This book goes back to near the beginning of the Chaos wizards. Hints about how they came about, and the technology they are living off.

While much of this book was pretty entertaining, the characters are cool, and the basic plot worked up to be decent, this is still a pretty boring book. It gets really repetetive and is somewhat predictable. I guess the main point of this book is just to set the reader up for the next one (at least I hope that's what's going on..) The Magi'i of Cyador is basically just the story of Lorn growing up and getting himself into position to do some great things in the upcoming troubles for his land. Lorn is a Mage, a Lancer officer, and a trader (basically a member of all three powerful classes of his culture) by the time this book ends and it seems to me at least (remember I havn't read the next book) that he is in pretty good shape to muve up quickly in the world, maybe even to the VERY top. I think that I didn't really enjoy this book too much because it tended to get bogged down in the daily routines of Lorn and didn't explain all of the secret plottings and moves of his enemies. I just hope that the next book will be really good because this one just felt like it was setting you up for another story.

Book 10 in the Saga of Recluce

Even though this is the tenth volume in the Saga of Recluce, it is chronologically the first. Long before Creslin founded Recluce, long before the angels fell and Nylan built Westwind, long before all of the recorded history of Recluse there was the Empire of Cyador. Cyador is an Empire built on the power of Chaos mages and Chaos towers (supplying the Chaos energy required for much of the technology of Cyador). The Empire uses the army (Lancers) to hold back the barbarians from Cyador as well as hold the Accursed Forest (the forest that the Druids are later from) back from spreading into Cyador.

Lorn is a son of a Magi family. He is one of the most talented and proficient students in his classes, but he lacks the love of chaos that is necessary to become a Magi. Lorn can do the work better than perhaps anyone and is capable of being a Chaos Master, but he isnýt obsessed with it nor does he truly love Chaos. If you have read other Recluce novels, you know this will lead to Lornýs exile from his family and the city of Cyad. This is most similar to Lerris being exiled from Recluse and going on the Dangergeld (The Magic of Recluce). The difference is that Lorn knows why he must leave Cyad, where he is going, and what the risks are. Lorn is made a Lancer undercaptain and must fight on the frontier of Cyad against barbarians. Lancers have a low survival rate, Magi Lancers have an even lower survival rate because they get the most difficult assignments (so that they will be killed. A personal capable of wielding chaos but not a magus is too dangerous to the Empire, or so the higher ups have decided). Lorn knows what he is getting into, but actually becoming a Lancer is the only way that he sees to live.

Lorn is essentially a moral, honest man, but at the same time he is ruthless in protecting himself and his loved ones from threats, both real and perceived. If Lorn sees someone as a threat, he will kill that man but hide the crime in such a way that nobody is sure who committed the murder (and in some cases that a murder even took place). He is a very guarded individual, mostly because he knows that the Magiýi in Cyad do not want him to live, despite his family connections.

The more you read in Recluce you will begin to see that Modesitt is essentially telling the same type of story over and over again. You can see clear comparisons between Lorn, Creslin, Nylan, and Lerris. There is the recurring theme of exile, and the protagonist trying to find his destiny without quite knowing how he will accomplish it. In one sense, if you have read one Recluce novel you pretty much know how the other ones will work out. Magiýi of Cyador is slightly different in that Lorn has more knowledge and intent in his actions, but the book still follows the basic pattern that Modesitt set up in the first Recluce novel. That said, this remains one of my favorite fantasy series because of the depth of development in the created world and in the characters. We get to see what the characters are thinking, why they are planning their actions, and what the repercussions are of those actions. Modesitt is not gentle towards the protagonists, they suffer more than any other character in the books, and maybe thatýs part of why I like the books so much. My one suggestion is to take breaks between the books or you can get tired of the repetition fairly quickly.

Ok, this book enters yet another era of the war between chaos and order.with the conclusion of cerryl the white mage in the lsat book I was looking forward to another good read, and hey it was. But did Modesitt write this or just provide the idea? The language changed as did the entire style, though the world and ideas are still right up the alley of the former recluce books.

An overall good read, but alas the other books are better. I just hope that I wont be as dissapointed when I read Scion of Cyador...

This book would best be considered filler. As always it is well written and hints of things to come. I would recommend reading this only to those who enjoy the writing style of L.E. Modesitt Jr., or specifically the Recluce novels. I find no indication that this is anything other than a stand alone novel. Maybe I would be more excited if this was the first novel in a new trilogy but there is indication that it is.