[.ca] Scion Of Cyador (ISBN 0812589262)

here we go again...:
P>Modesitt continues to fill in the history of Candar and Recluce, this time reaching back before "Fall of Angels" to show how the ancient empire of Cyador wasn't always a horrible place, even though it was based on chaos. "Scion of Cyador" continues the story of Lorn and Ryalth, the couple introduced in "Magi'i of Cyador." Lorn, an officer in Cyador's army, has mysterious plans and some magical abilities, as well as many mysterious enemies. Ryalth, his wife, is the founder of Ryalor House, a successful trading house; Modesitt is obviously not afraid of women. In this book, Lorn returns to Ryalth in Cyad, the capitol of Cyador, and faces deadly intrigues as the Emperor lies dying, without an heir. To understand "Scion of Cyador," you almost have to read "Magi'i of Cyador;" this is less a sequel than a continuation of an unfinished story. Familiarity with the other Recluce books is not necessary, but it is helpful. However, familiarity with the other books makes perfectly clear how thin and tired the series has become. As I started "Scion of Cyador," I was afraid I knew exactly where the story was going, and I was right. There were a few brief moments where I thought Modesitt might actually break out of his foreordained plot, and send Lorn and Ryalth off to found Lornth, the nation that figures prominently in "Fall of Angels" and "The Chaos Balance," but if that ever happens, it'll take yet another sequel. Modesitt has hit a formula for the Recluce Saga, and his formula is choking the life from his stories. I still like his protagonists, though they are all variations on one character (a young man learning that the world forces good people to make hard choices, who agonizes over his actions and inactions), but I find I no longer care enough to overlook the deadening plots. I stopped buying Recluce books after "Fall of Angels," and I have yet to see any reason not to simply borrow them from libraries. If Modesitt continues the series, but doesn't improve, I will stop reading them altogether. Also, Modesitt's poetry is distinctively mediocre, which is awkward, because he links Lorn's realizations about the way of the world to Lorn's interpretation of poems "written" by one of the founders of Cyador. I dislike mediocre poetry, and Modesitt's tendency to treat it as deep and meaningful irritates me.

another book, the same old story:
Book 11 of the Saga of Recluse This eleventh Recluse novel is a direct sequel to Magi'i of Cyador and is more a continuation of that story than a sequel. The book continues to follow Lorn, an officer in Cyador's Mirror Lancers. Chronologically, this is the second book in the Recluse series and is still a good 400 years before the events in Fall of Angels. Lorn begins the story as Over-Captain of a port city. As with all of his postings, Lorn is assigned it so that he may fail and be killed. Lorn has been given the most difficult assignments that exist in Cyador. He was a student Magus, but his aptitude led him to be assigned to the Lancers. Those in power in Cyador find Lorn to be a potential threat, but Lorn keeps surviving by being smarter, luckier, and more ruthless than those who oppose him, and so he works his way up the chain of command of the Mirror Lancers. If Magi'i was more of an action/adventure book with some intrigue, Scion is the opposite. Sure, there is action, and battles, but this book deals more with political intrigue and moral decisions (and ambivalence) and political infighting. Lorn has to play the game in order to survive, all the while he only wants to stay alive and be with his merchanter consort, Ryalth. As Lorn's fortunes rise in the Mirror Lancers, so does Ryalth's success with the Ryalor trading house. Because she is a lady trader, she is also not completely accepted by the current powers in Cyador. Lorn would, and does do everything he can protect himself, his family and especially Ryalth. This does not exclude murder...he views it more as pre-emptive self defense rather than cold blooded murder, but Lorn does what he feels he has to do. He isn't quite as much of a sympathetic protagonist as is Lerris or Creslin, but he is still in their mold. As the novel progresses, the stakes keep raising as Lorn gains military rank and as the current emperor is closer to dying. His battles get tougher, larger, and carry much greater risk to his life, his career, and to Cyador. The novel follows the logical progression of Lorn's career and everything that happens feels like that is the logical next step. Part of the reason for that is probably because of the nature of the Recluse series. Each protagonist is put in very similar circumstances to other protagonists in the series. They do exactly what needs to be done to survive, are called Cold-Blooded because the do so, and end up doing similar actions in their quest to survive and have a quiet life. Lerris, Creslin, Justin, and Nylan are all very similar to Lorn in this way. Modesitt's novels are very formulaic in that manner. If you try to read them all in a row, they become very tiresome because you are really reading the same exact story being told over and over again. However, if you read a book or two and take a break for several months before continuing with the series, you may find Recluse easier to digest. Recluse remains one of my favorite series (Though not the best), but I have come to understand that it is best to read the books in small chunks rather than in one big piece.

Same ol' same ol':
Modesitt has clearly got a bee in his bonnet about ideas of government and judicious use of power. In both this newest installment of the Recluse books and in the newest Spellsong Cycle book the plot seems to get lost in all the illustration of political ideology. To wit-- a good man is forced to use power even in unpleasant ways in order to prevent more bloodshed later. People who cannot see this are either corrupt, too weak, or somehow dependant on the social order remaining as it is. I like Modesitt's writing. I really really really do. But if there isn't some sea change soon, then I will stop buying them new no matter how good the craft behind them.

Good writing ... BAD editing.:
According to the title page of this book, it was edited by David G. Hartwell. Hartwell should be ashamed of himself. In the edition I have of this novel, I found more spelling, grammar and wording errors than I have EVER found in any other mass market paperback novel! I encountered sentences where common words were misspelled. I encountered sentences where the wording made no sense, or words were just flat out missing! It wasn't bad enough to hinder my enjoyment of the story, and in all fairness I doubt very many people caught most of the errors. But the job of the editor is supposed to be to catch these types of writing flaws, hopefully BEFORE the novel goes to print! What is really shocking is that these errors are still in print in the mass market paperback edition of this novel. I might be able to forgive this if I had encountered these errors in a first printing hard back edition -- but I mean come on! The copy I have is dated December 2001 -- so it is possible that later printings of this novel may have fixed these problems. Be all that as it may, I still greatly enjoy the Magic of Recluse series. A lot of reviewers here are griping about a tired plot line or formulaic writing, and I can see their point of view. But I still think these novels are an interesting read -- and what is even more impressive is that Modesitt doesn't write his novels at an 8th grade level -- he writes them on a level akin to a high school senior, or even a freshman in college. The writing is intricate, the vocabulary is verbose and the plot lines are tangled and sneaky. Unlike some other authors I could name, Modesitt doesn't spell out plot developments for the reader, he hints at them and expects the reader to piece everything together. His writing is definitely not passive entertainment. The only major gripe I have about this series (and this is really just a matter of preference) is that I wish the books had been published in chronological order. It is sometimes neat to start in the "present" then work one's way back in time, but in this case -- with so many books in the series -- I think it would have worked better in chronological order, but that is just me.

Four Questions for the Emperor:
In this eleventh book of the the "The Saga of Recluce", the author goes back in time to the nascent history of Cyador(Candor and Recluse). Three elemental points makes this Modesitt's the most complex book of the series to date. The probity of the all so familiar Recluce Saga personalites are at once portraited and adduced on the same stage and time (magus, healer, merchant and lancer) in this ancestral saga. Interestingly, the protagonist, Lorn, embodies all of these character traits. He is also accoutred by a collection of poetry handed down by the alien founders of his world. Finally, the rite of passage for him to become emperor or the making of a good emperor is to have found answers to these four verisimilar questions: 1. What is it that allows Cyad to exist? 2. Could all the might of the Mirror Lancer here in Cyad, or all of the Iron Legion in Hamor, prevail against the will of those who live in such lands? 3. Are those who direct power or chaos the source of either? 4. How can the world be more simple and yet more complex? There is no unbearble ennui when one reads Modesitt.