Scan barcode
A review by shelvesofsecrets
Imager by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
4.0
3.5/5 stars
A high quality fantasy with an interesting world. The first book in a fantasy series always understandably needs to do a lot of worldbuilding and this one probably more than most. The imaging magic system was interesting and I enjoyed Modesitt's depiction of the hard work required to do it, although certain things seemed to come fairly easily to our hero Rhenn. However, despite my enjoyment of the magical worldbuilding, I think Modesitt took other aspects a touch too far. We don't need another word for hour and the basis of a lot of terms in French kind of confused me regarding whether this world was separate from our own.
Rhenn was a fairly likable character, if a bit too much in his own head. However, I felt like some of the side characters could have been fleshed out more. I think part of that is Rhenn's loner personality, but we only get to know a handful of secondary characters (although I did love his little sister and I hope we get to see her reappear in future books).
The pacing was a bit off for me and I found the last third of the book dragged on more than it needed to. I think a bit less time spent on the lead-up and a bit more time spent on the climatic scenes would have worked better for me.
A high quality fantasy with an interesting world. The first book in a fantasy series always understandably needs to do a lot of worldbuilding and this one probably more than most. The imaging magic system was interesting and I enjoyed Modesitt's depiction of the hard work required to do it, although certain things seemed to come fairly easily to our hero Rhenn. However, despite my enjoyment of the magical worldbuilding, I think Modesitt took other aspects a touch too far. We don't need another word for hour and the basis of a lot of terms in French kind of confused me regarding whether this world was separate from our own.
Rhenn was a fairly likable character, if a bit too much in his own head. However, I felt like some of the side characters could have been fleshed out more. I think part of that is Rhenn's loner personality, but we only get to know a handful of secondary characters (although I did love his little sister and I hope we get to see her reappear in future books).
The pacing was a bit off for me and I found the last third of the book dragged on more than it needed to.