Dust Jacket

How satisfying it is to settle down with another long, solid novel by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. ‘Rex Regis’ continues the story of Quaeryt, the powerful imager involved in a great campaign to unify the continent of Lydar. Quaeryt also wants to set up a college of imagers where people with the talent can be safely harnessed to practice their arts and serve the state. He works for Lord Bhayar and is married to his master’s sister, Vaelora. He’s a kind of Merlin to Bhayar’s Arthur. Note that Bhayar is the Rex Regis of the title, not our hero. As the story begins, Quaeryt has just conquered the land of Antiago and must embark on making the country of Khel commit to Lord Bhayar’s rule. However, Quaeryt has risen high and fast in the ranks of the kingdom and there are other powerful men who would like to bring him down. He has to watch his back.

In the usual steady way of Modesitt books, troubles mount for Quaeryt. The former ruler’s imagers have vanished and at least three of them are reputedly very dangerous. Untrustworthy Sub-Marshal Myskyl, who took several regiments to pacify the north, has sent no dispatches for months. Quaeryt suspects he may be secretly planning an uprising against the Rex Regis. Meanwhile, our hero is given the rank of administrator and tasked with all the minor problems of governing the conquered territory: repairing roads, collecting tariffs, taking a census of the important landowners and so forth. Modesitt is very concerned with the practicalities of government and little concerned with heroic fantasy conventions. Let’s face it, King Elric of Melniboné seldom worried himself with such minutiae and Conan the Administrator is not a title we are ever likely to see. Modesitt’s approach is original and he makes the details interesting if you have a political bent, which I do.

Our hero is a bit down on businessmen or factors as they are called herein. He finds them more interested in making money than in doing the right thing. He also dislikes how they benefit from works performed by Lord Bhayar’s men, such as roads and bridges, but resent paying taxes to contribute to the cost. They also resent paying the cost of food and board for the army that conquered them, which I find acceptable but Quaeryt thinks mean. His view is that Lord Bhayar is much less of a tyrant than the tyrant who ruled before and they should thank their lucky stars. He also dislikes many High Holders, the landed gentry, who are only interested in preserving their traditional rights and privileges. That said, he can work with reasonable men and women from both camps.

Modesitt’s fantasy is so realistic that even the powers of his hero have a kind of scientific rationale. Imagers draw atoms from the surroundings to create the objects they image, so copper coins are easy to make as copper is abundant but an imager who tried to make gold coins when there was no gold about might kill himself in the attempt. This power of mind-over-matter is fantastic but vaguely plausible. However, Quaeryt can also ‘image project’ a sense of confidence and self-assurance that makes servants quail. He can emanate emanations of authority, like Major de Coverley in ‘Catch 22’, the officer so awesome that no one ever dared ask his first name. He can even broadcast a compulsion to tell the truth so that underlings won’t lie to him. All this is useful but doesn’t have the same scientific rationale as imaging objects.

This is the final volume in ‘The Image Portfolio’ series, I assume, which possibly explains why the dramatic climax comes a bit early. There’s a lot of wrapping up to do. It was interesting, however, and I finished the book wanting more. Between the first three books of the series and the last five, there is a large gap in history. Moreover (this isn’t really a spoiler), Quaeryt’s wife is pregnant at the end and it is prophesied that her offspring will be that rare individual, a female imager. Room for a sequel there, surely?

I have a notion that like all Modesitt’s works, ‘Rex Regis’ won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but fans of ‘The Imager Portfolio’ will surely enjoy it. I recommend the whole series but you can safely start with Book IV, ‘Scholar’, as that is where Quaeryt’s adventures begin. The first three books are about a different chap at a later date. They’re good, too.

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/ ( )

Modesitt loves to tell us what everyone has to eat.
The end of the Imager series dribbles to a close. Actually, I shouldn't be so harsh. It's just that nothing is much of a surprise anymore. We've identified all the villains long ago, it's just the method of their villainy.
It's a solid end to a solid series. ( )

This is the last book in this series of 5 of the Imager series. The final notes of how the entire continent was conquered and made safe for Imagers to live and flourish.

Once more we see the formula that Modesitt has employed and we are heartily glad that this end over 3000 pages of material that might have been told in 1000. Repetition has not done much for the success of this series. School taught us that we need to mention a thing 3 times for it to stick, not a dozen times.

Yet, we are happy to finish with this travelogue. There are many unanswered questions and here more than otherwise, a supernatural element inflicts itself causing us to be sure that legends come about and grow.

The author is a master at his craft, but an outside editor discussing the cons of developing a series this way might have aided. Recluce, a series where Modesitt shows us many different ages and elements has stood the tests of time. Sometimes it is not new information we see, but other times it is. Here this series was vastly different than the first trilogy of the Portfolio, but it lasted far too long. The developments that could have made it unique, gone. Instead the last 3 and a half books was all the same. ( )

A pretty good wrap up to the series, but 5 books was a bit many for this particular character. He had a lot to do with very limited resources & murky problems. Very realistic issues that went well with the theme of hard work making for good fortune. In 5 books, this point became repetitive. Then Modesitt took him in a direction I didn't care for. I didn't care for the addition of Erion, the god, appearing in the previous book & far less in this one. The character handles it well & there is quite a bit of doubt as to the reality. It might just be a subconscious manifestation. Still, that doesn't add anything & it would have been a stronger story without that.

All in all, a 4 star series & highly recommended like all his books. ( )