shown with a preference for Order, but he isn't shown as evil, where as a White Mage, performing Chaos magic is shown as Evil: starting wars, living beyond his years by stealing the bodies of others. The Magic of Recluce is a novel where one must think. I like that.
It follows Lerris coming of age journey, that he constantly asks "why" and is rebuffed and finally told he needs to accumulate his own knowledge and wisdom and make his own determinations about the world and what is right. And that story is true for all of us. And I think that's what is great about following this story in first person. If we knew too much, from a narrator, or from other viewpoints, the story would not be as good.
The rest of the Recluce Saga jumps back and forth through time. I feel the story is complete enough for me. If they followed Lerris, I might be tempted to add them to my lists to read in the future, but for now, I'm happy with the Magic of Recluce, and have no need to discover the rest of Modesitt's world.
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