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ryodragon20's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
skwolcott's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
craftingrama's review against another edition
4.0
It does seem to be a good series but the damn narrator's verbal sound effects drive me insane.
alusetti's review against another edition
2.0
The second book of Modesitt's saga. I am starting to think I don't like his writing style. I feel like it is just so dang slow. The slowness really doesn't add to the characters' development either. I like the idea of the world he has created, but I hate that I can read the book one day, and don't really feel motivated to read it the next.
davybaby's review against another edition
2.0
Mediocre writing, and nothing especially interesting in the worldbuilding to keep me interested.
heyt's review against another edition
3.0
It was interesting to go back to the world of Recluse but from an extreme opposite in the chaos/order power balance. Seeing the beginning of Recluse added an entirely different perspective to the first of the series as well as providing an entertaining story.
chukg's review against another edition
3.0
Fairly standard high fantasy (with the exception that the hero comes from a matriarchal culture -- women are the warriors and rulers, he had to learn to use a sword semi-secretly). I like that the 'series' is apparently disconnected books with different characters, because there are a lot of them if I wanted to read them all. I probably won't seek out any more but this one was fine if you like that kind of thing.
rgreatreader's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a little confusing, not as charming as its predecessor, and written in the present tense the whole way through.
The first few pages made absolutely no sense at all, although once they were clarified the beginning was the most exciting part of the story.
The rest had a lot of action, but mostly all the same action: the island is attacked, Creslin runs towards the action as quickly as possible, shows his boss swordplay moves, calls storms as violently as possible and in the process messing with everybody else's weather, and then collapses because he has wreaked too much destruction for his order-imbued body to handle. In between action sequences, he worries about rain - having too little and having too much - and about wizards, and how his wife doesn't love him (unsurprisingly, as Modesitt makes clear), staying alive, and using order to create destruction.
Despite the annoyingness of the present tense and the slow second half, The Towers of the Sunset was worth reading for its background of Recluce history and its interesting world-building.
The first few pages made absolutely no sense at all, although once they were clarified the beginning was the most exciting part of the story.
The rest had a lot of action, but mostly all the same action: the island is attacked, Creslin runs towards the action as quickly as possible, shows his boss swordplay moves, calls storms as violently as possible and in the process messing with everybody else's weather, and then collapses because he has wreaked too much destruction for his order-imbued body to handle. In between action sequences, he worries about rain - having too little and having too much - and about wizards, and how his wife doesn't love him (unsurprisingly, as Modesitt makes clear), staying alive, and using order to create destruction.
Despite the annoyingness of the present tense and the slow second half, The Towers of the Sunset was worth reading for its background of Recluce history and its interesting world-building.
katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
7/10
This entry in the Saga of Recluce takes the reader to the founding of Recluce as a haven for wizards of order and others. Creslin and Megaera, betrothed and tied together by their life force, battle family, expectations, wizards, assassins, and each other as they find their way to love and learn the price of power and the costs of the decisions they feel compelled to make. The magic system of this world continues to fascinate me. The sound effects in the text are intrusive and the characters are, at time, incredibly obtuse. Yet the story is imaginative and entertaining while posing serious questions about the use of power.
This entry in the Saga of Recluce takes the reader to the founding of Recluce as a haven for wizards of order and others. Creslin and Megaera, betrothed and tied together by their life force, battle family, expectations, wizards, assassins, and each other as they find their way to love and learn the price of power and the costs of the decisions they feel compelled to make. The magic system of this world continues to fascinate me. The sound effects in the text are intrusive and the characters are, at time, incredibly obtuse. Yet the story is imaginative and entertaining while posing serious questions about the use of power.