Search - The Magic of Recluce (Recluce series, Book 1)

this book got me hooked on the series. Very good reading. High fantasy

An allegorical fantasy whose central character is a 15-year-old misfit in an oddly isolated Utopian society. Lerris, constantly bored and perpetually questioning, is considered a threat to the order of Wandernaught. Despite his youth, he is asked to choose between exile or undergoing a dangergeld, a journey of discovery and exposure to all the world's wonders and threats. He opts for the latter and is instantly off on a high adventure where he easily recognizes that the real question is whether to choose good or evil, and then which is which. The quest leads Lerris to self-awareness and the beginnings of real wisdom. Synopsis by Reed Business Information, Inc.

I'm giving this one a 4, because Modesitt at least came up with a different approach to the standard fantasy. Order and chaos (order denoted as black, chaos as white) are the things Lerris, who's 15, must choose between in order to go forward in his life.

However, while the premise is interesting, I found my interest waning pretty early in this book. I've tried twice to get thru this, but each time found myself...bored.

Why? It's written in first person, which isn't a bad thing; I just don't think it adds anything to the tale. Then there's Lerris himself, who seems already jaded and bored right off the bat. I'm not against a teenager with angst, but Lerris seems to whine a bit more than I could handle (no, it's not every paragraph, fortunately).

Then there's the sometimes bizarre "sounds" Modesitt invents. For example, a horse going "wheeee" or something similar to that. Sprinkled occasionally throughout, that's fine. But he tends to overdo it.

I've seen that it seems to be marketed in some places as a Young Adult novel, and maybe that's who this is for. Yes, I had plenty of angst when I was 15, so I think teenagers will connect with this, maybe even 20 somethings.

If you've read a lot of fantasy and are looking for something different, this is for you IF you can get past Lerris' whining and the sound effects ;-). Teenagers might be more understanding of Lerris and the story in general (after all, they seem to like Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and I couldn't stand that book).

This was a pretty good book. Started out kind of slow but picked up. This one is about Lerris and his dangergeld and all the trouble he runs into in another country.

This is a good start on what appears to be an enjoyable series and I'm looking forward to what comes next. As is ususal in series this book spends considerable verbiage in developing the characters and the world so the action is somewhat slow. Still I enjoyed the book since the plot follows lines that I enjoy and the coming of age and power is a good way to set the scene for what I hope becomes a compelling story. There are hints of forces that are currently hidden but very powerful. I'll keep reading this series for sure.

Another big long book, and the start of one of those giant epic fantasy sagas.
However, again, I'm not going to go get the sequels.
I like fantasy because it has such potential to expand our concepts of what human society can be, in different and unusual, often dramatic situations.
One can tell, reading this book, that the author is conservative, christian, and non-feminist. This only occasionally intrudes jarringly into the story, but there's absolutely nothing in here that would stretch the comfort zone of the most typical inhabitant of stereotypical middle-America.
The main character is a bored young man who lives in a utopian society of peace and plenty (where women know their place). But he's bored.
His family sends him to a center where the various disaffected (the bored, criminals, feminists) are trained and then sent out of the lovely, ordered kingdom of Recluce to make their way in the dangerous wide world, only possibly to ever return.
Our protagonist goes questing and along the way discovers he has the potential to be a super-powerful wizard. MORE TO COME.... in the sequels, of course.

The first book in the Recluce series - I've read this book many times, and I still love it. Lerris, the main character, has a lot of depth and development.