The Magic Engineer

The Saga of Recluce #3

by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

The saga of Recluce continues! In L. E. Modesitt's The Magic Engineer, we return to the magical island of Recluce, where Dorrin, a young scion of the Order magicians, is interested in forbidden knowledge, in the working of machines. Promising, intelligent, but determined to follow his passion for scientific knowledge, Dorrin can invent machines. He is the Leonardo da Vinci of his age, but his insights violate the rules of the Order magic of Recluce. Now he must go into exile in the lands of Chaos to pursue his dangerous inventions.

Yet Darrin remains loyal to the idea of Order, and is tortured by the knowledge that to preserve it he must constantly create new devices for war. For the forces of the Chaos wizards are moving across the land, devouring whole countries and creating an empire--and their ultimate goal is the destruction of Recluce.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Magic, High Fantasy, Science Fiction

617 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

L. E. (Leland Exton) Modesitt, Jr. is an author of science fiction and fantasy novels. He is best known for the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, lived in Washington, D.C. for 20 years, then moved to New Hampshire in 1989 where he met his wife. They relocated to Cedar City, Utah in 1993.

He has worked as a Navy pilot, lifeguard, delivery boy, unpaid radio disc jockey, real estate agent, market research analyst, director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant for a Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer and writer in residence.
In addition to his novels, Mr. Modesitt has published technical studies and articles, columns, poetry, and a number of science fiction stories. His first short story, "The Great American Economy", was published in 1973 in Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Returning to Recluse is again a sheer delight. Classic, easy storytelling, development of the core ideas of his magic system, and a great exploration of the balance between Chaos and Order.

Specifically, this man, totally devoted to Order magic, devoted his life in exile to creating machines, from steam engines to much more difficult (emotionally) devices, proving to the world that Order magic is more than a match for that of Chaos magic, which happens to be rife off the island of Recluse.

This is not, as people might assume, a novel of good versus evil. None of them are. They are, however, a poignant and complex study in nature, idealism, loss of innocence, and the Law of Unintended Consequences.

In other words, there's nothing about this that I dislike.

This is the kind of Fantasy I could read all day long and never grow tired of. It's a nice counterpoint to, say, WoT or Sanderson, which delve deep in different thematics but are just as fun in characters and storytelling.

Yes, I rank this series up there. And why not? It's not a clone, it's clever, and it's well-written. And best of all, I never once got bored. That's a fine, fine point.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am "on a mission", if you will, to re-read the Recluce saga in order, because I most of the first eleven books when I was younger and then lost touch with the series, and now I'm "reconnecting with my fantasy roots". Note, however, that this is one series where the order—at least at first—doesn't matter all that much. One can pick up any of the first three books and feel equally comfortable reading the other two afterward. L.E. Modesitt, Jr. hops around the chronology of his universe; the first book, The Magic of Recluce, is set after the second and third books. The elapsed time is on the order of centuries, however, allowing for enough distance that events from previous books are always distant memories and legends. Indeed, one could make the argument that The Magic Engineer is a better starting point for newcomers than The Magic of Recluce.

Both of these books are extremely similar, so if you are familiar with Modesitt and are inexplicably hoping for something new … then you aren't very familiar with Modesitt. Replace "Dorrin" with "Lerris" and "smithing" with "woodworking", and you almost have a copy of The Magic of Recluce. I'm being tongue-in-cheek here; there are significant differences between the two—the external conflict in The Magic Engineer is a lot more developed, as are Dorrin's friendships—but the substance remains the same: a rebellious youth gets exiled from orderly Recluce only to take up a craft and become an ordermaster. In so doing, he upsets various people who are steeped in chaos, and conflict ensues. Oh, and every single thing gets accounted for. Want to buy something? Modesitt is going to make you haggle down to the last copper. Want to have a meal? Modesitt is going to list the entire menu and then force you to listen to the character deliberate over how to be the most frugal. Modesitt's scrupulousness when it comes to the logistics of his world is one of the reasons he stands out as a fantasy writer, but it definitely begins to grate after a while.

I could go on about how this book disappoints me in all the same ways the previous two books do, especially considering what an impression this series made on me when I was younger. After struggling with how to express what I dislike about these books, however, I've had an epiphany about why I dislike them: they remind me of how I wrote when I made my first attempts at writing fantasy. Indeed, I suspect that these books served as unconscious templates for a lot of what I wrote. This might be a weird remark, but I think the catalyst for this revelation is the names. There is just something about the names in the Recluce saga that jar me and remind me of my own first attempts in that area. I don't mentally "sound out" most of the words when reading a book to myself, but I do sound out names in my head. I don't know why; maybe I worry that if I am ever magically transported into the book I'll need to know how to pronounce everyone's name to prove I'm not some kind of demon. What? It could happen. But I digress. The names sound weird; they don't often come easily off my tongue. And there are many of them, because Modesitt likes to name his characters, even the most minor ones who show up for a page and then get killed off because they couldn't afford the coin for redberry at the next inn.

I don't want to go as far as to say that Modesitt writes like a 15-year-old. These books are still much better than anything I managed to produce. Nevertheless, the final product feels quite different from most of the other fantasy fare I gluttonously consume. Modesitt, much like his characters, is a very technical writer. His books are not formulaic, but they still read as if they were crafted from smaller components. Everything, from the logistics of living to the order/chaos magic system is logical and carefully explained. When a writer does this, the result is exactly something like The Magic Engineer: nearly flawless in its technical execution but lacking in that subtle essence that allows me to connect to it on an emotional level. (I say nearly flawless because there is a bewildering editing oversight. Early in the book, some dialogue between Dorrin and his father gets repeated verbatim in a subsequent conversation. It's very odd.) Intellectually, I grasped everything about Dorrin's conflicts, about the moral conundrum of using order as a tool for force and violence in defence against chaos, about having to protect the people of Diev even though they have come to fear him for his powers. Emotionally, however, I had a hard time caring for Dorrin, for Brede, or for Kadara.

With most books, one knows at the beginning that the protagonist is going to survive. In rare cases, that doesn't happen, although it is usually foreshadowed. So I think it's safe and non-spoiling to mention that, yes, Dorrin doesn't die (sorry if that truly spoils your experience). Somehow though, all those other books whose protagonists survive manage to make me feel that the character's struggle is worth something. The protagonist might survive, but it's always at some cost; there is always another personal sacrifice or loss that drives the resolution. This seems to be absent from The Magic Engineer, and it's related to the very careful and technical way the book seems to have been written. Rather than surviving because he earns it, Dorrin survives only because it has been predestined from the story's beginning. As a result, Dorrin and all the rest of the characters lack free will and become mere mouthpieces for Modesitt's exposition of his order/chaos system.

I know: it's ridiculous to talk about fictional characters having free will! (Or is it?) Yet this seems like the best way to express my criticism: in a truly fulfilling story, that author must convince the reader that the characters have volition. Modesitt is very careful to ensure that his characters' actions seem to follow logically from their motives, but there's something missing, something just a little bit off. Take the White Wizards, for instance. We get brief, snippet-like chapters that give us a glimpse into their machinations—and these chapters are by far the worst parts of The Magic Engineer, just as they were in The Towers of Sunset. The White Wizards are one-dimensional and Evil. They want to dominate and destroy. Oh, and they pontificate about that to each other, always pointing out each other's actions. (It actually feels like the White Wizards are playing a big game of "I see what you did there" where if one does not explain the other person's schemes to that person, one has failed and will be incinerated.)

The same problem afflicts the other chapters, though perhaps to a lesser degree. Here's an example from very early in the book.

He takes a sip of the redberry, warmer than he prefers. "If it's not intruding … what's your family like?"

She finishes crunching a mixture of celery and sliced fennel before answering. "My father is a trader in wools. My mother was a singer from Suthya. I don't have any brothers or sisters yet."

Dorrin frowns. The words imply that her mother is dead, and that her father has another wife who may yet have children.

I particularly love the phrase "the words imply". Not only is Modesitt spelling it out for us, but he is almost condescending about it, as if he is worried that we are going to miss this subtlety if he does not do his best to un-subtleify it. (And it's not like the person with whom Dorrin is speaking is a major character or anything. This has no effect on the rest of the plot.)

The Magic Engineer has not changed my opinion of the Recluce saga. With each book in the series that I re-read, however, I am gaining a new perspective on that opinion and better understanding it. I wish that opinion could be higher, because this series means a lot to me. Unfortunately, despite that significance and the link it provides to my past, I cannot put the Recluce saga among my favourites.

My Reviews of the Recluce saga:
← The Towers of Sunset | The Order War →

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Magic Engineer" is the third book in L. E. Modesitt Jr.'s "Recluce" series. It is also the best Recluce novel I've read so far. It's a solid 4 star effort. The novel itself is written in the same familiar present tense style with which Modesitt's readers should be familiar at this point (e.g. "Dorrin rides the horse down the muddy road"). Others have called it "distracting" but I became used to the style early on in my reading.

The Plot

The action in the book takes place after the second book but before the first book. While the second book was about the founding of the nation of Recluce, this third book takes place about 150 years after the death of Recluce's founders, Creslin and Megaera.

The main protagonists are 3 young residents of Recluce named Dorrin, Kadara, and Brede. Dorrin comes from a line of weather wizards and healers, but he wants to be a smith, like Kadara's father. Kadara is a beautiful red haired girl who Dorrin has crushed on his whole life. Brede is a big strapping country boy who has captured Kadara's "interest".

All three of them are to be sent from Recluce on individual quests to "find themselves" in the world. They are being sent away because each of them individually aren't satisfied with their lot in life in Recluce. They aren't being sent away empty-handed, however. They first must recieve training at the Recluce Academy to survive in the outside world. The first book calls this a "dangergeld", but the Recluce society hasn't developed enough at this point in its history to call it that.
The threesome get trained, and then leave Recluce. They can't return for at least a year. Kadara and Brede can't wait to get back to Recluce, but Dorrin sees this as an opportunity to build his new invention...something called a "steam engine".

The Good

This is the best novel in the Recluce series so far. In all his books, Modesitt moves the plot along very well; not too fast and not too slow. This one is no exception. The plot is interesting and it moves forward at a good pace. When a scene in the book starts to become tiresome, it changes to another scene that's interesting. The passages where Dorrin is smithing would be boring if they lasted too long, but they don't. Again, there are no free rides in Modesitt's world. All the characters have to work for a living to survive. Others have called this "dull" but I think it's refreshing.

The main protagonists are memorable and likeable. The relationship between Brede, Kadara, and Dorrin starts out as a love triangle, but changes and develops into something a little more complex as the story progresses. The characters as individuals also grow as they experience life outside Recluce. Modesitt really did well in his writing here. The changes that the characters go through are realistic and cool. I cared for the characters in this book a little more than I have in Modesitt's previous Recluce novels.

The magic system, as usual, is cool and logical. In this novel, Modesitt reveals new aspects of chaos and order magic that were not in the previous two novels. The best part is that the philosophy of Balance between chaos and order in the world of Recluce is examined more closely in this novel. The protagonist Dorrin begins writing down his thoughts on the basis of order and the reader gets a little philosophy about the Balance. This is both cool and natural. If a world existed that had order magic and chaos magic as well as a maintained balance between the two, it would seem to me inevitable that some kind of philosophy would arise dealing with the balance of order and chaos magic. In this novel, we see the beginnings of that philosophy and I found it to be very interesting.

Recluce, as a nation, is portrayed in "The Magic Engineer" as being increasingly isolationist and conservative, much to its detriment. This was interesting to me also. The people who were the most "correct" in their philosophy were the three main protagonists who were being sent away to learn the dubious lesson: "the government of Recluce always knows best". I don't think I'm revealing anything too "spoilerific" when I state that this assertion is proved wrong as a result of the events which take place in the novel. Whether or not Recluce as a nation learns this lesson remains to be seen. They certainly didn't seem to have learned it in the first novel, which takes place chronologically AFTER the action in this novel.

The Not-So-Good

The Order wizards are the "good guys" and the Chaos wizards are again the "bad guys" in this third book. Why morality has to enter into it, I don't know. I do think that the Chaos wizards were a little more morally neutral in the novel, but the methods of succession and the infighting among the Chaos wizards became a little cliche' to me. Also, the fact that the CHAOS wizards are organized enough to have a council as well as a leader (and an empire for that matter) seems to me an oxymoron. I think that a true Chaos wizard would be very isolationist and paranoid of not only Order wizards, but OTHER Chaos wizards as well. The Chaos wizards don't sink to the "Snidely Whiplash" level too badly, but they get awfully close, unfortunately.

The main problem I had with the novel were the ancillary characters. They were a little more distinct than in Modesitt's previous efforts, but there still were too many who were so nondescript that I found myself wondering who they were and what their purpose was. I realize that it's tough to write memorable characters. In real life, we associate people's uniqueness in our minds with their physical appearance and the sound of their voice as well as their personality. In a novel, we just have a character's personality to distinguish them from other characters. There exists an economy of characters in writing that becomes bloated when too many characters get introduced to a reader. It would be tough, if not nearly impossible, for a writer to create distinct personalities and voices for all of them. On the other hand, you don't want some kind of "swiss army character" that performs all of the ancillary action in the novel to support the main characters' actions, because it would be that much harder for a reader to suspend their disbelief. It's a tough balance to maintain, and Modesitt seems to err on the side of Chaos rather than Order in this respect.

Conclusion

Despite the problems listed above, I still think that "The Magic Engineer" is the best Recluce novel in the series so far. The novels keep getting better and the world of Recluce becomes more and more compelling and interesting with each new good read. If you've read the previous two books of Modesitt's "Recluce" series and are ready to give it up, read this one before you make up your mind.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was great to read this right after The White Order since the main character of that book, Creslin, is a small, but continuing presence in this one. It was a shame the narrator didn't use the same voice for him, though. Still, the comparisons & differences between the two really made me think about free will & circumstance. Both good guys, on opposing sides, & neither had many choices.

I liked this more the first couple of times I read it in paperback. The audio book was as well done as all the others, but Dorrin's heroism & sense of responsibility was just too overblown & spoiled some otherwise great moments. When Diev is falling, he assassinates Jeslick & ruminates about how the war is his fault. That's ridiculous & there is no basis for that feeling. Also, in both this instance & later when he fights the White fleet, he spends too much of his energy on healing before doing the most important one. Given how much healing takes out of him & how important the fight is, it was just too much. Anyway, it was just too much.

The fight between Dorrin & his father (science versus mysticism) is very well done, although how the former arrived at his conclusions about the amount of order isn't explained well. Still, it sets the stage well for the last books chronologically & tightens the theme of balance. It also continues the hard decisions of immediate versus long term survival.

Horses are well done through out the series & the last scene with Merrywen is great. I'm really pleased that Modesitt doesn't treat horses as if they're cars with hooves, although the difference between brushing & currying a horse isn't clear & no one ever seems to pick out hooves. The idea that a hackamore is more orderly than a bit doesn't make any sense to me, either. Both do the same thing, give the rider control of the horse's head, & either can be gentle or harsh. I use a hackamore on Chip simply because he distracts himself too much playing with a bit, but a rubber Pelham or even an egg-butt snaffle would more gentle than the nose band & curb chain pressure I can & do put on when he starts trying to pull away.

(He's sneaky about twisting his head & yanking just a bit more rein so he can go tearing away up the last hill to the barn. I don't mind cantering or even galloping that last bit, IF I ask for it. Then I can keep him collected. Otherwise, he tends to buck & while his little bucks are easy enough to ride out, he's not coordinated enough & tends to stumble. Then it is very hard to stay on, especially bareback, the way we typically ride. He went down on his nose one time &, while I did a perfect tuck & roll, his hoof clipped the side of my shin & it was a month before all the bruising went away & I could walk without a limp.)

Repetition again. Some is due to the overriding themes of balance between Order & Chaos with Modesitt making all the books stand alone well. That's understandable, but he also hammers some points to death from several points of view. Between the overblown heroism & responsibility & the repetition, I had to knock it down a star. It's probably time to take a break from the series & his writing for a while. I've read over a dozen of his books lately & that tends to make minor issues out larger than they really are.

This is the 3rd published, #10 chronologically (3P, 10C). The full list of books in chronological order is in my review here.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favourite of this Saga so far, but it is still a very readable book. There was just too much technical detail on blacksmithing and machine building for my taste. Those with engineering tendencies would be entranced I am sure (or would be happily critiquing the text).

In many ways, this book seems to be a carbon copy of the premise of the first book. Both Lerris (1st book) and Dorrin (this book) must take training and leave Recluce because they can’t find a way to be happy & fulfilled according the rules of Recluce. Lerris does it through magic, Dorrin through engineering.

Isn’t it always the way, that we have the most conflict with the parent who is the most like us? I butted heads with my father (we are both stubborn Danes who think we know best) and Dorrin & his father exhibit this intergenerational struggle perfectly. That I could identify with, although these two take it to an extreme.

Too much technical detail, and not nearly enough attention paid to important relationships. Dorrin is so completely clued out about emotional relationships that I ended up wanting one of his blacksmith’s hammers to beat him over the head with! His occasional flashes of insight about people’s motivations are all logic based and very few human actions are purely logic based (as much as economists would like to believe otherwise).

Book 323 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.

Extra note about the cover: The ship is steam powered, but there's a dude with an oar/paddle/pole on the left--why? Plus there are 3 guards standing around doing nothing! The one on the upper level seems to be sans trousers? I would find that distracting from what I was trying to do--but the woman on the cover isn't paying him any attention. Maybe it accounts for him staring so intently forward, so as to ignore his pantsless state. I do like the depiction of Dorrin on his horse Meriwhen. Unfortunately, this illustrates the unhappy moment when Dorrin has to leave her behind. I know that Darrell K. Sweet was a celebrated illustrator, but sometimes I wonder where he got some of his ideas....

[Gary Sundell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those looking for elves and dragons need to look elsewhere. Book 3 in this long running series spends time dealing with the Order versus Chaos magic system as the main character, an Order blacksmith/healer comes of age and takes defensive measures against the White Chaos makes of Fairhaven.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Magic Engineer is a highly entertaining fantasy set in an original world with interesting characters. I like the thread of philosophy that runs through it, and of course I love engineering.

The only problem with the book is the way it’s written. First, it’s entirely in present tense. Since it isn’t pretentious, I could have adjusted to that, but the dialogue and sound effects are so irritating that I couldn’t get past them, no matter how cool the story was. There are many, MANY sections of the book in which the author resorts to dialogue to set the mood, written like this (not a direct quotation):

“...ooh...she-demon...”

“...tangle with them...”

“...both swords are...”

Ok, yes. Kadara is tough and scary and wields two swords, and her lover Brede is also tough and scary. I want to ask Modesitt if he’s ever heard the phrase “show, don’t tell”. Just because the NPCs are talking doesn’t mean that he’s showing. That’s still telling.

The really irritating thing is that he DOES successfully show how intimidating Kadara and Brede are, so these fragments of conversation are totally unnecessary. The same is true for most, if not all, of the other sets of fragments of conversation, and believe me, there are plenty of them.

Another irritating quirk of his is that he transposes every single noise people make into dialogue. For example, here’s how I might describe what happened: “Dorrin turned on the shower, and yelped as he was hit by frigid water.” Here’s how he writes it (direct quotation this time):

“Ooo...” The water is not lukewarm, or cool, but frigid.

Here are a couple more examples, also taken from the end of the book. In the first, Kadara is giving birth, and in the second, some dude has just been hit with a sword.

“...hurts...have to...ooohhh...”

“Aeeeiii...” One White guard’s arm flames from the bite of Reisa’s blade.

There’s something like this every few pages. Half the time, the noise being described doesn’t even fit what happened. Who goes “Ooo...” when cold water hits them? When I get unexpectedly blasted with cold water, I yelp. It’s a short, high-pitched sound, not a drawn-out moan. And I gave birth recently, and trust me, there was no oohing. And if I got my arm sliced up, I don’t think I would go “Aeeeiii...” like that one sound effect the bad guys made in Wolfenstein 3D. I’m pretty sure I would scream bloody murder with tons of exclamation points.

And then there’s the sound effects. He can’t ever say something like, “Far beneath Dorrin’s feet, the dynamite exploded with a muffled whump. Dorrin watched the hillside slide away.” No, he has to write something like, “Whhhhhuuuuuummmmmpppp... Part of the hillside slides away.” Granted, I don’t know what dynamite exploding under tons of dirt sounds like, but I’m pretty sure it would be a short, sharp sound, like my cold-water yelp, albeit muffled. I don’t think it would be a long, drawn-out affair.

This book sort of reminded me of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in that there is a distinct voice that I initially found extremely annoying (in Moon's case, it was because it wasn’t written in standard English). However, unlike Manny, the narrator of The Magic Engineer never manages to win me over. I continued to be annoyed throughout the entire book. I was even more annoyed because this is a remarkably intelligent fantasy, much more than a sword-and-sorcery thriller, and I was unable to enjoy it because every time I turned the page, I’d find myself looking at another of these ridiculous sound effects or set of sentence fragments.

Whooooossssshhh...thuuuudddd...meeeeowww... The book lands on the floor.

[Bryan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is set to run in near time with the previous book "The White Order" and several characters from that book do make appearances in this one in asides to the main story line. Unlike most of the other recluse books I've read so far this one follows three young people, although one of them is the primary character. Another variation in this book from the previous recluse books is the overt sexuality of many of the characters. None of it is graphic but it was emphasized much more strongly than in previous books. Again nothing is graphic in any way and it fades to black. Another note on content is this is the first time a violent scene of torture was included, and it should be noted the victim was a woman. The scene was not graphic but it was disturbing. I was also a little annoyed that this scene was also used to introduce a previously unknown white magic power of some sort of mind control.

In spite of the changes I liked it better than the previous book. Dorrin is a much more likeable character than Cerryl was. This makes the story much easier to read. I wasn't sure this was going to be the case when I started the book. Dorrin starts as a super-whiny youth of Luke Skywalker proportions. Fortunately, he quickly grows out of this phase and into a only semi-whiny phase, before finally reaching acceptance of the things he can not change.

The philosophy of the book dwells on the balance in all things. From my reading so far I have come up with a theory of how magic works in this world. It's like plate tectonics. The white magic of chaos is always moving slowly pushing against the boundaries set by the black magic of order. Eventually the pressure gets so high that there is an earthquake usually caused by order reinforcing the boundaries. This is what appeared to happen with both Nylan and Cresslin the two super black mages of the series so far.

The converse is also true though, the concentration of order in the island nation of Recluse caused a great white wizard to appear one powerful enough to raise mountains and raze cities. The conclusion of this story reaches yet another uneasy balance between the whites and blacks. The new engineering on the island of recluse increases both chaos and order in the world. I expect this will lead to a higher level of power in the world which will likely be the subject of some of the next stories in chronological order.

[Ramsey Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man fantasy and engineering is a book will I love it yes I sure did. When you reread a series you read so long ago you only remember the big moments. Then you go back and enjoy the friendships, mentors, family, community, loves, losses, and memories. I really enjoyed this so much. Dorrin was a great protagonist and you root for him the whole way through.

I love how Modesitt makes all three of the first books in essence stand alone fantasy novels set in the same universe. I could see someone pick up book two and never be lost. Or grab book 3 and want to get book 2 to go and learn about Creslin.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just read the first 3 books in this series in a row, and I think each book was better than the previous one. Even though I ranked them all 4 stars, it's really more 3.5, 4, and 4.5 in order of publication so far. Even though the 3 books follow a noticeably similar pattern, Modesitt's writing improves and the world and its history get more fleshed out with each novel. I tried to read this series a long (loooong) time ago and it never really clicked for me, despite having read and enjoyed at least 20-25 other novels by Modesitt over the years, but this time I'm really enjoying spending some time in Recluce.

[Caleb M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐ (Near Perfection)

This is the best one in the series yet! I loved Dorrin and Liedral and Brede, Kadara and all the characters. I loved the story. I really enjoyed the slow pace and the blacksmithing and the healing and the slow build up to the battles. The scheming for the white (evil) wizards. It does take some time to get used to the fact that White is bad and Black is good though. The Order and Chaos magic is getting more fleshed out now. The world is feeling more alive. I'm really enjoying this series so much more that I thought I would.

This is basically my kind of cozy fantasy. Everyone wants to point to Legends & Lattes as the premiere cozy fantasy. And that book is good, and its cozy, but it's a more literal cozy. This is like nostalgia wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of hot tea next to me cozy. Of crisp Autumn evenings with a bowl of warm soup. It just makes me so happy to read these more old school types of fantasy. It makes me feel at home in a weird way.

I'm super excited to get to the next book.

But is this book for you? Well, that's going to depend. I would like to think that it is, but I also know that this book is going to bore the piss out of some readers. There isn't going to be enough action for a lot of you out there. This isn't some super fast paced thrill ride teaming with battle after battle. This is a more slow a deliberate kind of story. It has battles, but it also has some day to day stuff. How to follow your dreams and not give up on them. There is love and heartache. And it all felt so well done to me.

My only complaint with this book is the ending I think. It wasn't bad. It wasn't a let down. But...well...I felt like it should have been a little...more.

I think Dorrin is my favorite main character in the Recluse series so far. I don't know if we see him again, but I hope we do! And it was always going to be hard to beat Lerris as I loved him in the first book.

Next up, The Order War! Can't wait.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m incredibly biased as this has been one of my favorite books (in one of my favorite series) for a long time. I just finished a re-read and it still holds up. The descriptions of metallurgy is what made me want to get into that as a youth (though I never did), and the series has a magical system that is still my favorite to this day: the Balance between Order and Chaos. This book dives deep into defining that Balance as the main character explores Order at its most elemental levels.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting part of the Recluse series and deals tellingly with one of the problems of the way the "Recluse magic system" works 9and with the attitudes of people). I liked this one.

[Barry Mulvany · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Modesitt books.

This is the third book published of the Recluce Saga and is within the central/later timeline as the series covers roughly two thousand years of history. It is a standalone though there is a later companion duology that covers some of the same story from the 'bad' guys viewpoint.

We have basically a single POV in this book, that of Dorrin, though there are a few short POV chapters of others scattered throughout. Dorrin is from a privileged background, his father an Order master but his curiosity for building machines ends up with him being exiled from Recluce to the continent of Candar where he ends up in an increasing precarious position due to a brewing war between his adopted country and the White Wizards from Fairhaven, all the while trying to earn a living and building the machines he is so obviously obsessed with.

Modesitt books are not for everybody. There are large parts of all of them that are involved in the everyday activity of a person that some might find boring. For some reason I never have and keep coming back to them. They are almost a comfort read at this stage. This book has lots and lots of chapters about smithing, healing and trying to learn and make a living. When action happens it tends to be quick but impactful and the consequences are very real, both to our protagonist and others around him.

Another aspect of his books I've always enjoyed it that there are no clear cut right and wrong answers in them. The author tries to show the good and bad of every perspective and that even the enemies of Dorrin create a lot of good and prosperity in their wake. Dorrin himself is driven and brilliant though I did end up really disliking his constant modesty, it felt false and forced but other than that I enjoyed every minute of this. It had been quite a while since I read this so it was nice to go back.

There is a lot of repetition of themes in Recluce books but this is one of the best, at least in the early books and I'm sure I'll read it again. Recommended for something a little outside the norm.

Please see this and other reviews at https://barrysbloodybooks.home.blog/

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes place 3 centuries before the first book of the series and 7 centuries after the 2nd. The publication order of this series is weird, so l will forge on in the chronological order.
Dorrin grows up in Recluse and dreams of creating machines. But his father will have none of it stating that machines are rooted in Chaos. So Dorrin is sent to Academy to be trained, before being exiled off Recluse.
Even his closest friends think he's merely a dreamer with his hopes of machines. Candor is terrorized by the White Wizards and their love for Chaos.
It's an ongoing struggle, as Dorrin, an ascending Black Wizard struggles to get by. He's a brilliant idea man, but naive in actual life knowledge and dealing with people.
A good story

[Denae Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got 2/3 rds into it. It was rather meandering, and then the MC had sex with the girl he kind of liked. They weren't dating. They weren't engaged. And, most of all, they weren't married.

I don't care if his little inventions were eventually going to prove to be clever and save Recluce or something. He's not a hero I can root for.

I'll have to give up on the Recluce books. I so like the Imager books, but Modesitt's writing style is different enough with the Recluce books that I am not enjoying them. The magic is too soft, and the plot isn't clear, and I can't tell why perfect people are banished from Recluce.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recycled Epic Fantasy with Unfocused Pseudo-Philosophy.

One initial selling point on the Recluce series was that each book was a stand-alone story and you didn't need to read the first 15 novels to pick up #16. Well, having read the first three novels in the series, you don't need to get that far because each book is basically a rehash of the first one with the same basic beats (like REALLY basic).

Young scion? Check.
Exiled from his home and made to wander the world? Check.
Earns money engaging in some form of craft (woodcraft, blacksmithing, etc)? Check.
Discovering he has untapped powers/potential? Check.
Lots of confused back and forth about the nature of "Order" vs "Chaos?" Check.
Underdeveloped and bland "chaos wizard" antagonists? Check.
Bad guys want to invade/cut off Recluce (usually related to trading rights)? Check.

Mix all that up for roughly 600 pages and you've got a Recluce novel. Now...PROFIT!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual Modesitt mixture of cosey and challenging...

[The Reading Ruru (Kerry)]

I'm rereading this series, this time in chronological order.

[XchocolatereaderX · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[Richard Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entry into the Recluce series is very approachable for new readers. It covers the rise of Recluce into a dominant power in the world. This book follows the story of Dorrin who starts out as a smith and healer who is exiled from Recluce due to his love of machines. Dorrin goes on to prove that machines are really order based tools and develops a lot of the groundwork for much of the engineering and technological advantage that Recluce has over the rest of the world.

Dorrin goes on to find the black ships, the city of Nylan, the engineers, the great wall, and the book about the Basis of Order.

A recurring theme in a lot of the Recluce books is that the main characters aren't trying to be heroes. Instead they do what needs to be done. While some people complain that makes all of the main characters very similar, I really like the way it works. It's really about normal people who just step up and take action instead of hoping someone else would do it for them.

The pacing of the books work very well and a lot of the interesting parts in the novel deals with Dorrin growing his household and developing the city of Nylan.

I think this is a great series and recommend this book to anyone that's interested in fantasy novels. This book is fine as a starting point for the series.

[Greg Strandberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great book in the series, and honestly, I think this one is better than the first. Modessitt really started to get things moving around the second and third volumes. You really get a sense of the unique magical system coming into play. And of course you're getting more of that great carpentry talk which really pulled me into the series.

I stopped reading these books after the 7th or 8th book, The Death of Chaos, but I often think back on them since they were so good. I'd recommend starting with the first book if you're looking for an interesting fantasy world.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoy this series. Being an engineer myself, I especially enjoyed this story. Great combination of science and magic. Wonderful characters and a good pace to the story.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it difficult to explain how I felt about this one.

The Magic Engineer is one of the books that I kind of just wanted to get out of the way, since the premise didn't exactly excite me. I didn't go into it feeling like I would love it, basically.

This is not a bad book. In fact, it's still very good. There are a lot of things to love and appreciate about it. However, this was extremely slow.

Holy crap. I never thought I could learn so much about smithing and engineering from a fantasy novel. The research was done. I could feel the hours of research that went into this book.

Anyway, here's what I liked:

- Dorrin is a really unique protagonist. Something I appreciate about the Recluce books is how unconventional the protagonists are among epic fantasy leads, where they tend to be peaceful tradesmen or traders rather than travelling warriors. We still get more combat focused characters in this (like Brede and Kadara), but for most of the book we just spend time with Dorrin as he lives his life as an order-bound smith and healer. It felt more like a slice-of-life story set in a fantasy world. I found that I really cared about his struggles and his dreams, even though he wasn't exactly in an action plot line. He's just a sweet character trying his best to help people and live his life in peace.

- As always, this was another exploration of the magic system and world of Recluce, and the magic system remains solid and interesting.

- This is the first book to have Cerryl appear, the protagonist of one of the later entries in the series, and I am VERY excited to read his story now.

- Once again, the research that must have gone into this book is incredible. The details about smithing and healing and such go much farther than most stories would ever take them, which was quite the surprise.

- This book was one that was hard to put down. I was surprised how engaged I was when I was in the process of reading it.

What I didn't like:

- The other Recluce books I've read have been slow, but this is the first time that I could really feel how slow the pace was. Even though it all paid off in the end, there were a lot of scenes that I felt could have been trimmed or removed. A lot of repeated information happened, where I felt like I was just being told the same information all over again, especially in the beginning and some areas of the middle. It really slowed down the read for me.

Overall, this was another good Recluce read. Not my favourite, but I'm still glad I read it, and look forward to continuing with this hefty saga.

[Jeremy Blum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find myself surprised to be giving this 5 stars (technically 4.5 stars rounded up), because The Magic Engineer is, by defintion, a DULL book. Like L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s other Recluce tales, this one stars another tradesman (actually a multi-talented fellow, considering that he's a modelmaker/engineer/blacksmith/healer) named Dorrin. Dorrin is exiled from his homeland and has to undergo a coming-of-age journey where he gains new friends, falls in love, learns how to make steam engines, and eventually becomes a mage who uses the power of Order-based machines to battle the forces of Chaos.

At times, it feels like The Magic Engineer falls into the same faults as its precursor, The Magic of Recluce. There are far too many characters with simple four-letter first names to keep track of, Modesitt continues to write in the odd present tense (punctuating his sentences with goofy sound effects), and all of the White Wizards are mustache-twirling caricatures. Also, while the story is largely about Dorrin's machines, shockingly little time is spent describing how he actually builds these things. We're simply meant to accept that he crafts toy models and manifests bigger versions over time, and instead of giving us building montages, most of the prose involves our protagonist spending time drinking redberry, looking at the sky, and brushing his horse...except for the finale, where he leads a naval battle and sneaks into an enemy camp to kill a central villain with a magical rocket launcher (I'm serious!!!) - both scenes that honestly pass in the blink of an eye, because Modesitt is clearly more interested in describing the aforementioned redberry.

That said, I am giving this a high rating because it scratches a certain itch in a very interesting way. I'm not going to call it a "cozy" book exactly, but a real sense of comfort emerges as you plow through all 600+ pages and see Dorrin get better at his various trades. There is a satisfying feeling of growth and achievement here, and even though it is snail-like in its unfolding, something about it is compelling. I suppose it's because Modesitt never really strays far from the central narrative of a Order-based boy from Recluce becoming a man through very deliberate learnings - either by turning his little toys into actual steamships, or by learning how to re-create intimacy with his lover after she suffers physical trauma at the hands of the White Wizards (these interactions in particular are very well done).

So many fantasy novels become obsessed with the grandiose and the political, getting intoxicated with their own world-building to the point where they become incomprehensible. Modesitt could easily do that here, as there is a definite trade war going on between the city of Fairhaven and Dorrin's home of Recluce. But even though we know these events are occurring in the background, Modesitt keeps the focus squarely on this so-called magic engineer, penning a small-scale story in a very consistent fashion at a pace that never threatens to overwhelm the reader. It seems boring at times, sure. It probably IS boring. But when I reached the end, I wanted more of Dorrin and his friends. Thus did The Magic Engineer win me over... The best dullest book I've read, and thus far, the best of the Recluce novels.

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had bought and read the first seven or eight Recluce novels when I was teenager. I got rid of most of them over the years, but this was always my favourite, and the one that I'd reread the most. I picked it up on a visit to my parents and wondered if it would hold up. I'm pleased that it (mostly) did. Some of the writing feels a bit clunky - especially the ideophonic descriptions of sounds, especially horses - and there was a lot more description of blacksmithing than I remember, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Dorrin is a young magic user living on the island of Recluce, interested mostly in blacksmithing and healing. He is exiled, along with his neighbour Kadara, because of his interest in building machines - particularly steam engines, which his father, a powerful mage, thinks can only lead to chaos.

Dorrin is a good central character. He starts as a bit of a brat, but his experiences over the course of the book temper that, and he's as aware as the reader of the futility of his efforts in Spidlar and that he ends up causing more pain and destruction than he prevents.

I kind of like the idea of a magic system based on order and chaos, and the idea of machines like steam engines that inherently embody chaos, but contained through order, but at times, the two words do seem to be used as arbitrary labels.

Of the other characters, we don't get as much development for the likes of Liedral, Dorrin's love-interest, or the smith family that takes him in when he's exiled from Recluce to the continent of Candar. Kadara fares a little better, although her lover and fellow exile, Brede, doesn't.

The story moves along at a decent pace, and never really feels as long as its nearly 750 pages. The chapters tend to be quite short, sometimes just a half page "cut scene" as we cut to the machinations of the chaos wizards of Fairhaven. Although that trick can sometimes feel really tiring to read, that doesn't seem to be the case here. Possibly because each chapter doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but just ends a short scene and lets time jump forward a bit.

So I enjoyed rereading this after probably a couple of decades, but I have no interest in getting back into the Recluce series (which I see from the GoodReads series page is now over twenty books long!).

[Mayank Agarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming of age character focus story with a well-developed fantasy world.

It’s a standalone book, one doesn’t need to have read other books from the series to enjoy this one.

I have been binge reading the series, this being book three. I felt it’s pretty much the combination of the first two books in the series with nothing new to offer. This recycling of material bought down my reading experience, maybe if I were reading the book after a gap of a few years I would have enjoyed it more. It has the same adventures and path taken by the previous protagonist, initial banishment or want of leaving home, lots of practical everyday problem, complicated romance, taking up a skill-based profession, character growth, and with the coming of age a better understanding of magic.

Most of the elements used in the book are very much different from the established fantasy genre, a lot of realism. Also, the magic system is fascinating, it's not evil vs good, its chaos vs order, destruction vs making, loved how creative the magic users get to make use their talents.

It does have a few other problems besides recycled material, I didn’t like the sound effects used all through the book, also the author got into too many details with the working of machines and blacksmithing.

I feel if it’s your first Recluce novel it would be enjoyable, but if you binge read the series you will be let down. It's really a 4-star book as a stand-alone but having read the previous books I am giving it a 3 star.

[Clay Kallam · Rating 4 out of 5]

L.E. Modesitt, Jr., continues his Recluce series in familiar fashion in volume three: A coming-of-age story prominently featuring redheads in a world in which black is the color of order (and the good guys) and white is the color of chaos (and evil magicians).

And there is a lot of magic, from healing to iron-working to controlling the weather. Dorrin, the protagonist, is a powerful magician but the rulers of the very orderly island of Recluce are worried about his fascination with machines, and sentence him (among others) to exile until he mends his ways.

At the same time, though, the White Wizards are mounting a variety of attacks on Recluce and other nations, and the traditional weapons are powerless against them. Dorrin's combination of engineering and magic, though, offers a way out for Recluce and the other beleaguered countries, if only Recluce will accept him.

Modesitt also takes a slightly different tack with Dorrin's character, as Dorrin refuses to admit how talented and powerful he is, and thus makes mistakes because of his overdone humility and modesty. Usually, of course, young heroes are too arrogant and confident, and it's twists like this that push the Recluce books to a level above most magic-heavy fantasy.

There are a lot more Recluce books to go, and one thing I'm hoping for is that Modesitt moves beyond coming-of-age tales, and redheads, and expands his scope a bit.

[Swhite · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author loves to describe daily life details to point of exasperation. For example, he describes how food is passed around a table while people are eating. If you are good at skimming books, then the book works fairly well.

However, the book has a common failing which doomed a good review on my part. In a lot of fiction, you put the character into a seemingly unsolvable situation where the world, as the character would like it to be, is doomed. In good fiction, the reader can see a way out of the situation based on the seeds the author has planted throughout the book. The reader has a hint of how the character might win in the end. In bad fiction, the solution comes from character doing something amazing and out of line with how you think the world works and how you see the capabilities of the character. It is as if an author was describing a chess game and then declared at 2 pm on Wednesdays a knight can also move like a bishop.

If I were to have advice for the author, I would have the character gather a much larger group of helpers much sooner and make much more progress much sooner. In fact, I would have the main character be the head of a corporate entity by the time the main critical events of the plot occurred. The corporate entity would be large enough to have an effect on the local economy. I would also scale up the number of the people in the local area by about a factor of 10.

[Eugi · Rating 4 out of 5]

46. The Saga of Recluce #3 The Magic Engineer by L.E. Modesitt Jr. 768

genres: Fiction Epic Fantasy High Fantasy
ranking:

the first line:
The boy looks at the iron, cherry-red in the tongs.

I am grateful to this book for ...
Dorrin's patience and passion.

notes:
-- returning to Recluse is again a sheer delight;
-- this is not an adventure or action-packed story at least until a certain point. it is just life, day after day survival, I enjoyed reading about the characters figuring out everyday life, growing things, making things;
-- the evil is not flashed out; and bad people are usually desperate bandits that want to rob you and kill, no small menaces;
-- the main character has more to deal with people doubting him, his passion, and his desire to build things; every step of the way he needs to mute these voices and just do what he believes is the right thing to do;
-- he is the Leonardo da Vinci of his age, but his insights violate the rules of the Order magic of Recluce, and to pursue his invention he must go into exile—in the lands of Chaos, and he figures out the laws of balance;
-- after the third book I understand Order and Chaos better.

quotes:
“no man with any self-respect wants to be feared, less he’s a bully,”