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Books
These are listed in order of publication: the author has insisted that this
is the appropriate reading order.
- The Magic of Recluce (ISBN 0812505182 (US paperback)
- The Towers of Sunset (ISBN 0812519671 (US paperback)
- The Magic Engineer (ISBN 0812534050 (US paperback)
- The Order War (ISBN 0812534042 (US paperback)
- The Death of Chaos (ISBN 0812548248 (US paperback)
- The Fall of Angels (ISBN 0812538951 (US paperback)
- The Chaos Balance (ISBN 0812571304 (US paperback)
- The White Order (ISBN 0812541715 (US paperback)
- Colors of Chaos (ISBN 0812570936 (US paperback)
- Magi'i of Cyador (ISBN 0812579488 (US paperback)
- Scion of Cyador (ISBN 0812589262 (US paperback)
- Wellspring of Chaos (ISBN 076534808 (US paperback)
- Ordermaster (ISBN 0765350890 (US paperback)
- Natural Ordermage (ISBN-10 0-7653-5775-5 (US paperback)
- Mage-Guard of Hamor (2008) ISBN 0-7653-1927-6 (US paperback)
- Arms-Commander (2010) ISBN 0-7653-2381-8 (US hardback)
Overview
Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
All of the novels take place in the same fantasy universe, spanning a
period of over a thousand years. Within this universe, all matter is made up of
two competing forces, called order and chaos. In their natural
state, these two forces are equally matched, in a condition called
Balance. These two forces can be seen a fantasy representations of the
natural entropy (chaos) that occurs in matter, balanced by the various molecular
forces (order) that bind matter into structured forms. These forces are known at
a basic level by all inhabitants of the world, typically referenced by the
colors of white for chaos, or black for order.
Certain individuals within the universe possess the innate ability to
manipulate one or both of these forces. For example, chaos users ("white" mages)
can draw the natural chaos from the surrounding area and focus it into bolts of
flame; order users ("black" mages) can infuse additional order into metal and
wood to produce unnaturally strong weapons or armor. Additionally, both types of
magicians tend to possess the ability to discern the chaos emanating from people
who are being deceptive.
Rarely, there are individuals who possess the ability to manipulate both
order and chaos. These beings are referred to as "grey" mages, though the
majority of them become Druids. These mages are among the most powerful in the
series, possessing the ability to prolong their lives nearly indefinitely, and
use both order and chaos to perform awesome feats of magic.
Those beings who possess this magical ability are all descendants from a
group of people that are not native to the world in which the series is set. We
learn of their origins mostly through legend, though The Fall of Angels
provides a brief glimpse of the home universe for these beings. They are members
of two opposing factions, which call themselves the Rationalists and the Angels.
These factions are technologically advanced, spacefaring people who are fighting
a prolonged war. There are a number of obvious similarities between the Angels'
weaponry and order magic; similarly the Rationalist weaponry is very similar to
chaos magic. One group of Angels is caught in a high energy explosion during a
battle, but instead of being destroyed, find themselves stranded on the unnamed
world of Recluce. Once there, the angels (those of a particular race, the
Sybran) begin exhibiting various talents that would ultimately become order
magic. Through various legends and history tales, we learn that a group of
Rationalist (sometimes referred to as "demons" as their existence becomes
legend) has already landed in this world, centuries ago, and evolved into the
chaos mages. Both groups then pass on this ability to their offspring.
Ultimately the "Angels" and "Demons" would both become legendary figures.
Chronology
Chronologically, the series spans 1,855 years.
The story actually begins well before even the earliest novel, with the arrival
of the "demons of light" from another universe. Using their manifest chaos
powers, as well as their advanced technological knowledge, these beings create a
huge empire called Cyador, on the continent of Candar. (It should be noted that,
while the series is named after the continent of Recluce, that island is not
even inhabited for nearly a millennium after the story begins.)
The first two books, chronologically, are Magi'i of Cyador and
Scions of Cyador, which describe the operation of the Cyador army and its
battles against the natives of Candar. These novels primarily serve to flesh out
a formerly unknown part of the history of the universe. The story does establish
one key element in the history of Cyador: the ultimate decline of the advanced
technology of the Rationalists. Initially, upon landing on a mostly-uninhabited
part of the one of the world's continents, the Rationalists managed to create a
number of advanced mechanical devices, powered by chaos. They also erected a
number of collection towers that were used to focus chaos into these devices. By
the time of the first novel, these towers are failing, and the empire is losing
the ability to maintain its advanced technology. The opening of Magi'i of
Cyador is usually considered "Year 1" in the history of Recluce.
The Fall of Angels, 400 years later, details the arrival of the Angels
and the founding of the order mages and the all-female city of Westwind. Of note
are two specific angels, Nylan and Ryba, who would become legendary figures in
coming novels. Ryba develops a talent for prophecy and authors extensive
writings that are quoted by future generations as The Book of Ryba, while
Nylan develops the foundations of order magic. In The Chaos Balance,
Nylan leaves Westwind for a more direct confrontation with Cyador. By this time,
the fire-wagons and fire-lances that were once central to the empire have
vanished, and the empire is fully dependent on its chaos mages. The ultimate
result of this confrontation is the founding of the Druids, which take up
residence in a magically active forest called The Accursed Forest by the
natives, but The Great Forest of Naclos in later generations.
500 years after the arrival of the Angels, in The Towers of Sunset, we
find Cyador gone, replaced by a council of white mages ruling Candar. Westwind
is the last major force on Candar that still holds to the ways of the Angels,
and is under threat from the white mages. A very strong order mage, Creslin,
flees the women-centric Westwind prior to an arranged marriage, only to be
pursued by the white mages who fear his strength. He ultimately escapes Candar,
having married a chaos mage in the process, and sails to the uninhabited island
of Recluce. Here, Creslin begins a society based entirely on order magic. We
also begin to learn the dangers of widespread order or chaos magic, as Creslin's
attempts to make Recluce inhabitable cause severe weather crises elsewhere in
the world.
Several hundred years later, the chaos mages in Candar have managed to
conquer almost the entire continent. Beginning in the year 1190, The White
Order and Colors of Chaos depict the progress of a young chaos mage
named Cerryl as he rises in the ranks of the white mages. He is constantly
fending off attempts on his life from the extremely strong mage Jeslek, who has
begun to literally raise mountains from the ground to protect the paved highways
the chaos mages have been creating across Candar. At the same time, in the year
1200, The Magic Engineer details the journey of Dorrin, an order mage
from Recluce. This is the point, both chronologically and to the reader, where
the importance of balance between chaos and order starts to become apparent.
(There are some hints in this regard in the first novel, but here the underlying
causes are explained more fully.) Creslin's attempts to focus order around
Recluce have led to an abundance of "free chaos" elsewhere in the world. This
has led to increasingly stronger chaos mages, ultimately leading to mages like
Jeslek with phenomenal power. This, in turn, is allowing more order to be
focused in Recluce, until something catastrophic happens to reset the
balance.
Dorrin begins using order magic to create machines from order-spelled wood
and metal that are capable of containing large amounts of chaos energy. Of
particular note are the extremely fast and powerful warships that Recluce begins
to build, after Dorrin demonstrates their usefulness. Dorrin spends some time in
Candar fighting off the white mages, then returns to Recluce to become the first
"order engineer". Meanwhile, Jeslek is ultimately destroyed in his confrontation
with Dorrin, leading to Cerryl becoming high mage and attempting some measure of
truce with Recluce.
After centuries of relative peace, in 1650, The Order War depicts the
progress of two order mages from Recluce, Justen and Gunnar, as they attempt to
defend the last free country in Candar from the white mages. During their
journey, Justen transitions himself into a gray mage, and is ultimately driven
into the forest of Naclos, where he becomes a Druid. We also meet several
legendary figures, including Ayrlyn (the wife of Nylan and one of the original
angels), and learn how the Druids mastery of both order and chaos has enabled
them to keep their bodies alive for thousands of years. Justen leaves the forest
and returns to fight the chaos mages, and uses his newfound knowledge of order
and chaos balance mastery to form a tremendous weapon. This weapon unleashes the
apocalyptic event that has been building for centuries, drawing on vast amounts
of both order and chaos to utterly destroy the chaos mages' capital city and
kill nearly all of the powerful chaos mages in the process. The result of this
is a dramatic reduction in both free order and free chaos in the world.
Another diversionary storyline begins in 1710, with Wellspring of
Chaos and Ordermaster depicting the life of a mage which spans the
contents of Nordla and Austra. Again, while nothing of historical note happens
in these stories, they flesh out two of the areas of the world that were mostly
ignored in earlier novels.
The final part of the saga occurs in the year 1850. Gunnar, who has kept
himself and his family alive using the druidic techniques, sends his son Lerris
(who is unaware of his father's history) to Candar to undertake a rite of
passage commonly administered to young order mages. While there, Lerris meets
his uncle Justen, and comes to understand his father's ulterior motives for
sending him off. Centuries of dominance by Recluce and their order engineers has
once again led to increasingly more powerful chaos mages in Candar, with one in
particular threatening to cause trouble on the scale of the white council.
Gunnar has sent Lerris to Candar with the suspicion that a strong order mage and
strong chaos mage will ultimately meet, and that Lerris would take care of the
problem without Recluce being directly involved. Lerris ultimately defeats the
white mage and settles down in Candar to live as a woodworker.
The climax of the story, 5 years later, in The Death of Chaos sees the
powerful Emperor of Hamor, the oldest inhabited continent in the world, using
the relative instability of the rest of the world to consolidate his power. In
the final climactic battle on the shores of Recluce, Lerris and his family use
their mastery of order and chaos to forcibly impose a balance on the world,
unleasing vast amounts of subterranean lava directly into the invading Hamorian
forces. In the end, Lerris uses the vast amounts of order in Recluce to binds
all of the free chaos into small, balanced units (again, strongly reminiscent of
particle physics). The result is the destruction of nearly all of the order and
chaos magic in the world, including Lerris's family (which was being kept alive
by magic) and even parts of the continent of Recluce itself.
Critique
One of the most notable aspects of the first book, The Magic of
Recluce, was its unusual first-person perspective. The story is told from
the perspective of the lead character, Lerris, but will switch to third person
for any scenes in which Lerris is not on screen. Many critics found this style
of writing difficult to follow. It should be noted that Modesitt did not return
to this writing style for any of his future works.
Some critics have become unhappy with perceived repetition; one fan
sarcastically referred to the series as "Horatio Alger meets sword and sorcery." In
particular, the stories of Lerris, Creslin, Dorrin, Cerryl and Lorn all seem to
follow the same basic mold of young mage, forced to "find himself" while
learning to harness his power in ways other people discourage.
It is also notable that many of the elements of this series reappear in
Modesitt's other popular series, The Spellsong Cycle, including the
appearance of outsiders from other worlds with profound magical ability, as well
as the reuse of the "ultimate weapon" used by both Justen and Secca in their
respective climactic battles.
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