OK, OK, halfway is pushing it. I'm within 10% of being halfway, though!
This is the first Modesitt, Jr. book I've read, and it's also one of the first he published. I intended to start with the Spellsong Cycle or the Imager Portfolio, but for some unknown reason I ordered The Magic of Recluce. It came a few days later with the usual battered appeal of a used book, although for £2.76 I wasn't going to throw a hissy fit. So now that I'm almost halfway, I decided to post about whether I want to continue or not, and what I do and don't like so far. Of course, it goes without saying that some spoilers will occur in this.
What Don't I Like?
Now, before I start, I'd like to point out I'm not a confident reader (well, not that confident) and as such I sometimes miss small parts. It might obscure my view a little.
One thing I don't like about TMoR is that Lerris (the protagonist, PoV and narrator) seems to do a personality shift every so often, but it only happens once he's away from Recluce. He somehow finds this wealth of confidence and does things I felt weren't befitting his character or his situation. As an example, he walks into an inn and basically greets everyone in one fell, confident swoop, yet he's never been outside of Recluce until a few days ago, and he's acting as if this is a natural situation. But at other times, such as the next inn he visits (or was it the same one? No, it can't be), he's this quiet, mostly-introverted character. You can read all the books on the world about heart surgery, but you wouldn't be able to do it. We were told by Lerris that he was frequently bored in all his classes and paid little attention, which (to me) implies that his understanding of the other nations is limited, yet he sometimes talks and acts like a native.
My other main issues relate to understanding. The biggest issue for me is Lerris seems to suddenly be able to use his powers. He's told, or perhaps it's inferred to him, that he's got these abilities and some of them seemingly appear out of nowhere. The other is the term "Blackstaffer". Once he arrives from Recluce (I really can't remember where he lands!), he's referred to as a Blackstaffer and it's not been explained - just yet - what one is. I think it means they're the more powerful individuals who gravitate towards the extremes of Order or Chaos, or perhaps have the potential to do so. One issue that doesn't matter as much, but can interfere with visualising the book, is that Modesitt uses measures such as "cubits" to describe the heights of things. You can roughly work out how high a cubit is at times (such as a relatively tall man being four cubits, so I'd suspect ~1.5feet or 45cm)... Or I could just Wiki it (as I did literally this moment), and find out that it's an actual measure which is roughly equal to 50cm. Oops.
Again, these issues could be down to either me missing a few sentences or perhaps a page missing (I haven't noticed any missing pages, though).
What Do I Like?
Well, I like Modesitt's writing style. He's descriptive, and often vividly so, but it's rarely to the point of being boring. It's also an interesting device to turn black and white on their heads. We're informed that the "good" wizards wear black, and the "bad" wizards wear white. Now, you're wondering why I said "good" and "bad", not good and bad. Well, that's because it's not that simple. Order is synonymous with good, Chaos with black. You cannot have Chaos without Order, just as you cannot have Good without Bad. The four terms mix together in a very intelligent way and it does make you think, and I'm enjoying what Modesitt (or his characters) have to say about it.
Modesitt's character of Lerris, who as I mentioned above is the narrator and protagonist of the story, is very interesting in my eyes. I can see a lot of myself in him (or a lot of him in myself if that's the term you prefer) and that allows me to identify with him.
I have to confess I found the character of Tamra interesting, too. Just as Lerris reminds me of myself, Tamra reminds me of someone I know and I think it brings a level of believability to this work. She lives upto her hair colour in that she's quite fiery, and I must confess she appeals to my one weakness - redheaded females.
Will I Continue?
I'd be stupid not to.
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