Things became much more intense for our hero Lorn, in this volume. This is filled with political intrigue, action, and magic, but its less of a plot driven story but part character study part mythological history. I enjoy the questions that Modesitt, Jr asks throughout this book in regards to power and to what makes a country or land. I'm glad I decided to read a few more books in this saga. ( )

Lorn becomes Emperor of Cyador in the end. This was a pretty flat book. It was like drinking cola that has been sitting open in the fridge all night long. It has taste, but not something you really want or like. I felt no connection with Lorn and I didn't see how him becoming Emperor would enable him to save Cyador. New faces but same problems and gridlock. Blah. ( )

The second half of the Lorn-focused books. I like it at least as much as the first - it's a little less repetitive and Lorn's adventures are broader in scope and importance. The stilted language still bugs me a little, but plotwise the pieces fit together nicely and it comes to a satisfying conclusion.

I have some minor quibbles with the worldbuilding. much is made of the mystery of the founders of the empire, but it was only founded two hundred years prior - that's really not very far in terms of overlapping lifespans. And there's some great historic emperor who is likewise mysterious, but in that timespan there's really no way he's more than a few generations removed from the current one. I suspect Modesitt, being American, made some unthinking assumptions about number of rulers per generation and rapidity of change that aren't really held up by logic, particularly given that this culture is stagnant-to-declining technologically and extremely conservative socially. ( )

Normally I enjoy the Recluse saga books, but this one had a couple of aspects that threw me off. First, the writing seemed different than Modesitt's normal style. In many parts, it was very simplistic. It had a very 'Run Spot Run' feel, as the character was very deliberate and simple, and he tried to change his writing style to convey that. However, the character was anything but simple.
This book also featured even more political maneuvering than usual. At times it felt like there was something going on that we were supposed to understand, but it just wasn't coming together.
In general this was a novel quite unlike his others, in both style and content. It was about Cyador, back in the 'good old days' when chaos wasn't quite so evil, and there were still some artifacts left over from the founding. I guess he felt it was time to write about people on the other side of the conflict, it just didn't work as well. ( )

The concluding volume in Lorn's story may be a bit too heavy on political intrigue to please some. On the other hand, it is not short on military action and Cyad is just a wonderful setting. The feeling of an ageing and decaying empire permeates the entire story. With both intricate plotting and clever manoeuvring as well as decisive action Modesitt has written a well balanced book. I like the Cerryl books (The White Order and Colors of Chaos) a shade better but this book is among the best in the series.

Full Random Comments review ( )