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A review by kenlaan
The Towers of the Sunset by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
3.0
3 stars for an interesting setting and magic system, characters that started interesting but wore a little thin, and an ending that kinda fizzled. But there was enough here such that I want to read the next soon.
The Saga of Recluce is Good, Actually?
L.E. Modesitt Jr. seems to be underappreciated compared to other fantasy authors of his time (90s-present), if the number of Goodreads reviews and talk of his books is anything to go on. And I find myself guilty of that, too, with this being only the second book I've read by him. Very recently I've been on a kick of reading a lot of fantasy, most of it from the 80s/90s, and it got me considering checking back in with the Recluce series.
I read the first of this series, [b: The Magic of Reluce] in the 90s - probably alongside Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, and R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books, etc. I certainly didn't like it at first. Lerris, the protagonist, was insufferable at the beginning, as his character's primary motivation was that he was bored working as an apprentice to his uncle, a carpenter. He was insufferable to the extent that his family kicked him off the island of Recluce, Survivor-style. (I'm taking some liberties here). He marginally improves after being kicked off the island as he finds work helping a failing carpenter, and we're treated to several scenes of woodworking, selling breadbaskets, bargaining for scrap wood, negotiating wages, etc. It's all very compelling typical fantasy stuff. And yet, somehow, I kept reading and by the end I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.
Lerris gets somewhat more tolerable. And it wasn't so much that he was voted off the island, but that his inability to fit in with Recluce's mores lead to him being sent on a sort of fantasy Rumspringa, which I thought was a cool concept. There's also a pretty nifty Order & Chaos based magic system that stays internally consistent without being explained to within an inch of its life, Sanderson-style (though it does, due to the color associations - Order = Black, White = Chaos - lead to some questionable phraseology, like "the Blacks" and "White power"
The Saga of Recluce is Good, Actually?
L.E. Modesitt Jr. seems to be underappreciated compared to other fantasy authors of his time (90s-present), if the number of Goodreads reviews and talk of his books is anything to go on. And I find myself guilty of that, too, with this being only the second book I've read by him. Very recently I've been on a kick of reading a lot of fantasy, most of it from the 80s/90s, and it got me considering checking back in with the Recluce series.
I read the first of this series, [b: The Magic of Reluce] in the 90s - probably alongside Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, and R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books, etc. I certainly didn't like it at first. Lerris, the protagonist, was insufferable at the beginning, as his character's primary motivation was that he was bored working as an apprentice to his uncle, a carpenter. He was insufferable to the extent that his family kicked him off the island of Recluce, Survivor-style. (I'm taking some liberties here). He marginally improves after being kicked off the island as he finds work helping a failing carpenter, and we're treated to several scenes of woodworking, selling breadbaskets, bargaining for scrap wood, negotiating wages, etc. It's all very compelling typical fantasy stuff. And yet, somehow, I kept reading and by the end I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.
Lerris gets somewhat more tolerable. And it wasn't so much that he was voted off the island, but that his inability to fit in with Recluce's mores lead to him being sent on a sort of fantasy Rumspringa, which I thought was a cool concept. There's also a pretty nifty Order & Chaos based magic system that stays internally consistent without being explained to within an inch of its life, Sanderson-style (though it does, due to the color associations - Order = Black, White = Chaos - lead to some questionable phraseology, like "the Blacks" and "White power"