The White Order (Saga of Recluce) 
asked by shawn on November 25, 2006 5:59 PM
In this author's popular Recluce fantasies--beginning with The Magic of Recluce--the classic theme of youngsters growing to adult power and responsibility is repeatedly retold in terms of magic skill. Past books focused on the apparent good guys--"black" magicians who use order-magic (cooling, healing, strengthening) and constantly oppose the White Order of chaos wizards whose talent is fire and dissolution. Young hero Cerryl has a natural bent for chaos, and for him the Whites offer the only game in town. Painfully, he learns about balance: order-magic can be deviously used for destruction, chaos can cleanse and anyway requires order-control if it's not to destroy the user. This moves interestingly away from simplistic "black is good, white is bad" magical color-coding ... but although Cerryl is a decent, ethical white wizard, the Order remains unpleasantly tyrannical--for example, an instant life sentence of slave labor for the equivalent of expired license plates. The magic training is interesting if repetitive (apprentices practice firebolts by zapping blockages in the public sewers), but Modesitt's real story lies in waiting for Cerryl to become a full mage of the Order and perhaps confront its injustices in the massive sequel, Colors of Chaos. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk
Reviews
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Modesitt writes yet another amazing volume in the Recluce Saga. This book weaves together elements of fantasy and science fiction exquisitley. Cerryl is very intruiging as are Jeslek, Sterol, and Anya. In a world were much is not as it seems Cerryl's struggle to survive is a work I would compare to J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. Cerryl's final task is the best ending out of the first eight of the volumes in the saga.
reviewed by daddyadd on November 28, 2006 6:45 PM
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I ordered the books of the Recluce series that I was not able to get from the book store and they had no way to order it. All the books but one could be ordered from Amazon.com. The site had a link for me to order the one book as an used book. All the books from Amazon.com came within 2 weeks. I was very happy about it. Finished the 3rd book in series about 2 weeks ago and am waiting for the used book to arrive in order to continue series. All book that came directly from Amazon.com have arrived and I will recommend them (Amazon.com) to all my friends and relatives for those hard to obtain items. It is easy and very very fast on the delivery. I am extremely happy with my purchases and future purchases are anticipated with certain series.
reviewed by crick on November 28, 2006 6:48 PM
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This is for fans of Modesitt's Recluce Saga, best read after THE TOWERS OF THE SUNSET. Set several hundred years after Creslin settled Recluce, THE WHITE ORDER is first in a set that brings Recluce fans a balanced understanding of the White Order. This is one of the reasons Modesitt is a good author, because he doesn't present good verses evil in pure shades of black and white. Black, in the Recluce Saga, is order magic, and white is chaos magic. Good and evil are perspectives depending on where you stand--just like in real life.
Cerryl--the hero of THE WHITE ORDER (and COLORS OF CHAOS)--starts off as a young orphan being raised by an aunt and uncle who are so poor they need to hire Cerryl out to a lumber mill for his own support. Cerryl knows his father had been a renegade White, murdered by the White mages from Fairhaven. He does not speak of this to anyone for fear he too could be murdered. Cerryl has a bit of the magic himself but he uses it only in secret. When his aunt and uncle are murdered, the owner of the sawmill sends the boy to Fairhaven to be a scrivner's apprentice. The scrivner is not as kind as the family at the mill had been: Cerryl has to heat his bath water magically or use it ice cold. And thus he is found out. Luckily, Cerryl has a cover story of being a 'shirt-tail relative' of the family at the mill, so no one seeks further into his personal history and he is admitted into apprenticeship with the White Order. Now, this section of the book is slightly similar to the Harry Potter series while Cerryl learns the ins and outs of magic (he has two friends: another young man and a young lady), however this school of magic is not sweet and charming. In Fairhaven, a potential White mage of great power needs to hide his power from his jealous superiors. Cerryl is constantly tested with harder and harder challenges, each deadlier than those previous, until... you will have to read it to find out.
I have been asked why I read Modesitt. "He's boring" some say. One reviewer uses the term "pedestrian". Well, Modesitt's stories can plod on occasion--BUT!--this reviewer finds his books worth reading. Why? Characterization. Those of us readers who seek pure escapism in our entertainment require vivid characterization and Modesitt delivers. Yes, I want action, and Modesitt has that too, it's just strung out between showing-descriptions of characterization that this reader prefers over blocks of dry world-building info-dumps as presented by other well known authors. And, no, Modesitt's prose is not always tedious--he goes somewhere with his stories and rewards his readers for their patience (note to romance fans--he does do romance but not a lot of sex scenes). The style is solid, and a worthy read for fans of sword & sorcery who want extended entertainment.
Cerryl--the hero of THE WHITE ORDER (and COLORS OF CHAOS)--starts off as a young orphan being raised by an aunt and uncle who are so poor they need to hire Cerryl out to a lumber mill for his own support. Cerryl knows his father had been a renegade White, murdered by the White mages from Fairhaven. He does not speak of this to anyone for fear he too could be murdered. Cerryl has a bit of the magic himself but he uses it only in secret. When his aunt and uncle are murdered, the owner of the sawmill sends the boy to Fairhaven to be a scrivner's apprentice. The scrivner is not as kind as the family at the mill had been: Cerryl has to heat his bath water magically or use it ice cold. And thus he is found out. Luckily, Cerryl has a cover story of being a 'shirt-tail relative' of the family at the mill, so no one seeks further into his personal history and he is admitted into apprenticeship with the White Order. Now, this section of the book is slightly similar to the Harry Potter series while Cerryl learns the ins and outs of magic (he has two friends: another young man and a young lady), however this school of magic is not sweet and charming. In Fairhaven, a potential White mage of great power needs to hide his power from his jealous superiors. Cerryl is constantly tested with harder and harder challenges, each deadlier than those previous, until... you will have to read it to find out.
I have been asked why I read Modesitt. "He's boring" some say. One reviewer uses the term "pedestrian". Well, Modesitt's stories can plod on occasion--BUT!--this reviewer finds his books worth reading. Why? Characterization. Those of us readers who seek pure escapism in our entertainment require vivid characterization and Modesitt delivers. Yes, I want action, and Modesitt has that too, it's just strung out between showing-descriptions of characterization that this reader prefers over blocks of dry world-building info-dumps as presented by other well known authors. And, no, Modesitt's prose is not always tedious--he goes somewhere with his stories and rewards his readers for their patience (note to romance fans--he does do romance but not a lot of sex scenes). The style is solid, and a worthy read for fans of sword & sorcery who want extended entertainment.
reviewed by jdog on November 28, 2006 7:54 PM
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While this wasn't really the most exciting book of the series, it was still one of the best. Mainly because of the alternative perspective that it gives the reader about Whites. This book chronicles the rise of Cerryl, who one day becomes the leader of the Whites in their fight against Recluce. This book makes it clear that all Whites aren't evil and that the school of white mages actually teaches and believes that it does more good for Candar than bad, and even the bad is only a necessary action for the future good of the people.
This book is very well written (as are all of Modesitt's books) and the characters are great. The story line is cool, with plenty of action as well as lots of intrigue within the order of the Whites (mainly counter play between Sterol and Jeslek). This book is definitely a valuable addition to the saga of Recluce. Modesitt continues to fill in the missing blanks of his multi-generational story.
This book is very well written (as are all of Modesitt's books) and the characters are great. The story line is cool, with plenty of action as well as lots of intrigue within the order of the Whites (mainly counter play between Sterol and Jeslek). This book is definitely a valuable addition to the saga of Recluce. Modesitt continues to fill in the missing blanks of his multi-generational story.
reviewed by daddyadd on November 29, 2006 12:51 PM
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As I said in the title, it's a wonderful book. Modesitt has managed what seem to me to be some of the most developed characters I've encountered in Fanctasy literature (or in any other type, for that matter)...It's beautifully written...you should read this book and all the rest he's written. Or, at the very least, this one and the three after it (Colors of Chaos, Magi'i of Cyador, and Scion of Cyador). All are VERY (!!!) good books.
reviewed by bigchad on November 29, 2006 7:30 PM