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qu33nofbookz's review against another edition
2.0
This overly bloated, horridly repedative, snails pace, no climax, no character growth, too many characters with similar-sounding names, lots of useless/unnecessary details, odd setting/action jumps without any understandable transition, story about nothing really could be cut in half literally and you wouldn't miss a thing. This is really just one very very very long drawn out week in the life of a military guy. Also, there are a few inconsistencies that don't make much sense because they are never fixed or explained why the change happened it just does and you can forget about how things were set up and just go with the flow. Lots of stuff that should be important is skipped over and you have to guess to fill in the blanks. The world-building is nill which sucks. Hopefully, it's explained in other books down the line?
This is the 10th book written for the Saga of Recluse series but it's the first in regards to the timeline of the series. I had heard that the series should be read in publication order but I like to start at the beginning of a series and book 1 timeline-wise made sense because it sets up the world of the series. Not so with this series apparently. Even though the rest of the series (starting in the middle of the timeline with book 1 in publication order with this as its backstory and history) is based on the actions of the characters here it makes little to no sense, since we are dropped into a story as if we already know how the world is set up.
Am I crazy to think a first timeline book in a series should set up the world-building for an entire series?
This overly long book is about Lorn and his life over about 5 to 6 years (but feels like 1 or 2) as a soldier. He is born into a family of magi'i, magic users who use a power called chaos to make technology that makes and uses fire...created by magic...to make things like tanks run. The magic is running low, the magi'i families are becoming inbreed and losing power, and the evil magic black forces that oppose chaos magic on its own is growing. There is a magic wall/towers around a forest full of black magic and horrible creatures. The wall/towers are failing but the people in power, the emporer, and his court of magi'i resembling the church gone corrupt is keeping the general populace in the dark. The magi'i order is set up like the church/Vatican hierarchy and they expect all magi'i working for them to be fanatical and unquestioning of their higher-ups. Since Lorn is always seeking answers to questions they don't want asked and he can't blindly follow them he gets reassigned to the firelancers, the military that protects people from the evil forest, and a more recent problem "barbarians" in the northern territory whos land the "civilized" people of the magi'i took from them/ran them off of ages ago. Since he still has the power to use magic the higher up magi'i fear him becoming like the very first "true" emporer of their land, a military magic commander now a legend who brought about their current civilization and power. So they have him watched and sent to the most dangerous places in the hopes he'll be killed or if he gets to powerful to have him killed.
The majority of the book is his day-to-day, week to week, endless repetitive training, fighting of barbarians, and later fighting creatures from the forest. (seriously everything Lorn or his direct underlings gets repeated verbatim again, and again, and again... Seriously we get it, fire at will, short bursts, formation 2x2 does not need to be said and repeated by all characters every third paragraph! Also if I never read thank you and yes sir again any time soon it will be too soon.) Every once in a while we jump to the emporer and people of power talking about how the magic is failing and the evil is spreading and what can be done about it without telling the general public. We get to see rare interactions with the merchant woman who becomes Lorn's wife. We also get to see snippets of Lorn with his family, all magic users.
Their culture kinda reminded me of the middle east with the way they live, think about/treat women, think about other cultures, ext. This is a male-dominated society and women are second class. They must be healers if they have magic, and can't do any other job if they work at all outside the house depending upon the man's decisions. Also healing drains them of their life force slowly but surely, but this isn't really brought but besides the fact that it does happen.
If you need a reading page count or just something bland to fill in time this will work for you. If you want excitement, adventure, intregue, romance, a battle of good and evil magic this is not for you.
Since this is book 10 publication-wise, I might skip timeline-wise and read book 1 publication-wise to see if it's any good and sets up the worldbuilding (again why isn't book 1 timeline-wise, the history published book 1 is based on not a worldbuilder?).
This is the 10th book written for the Saga of Recluse series but it's the first in regards to the timeline of the series. I had heard that the series should be read in publication order but I like to start at the beginning of a series and book 1 timeline-wise made sense because it sets up the world of the series. Not so with this series apparently. Even though the rest of the series (starting in the middle of the timeline with book 1 in publication order with this as its backstory and history) is based on the actions of the characters here it makes little to no sense, since we are dropped into a story as if we already know how the world is set up.
Am I crazy to think a first timeline book in a series should set up the world-building for an entire series?
This overly long book is about Lorn and his life over about 5 to 6 years (but feels like 1 or 2) as a soldier. He is born into a family of magi'i, magic users who use a power called chaos to make technology that makes and uses fire...created by magic...to make things like tanks run. The magic is running low, the magi'i families are becoming inbreed and losing power, and the evil magic black forces that oppose chaos magic on its own is growing. There is a magic wall/towers around a forest full of black magic and horrible creatures. The wall/towers are failing but the people in power, the emporer, and his court of magi'i resembling the church gone corrupt is keeping the general populace in the dark. The magi'i order is set up like the church/Vatican hierarchy and they expect all magi'i working for them to be fanatical and unquestioning of their higher-ups. Since Lorn is always seeking answers to questions they don't want asked and he can't blindly follow them he gets reassigned to the firelancers, the military that protects people from the evil forest, and a more recent problem "barbarians" in the northern territory whos land the "civilized" people of the magi'i took from them/ran them off of ages ago. Since he still has the power to use magic the higher up magi'i fear him becoming like the very first "true" emporer of their land, a military magic commander now a legend who brought about their current civilization and power. So they have him watched and sent to the most dangerous places in the hopes he'll be killed or if he gets to powerful to have him killed.
The majority of the book is his day-to-day, week to week, endless repetitive training, fighting of barbarians, and later fighting creatures from the forest. (seriously everything Lorn or his direct underlings gets repeated verbatim again, and again, and again... Seriously we get it, fire at will, short bursts, formation 2x2 does not need to be said and repeated by all characters every third paragraph! Also if I never read thank you and yes sir again any time soon it will be too soon.) Every once in a while we jump to the emporer and people of power talking about how the magic is failing and the evil is spreading and what can be done about it without telling the general public. We get to see rare interactions with the merchant woman who becomes Lorn's wife. We also get to see snippets of Lorn with his family, all magic users.
Their culture kinda reminded me of the middle east with the way they live, think about/treat women, think about other cultures, ext. This is a male-dominated society and women are second class. They must be healers if they have magic, and can't do any other job if they work at all outside the house depending upon the man's decisions. Also healing drains them of their life force slowly but surely, but this isn't really brought but besides the fact that it does happen.
If you need a reading page count or just something bland to fill in time this will work for you. If you want excitement, adventure, intregue, romance, a battle of good and evil magic this is not for you.
Since this is book 10 publication-wise, I might skip timeline-wise and read book 1 publication-wise to see if it's any good and sets up the worldbuilding (again why isn't book 1 timeline-wise, the history published book 1 is based on not a worldbuilder?).
mary_soon_lee's review against another edition
3.0
I've spent a lot of time in the past few months wanting to escape into L. E. Modesitt's fantasy novels. I like the main characters and find the books very immersive. This particular book is the tenth in The Saga of Recluce. The pace during the books may seem slow, though there are moments of high action. The prose is usually unremarkable. Yet somehow the pacing and the unobtrusive prose combine so that I slip into the story as if it were real. Over the course of the saga, which spans many centuries and various countries, the world is built up in convincing detail. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. (However the villains usually seem a tad cardboard.)
Magi'i of Cyador had the same qualities as the rest of the series, except that I liked Lorn less unreservedly than Modesitt's other protagonists. An important point to me, since I am a reader who much prefers to root for the main character. As such I would rank this close to the bottom of the first ten books in the series, yet nonetheless both enjoyable and immersive.
Magi'i of Cyador had the same qualities as the rest of the series, except that I liked Lorn less unreservedly than Modesitt's other protagonists. An important point to me, since I am a reader who much prefers to root for the main character. As such I would rank this close to the bottom of the first ten books in the series, yet nonetheless both enjoyable and immersive.
craftingrama's review against another edition
3.0
The narrator has to be the most boring narrator ever, I am almost thinking that it would be better to use this series as a sleeping pill and only listen to it at night, except for the fact that I would like to know what happens. Saying that this book coulda taken half of it out and it would have been a great book but far to much of it was so boring it was helping the narrator put me to sleep far to often for my peace of mind and work ethics. I like to listen to audiobooks while I work on patterns that need my concentration enough that I am unable to watch tv or read ebooks. I really hate when they make me dopey and want to go to bed instead of finish my project. The book series isn't half bad so far but it has far too much crap that wasn't needed.
sophiewilliams's review against another edition
3.0
Much further back than the others of these in the chronology. Enjoyable, with less emphasis on magic and more on politics.
katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
7/10
This installment in the Saga of Recluce series takes us to what is, for now anyway, the earliest events in the chronology. No Black Order wizards--the Dark Angels have not yet fallen from the skies. Still, the Chaos weilders are not only centuries into their time on Candor, but are already beginning to experience the failure of their Chaos storage units, a fact the Emperor and the Magi'i (predecessors of the White Wizards) are trying to keep secret.
This book is devoted to the development and maturation of Lorn, and appears to be laying the foundation for later events that one may hope are more momentous. Lorn, his family, and Ryalth hold center stage, but the most interesting intrigue surrounds the Emperor and his closest counselors, who are not fleshed out in much detail--I had trouble keeping them straight.
Hoping the next book pulls things together more as it is a direct sequel to this one.
This installment in the Saga of Recluce series takes us to what is, for now anyway, the earliest events in the chronology. No Black Order wizards--the Dark Angels have not yet fallen from the skies. Still, the Chaos weilders are not only centuries into their time on Candor, but are already beginning to experience the failure of their Chaos storage units, a fact the Emperor and the Magi'i (predecessors of the White Wizards) are trying to keep secret.
This book is devoted to the development and maturation of Lorn, and appears to be laying the foundation for later events that one may hope are more momentous. Lorn, his family, and Ryalth hold center stage, but the most interesting intrigue surrounds the Emperor and his closest counselors, who are not fleshed out in much detail--I had trouble keeping them straight.
Hoping the next book pulls things together more as it is a direct sequel to this one.
vaderbird's review against another edition
3.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
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