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The Saga of Recluce #2
The Towers of the Sunset
Tells the story of Creslin, son of a powerful military matriarch, who chooses exile rather than an arranged marriage. He sets out on a search for his true identity as a man, developing his magical talents through constant conflict with the enigmatic white wizards of Candar.
536 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
L.E. Modesitt Jr.
191 books2,590 followersL. 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 272 reviews
August 17, 2020
I think I fell in love.
I mean, I really liked the first book in this series and I really rocked to the whole Chaos vs Order magic system. I’ve always loved this kind of thing. Still do.
But this second book? I freaked out. What appeared to be a hardcore adventure rebelling against a political fate and an arranged marriage had be reeling when I realized it was actually a
ROMANCE.
All this time I expected an epic fantasy with tons of swordplay and magic and discovery, adventure, torture, and even more magic.
I got that. And I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS ROMANCE.
Honestly, it’s the best part. These two tore me to shreds.
Oh, and the whole founding of Recluse was all kinds of awesome, sending us far back in time before the events of the first book, but it was the ROMANCE that floored me.
I didn’t expect it.
Such a wonderful surprise. :)
I mean, I really liked the first book in this series and I really rocked to the whole Chaos vs Order magic system. I’ve always loved this kind of thing. Still do.
But this second book? I freaked out. What appeared to be a hardcore adventure rebelling against a political fate and an arranged marriage had be reeling when I realized it was actually a
ROMANCE.
All this time I expected an epic fantasy with tons of swordplay and magic and discovery, adventure, torture, and even more magic.
I got that. And I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS ROMANCE.
Honestly, it’s the best part. These two tore me to shreds.
Oh, and the whole founding of Recluse was all kinds of awesome, sending us far back in time before the events of the first book, but it was the ROMANCE that floored me.
I didn’t expect it.
Such a wonderful surprise. :)
June 22, 2011
It's been almost two years since I re-read The Magic of Recluce. I consider the Recluce saga among the "formative fantasy series" of my youth. I associate the word "Recluce" with memories of being curled up in a massive armchair in the living room, rain streaming down the windows outside, cradling a massive 600- or 800-page hardcover book in my hands. That was the life.
With The Towers of Sunset, Modesitt returns to the Recluce saga in prequel form: this is the founding of Recluce by Creslin and his somewhat-reluctant partner, Megaera. Creslin is the son of the Marshall of Westwind; Megaera is the sister of the Tyrant of Sarronnyn. Both Westwind and Sarronnyn are western countries of Candar that subscribe to the Legend, which is essentially a garbled creation myth that provides the basis for their matriarchical societies. The Marshall bucked tradition by allowing Creslin to train with the female guards of Westwind, who are among the best in the world. Meanwhile, Megaera is a White witch, a chaos mage, and her sister has had her bound in iron chains since she came of age. Oh, and she's "life-linked" to Creslin, so she feels what he feels and dies if he dies. You can guess how much she loves that.
The plot of The Towers of Sunset has many similarities to that of The Magic of Recluce, which will come as no surprise if you are familiar with Modesitt's writing. Just as Lerris is dispatched to Candar for ulterior reasons, Creslin too is manipulated by the Marshall, the Tyrant, and even the White Wizards of Fairhaven to fulfil his "destiny", which is the founding of an order-based haven on Recluce. Instead of the Grey mage Justen for the role model/wise mentor figure, we have Klerris, a Black mage. Notably, Creslin does not have a trade; he is a soldier and a musician seems to try his hand at pretty much everything.
Creslin's self-enforced versatility is one of the reasons I didn't like this book. I should probably mention that, unlike The Magic of Recluce, I don't think I've read this one before. I would remember being this annoyed. Self-righteous male protagonists bother in fantasy books. You know the type I mean: they bludgeon their way through the plot like a bulldozer, swiping aside any resistance with the fateful words, "I don't have any choice." It's one of the reasons I skewered Richard and the Sword of Truth series. Creslin is not nearly so extreme, fortunately; yet the last half of the book seems to consist of him whining that his choices come down to "let everyone starve" or "mount an increasingly destructive series of order-based gambits to turn Recluce into a nation at the expense of other countries". Indeed, much like my reservations about the end of The Ringworld Engineers, I don't think I can condone the way Modesitt glosses over the morality of Creslin's actions. In altering the weather patterns to bring more rain to Recluce, he causes floods and droughts elsewhere. We see these results, but we never really see Creslin called to account for them, except for the toll his use of order in the service of destruction takes on his body (blindness), which I would argue is not sufficient here. Creslin is a war criminal!
Ironically, my feelings were the opposite for the first half of the book: I was annoyed with Megaera and thought Creslin's feelings were justified. She was contradictory and vague toward him no matter how he treated her. Eventually, however, I came to see his actions from her point of view. They're both stupid and probably deserve each other, but on balance I'll have to give the epic award for stupidity to Creslin, for essentially forcing himself upon Megaera by imposing another life-link on them. She is already linked to him, so he feels that he should make the link reciprocal; he'll feel what she feels. But he does this without even asking her permission, which is … rape. It doesn't matter that "it was going to happen eventually" as a result of her life-link and their mutual order/chaos abilities. The squee factor is definitely there.
When Creslin is not forcing his way into the thoughts of his wife or destroying weather patterns for his own gain, he's usually doing something boring, like guarding a trader caravan or singing in a tavern. I am exaggerating, of course, but I want to emphasize how very workaday the Recluce saga seems to be when it comes to adventures. Creslin is just as obsessed with counting coppers and recounting to us the exact meals he orders at inns as Lerris was; once again, Modesitt focuses a lot on the logistics of life. Alone, this might be enough to dissuade some people from reading the book but doesn't particularly bother me. Unfortunately, The Towers of Sunset also seems to miss a lot of dramatic notes. Creslin undergoes a few very important trials, including his escape from the Westwind escort, his confrontation in Fairhaven, and his subsequent recovery of his memory and escape from the road crew. Maybe it's my fault for reading at a baseball game, but the tone and urgency of the writing doesn't always adjust to match the intensity of these moments. Altogether the result is a somewhat flat, albeit very evenly-paced, story.
There is nothing truly unique or exciting about The Towers of Sunset to make it stand out. As usual, Modesitt's chaos-order magic system is fun and interesting and stifled by the heavy-handed exposition. The bad guys (in this case, the White Wizards) get their own short chapters of dialogue in which they cackle about their latest gambit to unseat Creslin from Recluce. Modesitt does get two things very right: the epic scale, with Creslin's manipulation of the winds and the destruction of multiple fleets of ships and enemy soldiers; and the toll this takes on Creslin's body. That was a cool price to extract for his unmitigated use of order at the service of destruction. Unfortunately, these two positives do not sufficiently compensate for the dull or even unsavoury parts of this book. It's not a bad book, and to his credit Modesitt attempts to explore issues of gender politics, from his creation of the Legend to the relative roles that Megaera and Creslin play in ruling Recluce. Nevertheless, unless you are on a mission to read the complete saga of Recluce like I am, you might want to skip this one.
My reviews of the Recluce saga:
← The Magic of Recluce | The Magic Engineer →
With The Towers of Sunset, Modesitt returns to the Recluce saga in prequel form: this is the founding of Recluce by Creslin and his somewhat-reluctant partner, Megaera. Creslin is the son of the Marshall of Westwind; Megaera is the sister of the Tyrant of Sarronnyn. Both Westwind and Sarronnyn are western countries of Candar that subscribe to the Legend, which is essentially a garbled creation myth that provides the basis for their matriarchical societies. The Marshall bucked tradition by allowing Creslin to train with the female guards of Westwind, who are among the best in the world. Meanwhile, Megaera is a White witch, a chaos mage, and her sister has had her bound in iron chains since she came of age. Oh, and she's "life-linked" to Creslin, so she feels what he feels and dies if he dies. You can guess how much she loves that.
The plot of The Towers of Sunset has many similarities to that of The Magic of Recluce, which will come as no surprise if you are familiar with Modesitt's writing. Just as Lerris is dispatched to Candar for ulterior reasons, Creslin too is manipulated by the Marshall, the Tyrant, and even the White Wizards of Fairhaven to fulfil his "destiny", which is the founding of an order-based haven on Recluce. Instead of the Grey mage Justen for the role model/wise mentor figure, we have Klerris, a Black mage. Notably, Creslin does not have a trade; he is a soldier and a musician seems to try his hand at pretty much everything.
Creslin's self-enforced versatility is one of the reasons I didn't like this book. I should probably mention that, unlike The Magic of Recluce, I don't think I've read this one before. I would remember being this annoyed. Self-righteous male protagonists bother in fantasy books. You know the type I mean: they bludgeon their way through the plot like a bulldozer, swiping aside any resistance with the fateful words, "I don't have any choice." It's one of the reasons I skewered Richard and the Sword of Truth series. Creslin is not nearly so extreme, fortunately; yet the last half of the book seems to consist of him whining that his choices come down to "let everyone starve" or "mount an increasingly destructive series of order-based gambits to turn Recluce into a nation at the expense of other countries". Indeed, much like my reservations about the end of The Ringworld Engineers, I don't think I can condone the way Modesitt glosses over the morality of Creslin's actions. In altering the weather patterns to bring more rain to Recluce, he causes floods and droughts elsewhere. We see these results, but we never really see Creslin called to account for them, except for the toll his use of order in the service of destruction takes on his body (blindness), which I would argue is not sufficient here. Creslin is a war criminal!
Ironically, my feelings were the opposite for the first half of the book: I was annoyed with Megaera and thought Creslin's feelings were justified. She was contradictory and vague toward him no matter how he treated her. Eventually, however, I came to see his actions from her point of view. They're both stupid and probably deserve each other, but on balance I'll have to give the epic award for stupidity to Creslin, for essentially forcing himself upon Megaera by imposing another life-link on them. She is already linked to him, so he feels that he should make the link reciprocal; he'll feel what she feels. But he does this without even asking her permission, which is … rape. It doesn't matter that "it was going to happen eventually" as a result of her life-link and their mutual order/chaos abilities. The squee factor is definitely there.
When Creslin is not forcing his way into the thoughts of his wife or destroying weather patterns for his own gain, he's usually doing something boring, like guarding a trader caravan or singing in a tavern. I am exaggerating, of course, but I want to emphasize how very workaday the Recluce saga seems to be when it comes to adventures. Creslin is just as obsessed with counting coppers and recounting to us the exact meals he orders at inns as Lerris was; once again, Modesitt focuses a lot on the logistics of life. Alone, this might be enough to dissuade some people from reading the book but doesn't particularly bother me. Unfortunately, The Towers of Sunset also seems to miss a lot of dramatic notes. Creslin undergoes a few very important trials, including his escape from the Westwind escort, his confrontation in Fairhaven, and his subsequent recovery of his memory and escape from the road crew. Maybe it's my fault for reading at a baseball game, but the tone and urgency of the writing doesn't always adjust to match the intensity of these moments. Altogether the result is a somewhat flat, albeit very evenly-paced, story.
There is nothing truly unique or exciting about The Towers of Sunset to make it stand out. As usual, Modesitt's chaos-order magic system is fun and interesting and stifled by the heavy-handed exposition. The bad guys (in this case, the White Wizards) get their own short chapters of dialogue in which they cackle about their latest gambit to unseat Creslin from Recluce. Modesitt does get two things very right: the epic scale, with Creslin's manipulation of the winds and the destruction of multiple fleets of ships and enemy soldiers; and the toll this takes on Creslin's body. That was a cool price to extract for his unmitigated use of order at the service of destruction. Unfortunately, these two positives do not sufficiently compensate for the dull or even unsavoury parts of this book. It's not a bad book, and to his credit Modesitt attempts to explore issues of gender politics, from his creation of the Legend to the relative roles that Megaera and Creslin play in ruling Recluce. Nevertheless, unless you are on a mission to read the complete saga of Recluce like I am, you might want to skip this one.
My reviews of the Recluce saga:
← The Magic of Recluce | The Magic Engineer →
August 28, 2017
I've read this several times over the years, but it really impressed me & let me down this time. First the bad news. Creslin is almost too stupid & Magera is a total bitch in the first part of the book. By the end, both are OK, their issues understandable, but I never found their earlier roles all that believable. As usual, I didn't care all that much for the love bit.
So why did I rate this so highly? Mostly because Modesitt did a fantastic job with the history & trends. I absolutely loved the way he turned societies around. If this book was read directly after "Fall of Angels" it would really have a huge impact since 500 years have passed & a necessary virtue has turned into a curse just as bad since it lacks any balance. Balance is a theme throughout his books & it shows well when the books are read in published order, but I think even better chronologically.
As usual, Modesitt paints a complete world with countries rising, falling, & struggling. A lot of action driven by cut-throat politics & economics.
The second published, #8 chronologically (8C, 2P). The full list of books in chronological order is in my review here.
So why did I rate this so highly? Mostly because Modesitt did a fantastic job with the history & trends. I absolutely loved the way he turned societies around. If this book was read directly after "Fall of Angels" it would really have a huge impact since 500 years have passed & a necessary virtue has turned into a curse just as bad since it lacks any balance. Balance is a theme throughout his books & it shows well when the books are read in published order, but I think even better chronologically.
As usual, Modesitt paints a complete world with countries rising, falling, & struggling. A lot of action driven by cut-throat politics & economics.
The second published, #8 chronologically (8C, 2P). The full list of books in chronological order is in my review here.
December 11, 2016
Book 2 of the series takes us back to the beginning of the settling of Recluce. It's an enjoyable, nicely written read in general and sets up the conflict between the black and white wizards. But, I did not really like the characters. I found Creslin and Megaera immature and whiny. Megaera (and others) constantly put down men as a species to the point it felt like modern reverse-sexism. Though these main characters had reasons for their behavior and feelings, the results annoyed me. Grow up already. Still I will read the next book published. I do like the world and with the addition of gray wizards, perhaps it will get beyond dualistic thinking. We shall see.
I'm thinking I should have read these books in internal chronological order
I'm thinking I should have read these books in internal chronological order
April 2, 2017
Reading this is like reading an excruciatingly detailed historical account about how someone who lived in the distant past once watched paint dry.
April 18, 2015
Right off I have to clarify that this story would have had a higher rating except for one critical problem I had with the two main characters.
Almost 900 years after the last book, Cresslin, a black mage (subtype: storm) is the oldest son of the Marshal of Westwind. The old legend of westwind seems to have been forgotten and changed into "men suck and should never lead or they will cause wars." Both Westwind and the land of Sarronyn (founded by the first Marshal Ryba and the arms commander Saryn in previous books) follow the legend and are lead by women only. Cresslin is doomed to be marginalized by his community and so escapes an arranged marriage and flees the land for the east.
Meanwhile the female lead, whose name is so convoluted I am just going to call her Maggie, is a grey mage (subtype: only has powers to make her meet the male lead) and is the younger sister of the queen is doomed to be married off for convenience and is punished for having any ability of white magic by being forced to wear iron bands.
They go about having adventures in opposition to the white mages of Fairhaiven. The whites oppose the lands of the legends where women rule and wish to rule all of candor themselves. Eventually Cresslin and Maggie meet and team up. They flee to the desert island of Recluse and found a settlement which they must then defend from the depredations of the white mages and (spoiler!) eventually succeed.
Here is my big problem with this book and the reason I couldn't rate it any higher. Both leads are suffer from severe emotional childhood wounds. They are both widely maladjusted to liking themselves much less anyone else. And yet suddenly after fighting with each other the whole story one night on the beach they magically make up and suddenly get along just fine. This was a fundamental and sudden shift to the characters which was needed to further the story but was completely unbelievable given the motivations and wounds of both characters. From then on, I just couldn't care because the change was done with no real healing to either character but only because it was necessary to bring the story to a conclusion.
The changes of the legend was interesting. The rise of the white mages in Fairhaiven wasn't predicted by anything in the previous history but this book begins to dwell on the concept of balance. When black magic becomes powerful, then white power will rise. And this happens in reverse too. In the end, the land of Recluse is supposed to be dedicated to the concept of balance. I enjoyed the philosophical studies and seeing the history so I will continue to read in internal chronological order.
This is technically the second recluse book by the author and I wonder if the weakness in the writing and characterization is simply due to being earlier in his writing career. The later characters have been better and the later series, especially the imager portfolio, is much better.
Almost 900 years after the last book, Cresslin, a black mage (subtype: storm) is the oldest son of the Marshal of Westwind. The old legend of westwind seems to have been forgotten and changed into "men suck and should never lead or they will cause wars." Both Westwind and the land of Sarronyn (founded by the first Marshal Ryba and the arms commander Saryn in previous books) follow the legend and are lead by women only. Cresslin is doomed to be marginalized by his community and so escapes an arranged marriage and flees the land for the east.
Meanwhile the female lead, whose name is so convoluted I am just going to call her Maggie, is a grey mage (subtype: only has powers to make her meet the male lead) and is the younger sister of the queen is doomed to be married off for convenience and is punished for having any ability of white magic by being forced to wear iron bands.
They go about having adventures in opposition to the white mages of Fairhaiven. The whites oppose the lands of the legends where women rule and wish to rule all of candor themselves. Eventually Cresslin and Maggie meet and team up. They flee to the desert island of Recluse and found a settlement which they must then defend from the depredations of the white mages and (spoiler!) eventually succeed.
Here is my big problem with this book and the reason I couldn't rate it any higher. Both leads are suffer from severe emotional childhood wounds. They are both widely maladjusted to liking themselves much less anyone else. And yet suddenly after fighting with each other the whole story one night on the beach they magically make up and suddenly get along just fine. This was a fundamental and sudden shift to the characters which was needed to further the story but was completely unbelievable given the motivations and wounds of both characters. From then on, I just couldn't care because the change was done with no real healing to either character but only because it was necessary to bring the story to a conclusion.
The changes of the legend was interesting. The rise of the white mages in Fairhaiven wasn't predicted by anything in the previous history but this book begins to dwell on the concept of balance. When black magic becomes powerful, then white power will rise. And this happens in reverse too. In the end, the land of Recluse is supposed to be dedicated to the concept of balance. I enjoyed the philosophical studies and seeing the history so I will continue to read in internal chronological order.
This is technically the second recluse book by the author and I wonder if the weakness in the writing and characterization is simply due to being earlier in his writing career. The later characters have been better and the later series, especially the imager portfolio, is much better.
December 10, 2018
I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, with the male/female role reversal. The young man, Creslin, who is kept in seclusion to be pure for marriage, the reluctance to teach him fighting skills because he will have women to defend him, his major life role to be a consort to a powerful woman somewhere. And because he has insisted on learning to fight and to ski, we get a runaway groom instead of a runaway bride! I’ve read this particular pattern with a female lead character quite often and it was refreshing to see a male character get the same treatment.
Later in the book, there is some interesting exploration of the nature of man-woman relationships, the differences between the priorities of the sexes when it comes to love, perhaps? Not as spot-on for me as the beginning of the story, but still a long way from the fiction where only the man’s opinion matters.
Somewhat confusing sometimes was the alignment of the colour black with Order Magic and white with Chaos Magic. Kind of reversing the usual good/evil colour associations. Not that either form of magic is painted entirely good or evil—Creslin learns that he can certainly cause bad things to happen with his Order magic. It’s like the old saying about knives. It isn’t the knife that is good or bad, it’s the intention of the person wielding it.
Book number 302 in my Science Fiction & Fantasy reading project.
Later in the book, there is some interesting exploration of the nature of man-woman relationships, the differences between the priorities of the sexes when it comes to love, perhaps? Not as spot-on for me as the beginning of the story, but still a long way from the fiction where only the man’s opinion matters.
Somewhat confusing sometimes was the alignment of the colour black with Order Magic and white with Chaos Magic. Kind of reversing the usual good/evil colour associations. Not that either form of magic is painted entirely good or evil—Creslin learns that he can certainly cause bad things to happen with his Order magic. It’s like the old saying about knives. It isn’t the knife that is good or bad, it’s the intention of the person wielding it.
Book number 302 in my Science Fiction & Fantasy reading project.
August 1, 2020
The first book was pretty good, and this one started out ok, but it’s become so unbearable that I’m not sure I can finish it.
The female lead is disgustingly unlikable and that’s the author’s fault. What does he have against red headed women? She’s completely unreasonable and the constant aggression has ruined the flow of the story completely. The conflict is so unrealistic that I’ve stopped being able to relate. The male lead is suddenly going to “understand” her even though there’s no excuse for her ridiculous behavior? It’s poor insight into human nature.
You can have a plot that includes a relationship full of conflict and contradiction, but it requires subtlety. This was like watching a toddler try to recreate the Mona Lisa with large crayons. A mess.
I’m listening to the story as an audiobook and the verbal sound effects are obnoxious. I can only assume that they’re written that way. They were worse in the first book but the storyline was good enough to make up for it. I’m not impressed with this one.
The female lead is disgustingly unlikable and that’s the author’s fault. What does he have against red headed women? She’s completely unreasonable and the constant aggression has ruined the flow of the story completely. The conflict is so unrealistic that I’ve stopped being able to relate. The male lead is suddenly going to “understand” her even though there’s no excuse for her ridiculous behavior? It’s poor insight into human nature.
You can have a plot that includes a relationship full of conflict and contradiction, but it requires subtlety. This was like watching a toddler try to recreate the Mona Lisa with large crayons. A mess.
I’m listening to the story as an audiobook and the verbal sound effects are obnoxious. I can only assume that they’re written that way. They were worse in the first book but the storyline was good enough to make up for it. I’m not impressed with this one.
April 9, 2025
I'm kind of hovering between 2 and 3 stars for this one. I think that a 5 star scale for rating books is too narrow. I'd give it a 5 out of 10 probably.
This was like the first book in that it was boring. But it was a bit more boring and it lacked that comfortable feeling of the first book too. It was more of a slog, especially the middle third.
My favourite narrative style in fantasy is third person past tense. I don't mind first person, but I prefer it in contemporary stuff to fantasy. I don't like present tense. It just doesn't feel right to me. Sometimes a book can be so good that I can overlook it, like Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Usually, I just have to deal with it. Of course, many people prefer present tense and it's just my purely subjective opinion.
The previous book was first person past tense. It was fine, it didn't really bother me. This was third person present tense. I think that the amount it bothered me was magnified by the fact that this book was already quite slow and dull. I just loathed having to wade through slow and dull story in present tense.
Oh well, I already bought the next three books in this series because I want to see how Lerris' story ends (the protag from the first book) and I don't like skipping books in a series.
This was like the first book in that it was boring. But it was a bit more boring and it lacked that comfortable feeling of the first book too. It was more of a slog, especially the middle third.
My favourite narrative style in fantasy is third person past tense. I don't mind first person, but I prefer it in contemporary stuff to fantasy. I don't like present tense. It just doesn't feel right to me. Sometimes a book can be so good that I can overlook it, like Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Usually, I just have to deal with it. Of course, many people prefer present tense and it's just my purely subjective opinion.
The previous book was first person past tense. It was fine, it didn't really bother me. This was third person present tense. I think that the amount it bothered me was magnified by the fact that this book was already quite slow and dull. I just loathed having to wade through slow and dull story in present tense.
Oh well, I already bought the next three books in this series because I want to see how Lerris' story ends (the protag from the first book) and I don't like skipping books in a series.
January 30, 2012
This is a significant volume in the Recluce saga, going several generations back in time to witness the founding of Recluce as a bastion of Order amidst Chaotic or indifferent nations. It begins well enough with poetic language that is a step or two above anything in The Magic Of Recluce (although the cod-Biblical language we are treated to at one point is cringe-inducing as are the many song lyrics interspersed, although not as totally lacking any attempt at actual lyricism as the rather dull poetry in Erikson's novels). Things get to an exciting start with the protagonist making a daring escape across snowy cliffs and continue to be exciting as he is captured by the White (Chaos) wizards, has his memory blocked and is put to work on a road crew. Overcoming this indenture is the last moment of high adventure in this book.
Thereafter, the protagonist winds up marrying the very woman he has spent half the novel escaping. They proceed to the isle of Recluce where they carry on the most inane, annoying love-hate relationship that eventually breaks down into love. It's hard to see how anyone could love the self-righteous hero or his equally self-righteous wife; perhaps it's just Modesitt who loves them too much not to give them some sort of happy ending.
Anyhow, the powerful White mages do what they can to scuttle this incipient Black(Order-based) haven, so the protagonist has to weave more and more powerful magics, which have unfortunate side-effects for the rest of the world, something that is rather glibly glossed over as 'necessity'. And then there's all the fucking logistics. It seems as if the second half of the novel is one long list of administrative decisions interspersed with an annoying love plot and a few big ticket magical displays which are undermined by their ambiguous consequences.
Maybe this is a sophomore slump for this series. Maybe I shouldn't have read this book so soon after the first one. Maybe Modesitt doesn't really get much better than this. I shall have to decide if its worth finding out.
Thereafter, the protagonist winds up marrying the very woman he has spent half the novel escaping. They proceed to the isle of Recluce where they carry on the most inane, annoying love-hate relationship that eventually breaks down into love. It's hard to see how anyone could love the self-righteous hero or his equally self-righteous wife; perhaps it's just Modesitt who loves them too much not to give them some sort of happy ending.
Anyhow, the powerful White mages do what they can to scuttle this incipient Black(Order-based) haven, so the protagonist has to weave more and more powerful magics, which have unfortunate side-effects for the rest of the world, something that is rather glibly glossed over as 'necessity'. And then there's all the fucking logistics. It seems as if the second half of the novel is one long list of administrative decisions interspersed with an annoying love plot and a few big ticket magical displays which are undermined by their ambiguous consequences.
Maybe this is a sophomore slump for this series. Maybe I shouldn't have read this book so soon after the first one. Maybe Modesitt doesn't really get much better than this. I shall have to decide if its worth finding out.
February 16, 2010
While many people comment on what place this book is chronologically, Anyone who is looking at this should realize that the author strongly suggest you read them in order of publication.
I liked this book for a lot of reasons, the first being that it made the world that contains Recluse seem real, it has a history and religion that can be explored later. The system for magic was expanded upon, and the events of the first book, even though they were in the future, seem more clear and epic with the information that I got from this book.
While many are criticizing the book for being simple, I for one would not say that is a bad thing. The story is told in a straight forward manor that makes it so you do not have to cross reference everything and helps the flow dramatically.
Also the characters in this book were just as engaging as the first, or on second thought, more so. Overall a great book, especially if you liked the first.
I liked this book for a lot of reasons, the first being that it made the world that contains Recluse seem real, it has a history and religion that can be explored later. The system for magic was expanded upon, and the events of the first book, even though they were in the future, seem more clear and epic with the information that I got from this book.
While many are criticizing the book for being simple, I for one would not say that is a bad thing. The story is told in a straight forward manor that makes it so you do not have to cross reference everything and helps the flow dramatically.
Also the characters in this book were just as engaging as the first, or on second thought, more so. Overall a great book, especially if you liked the first.
July 21, 2023
This book alternates between being incredibly boring and super interesting. It's odd that it seems to have those opposite elements.
Not going to lie, the first two hundred pages of this book is rough. Because of the author's decision for the whole series to jump around to different eras (book 1 being at the end of the timeline), this book starts off fresh, and the reader has to try to acclimate to this entirely new worldbuilding. And unfortunately, there isn't an incredible amount of excitement in the story until later on.
The story begins with Creslin, who is a consort (in waiting) in a land where the women have all the power and the men are encouraged to be very submissive. He bucks that tradition, and does not enjoy the prospect of having an arranged marriage where the status quo would stay the same, so he runs away. However, he ends up with the woman he would have been married to.
The first portion slowly folllows Creslin cross the land of Candar, until he gets to Montrgen. Once he's in Montrgen, the story picks up substantially. This is because of the dynamic introduced with Magaera. She is a very strong-opinionated and strong-willed woman who is none-too-happy about the arrangement that she and Creslin are forced into: Being co-regents of Recluce.
Interestingly, their relationship is the absolute best part of the book. The middle portion (pages 200-400) really follow Creslin trying desperately to connect with Magaera, and she ends up getting frustrated with him. They have a very "Hepburn-Tracy" dynamic, which I really like.
I also really liked seeing Creslin work hard to build a new civilization out of Recluce. It felt very much like the video game "The Guild 2: Renisance" or "Sid Meyer's Civilization". I think Modesitt Jr. could have devoted more time on this part and less on the journey towards the beginning.
The climactic ending (roughly pages 400-end) is fine. It's not particularly stellar, but not particularly boring. A well done ending, and I left being interested in future Recluce stories.
Overall, when the story is great, it is fantastic! When the story is boring, it is interminable. Ordinarily, I would give it a more middling rating. However, upon completion, I felt better overall about the book than I did in my dislike for portions of it, so I'll give it a decent rating. 7 out of 10.
Not going to lie, the first two hundred pages of this book is rough. Because of the author's decision for the whole series to jump around to different eras (book 1 being at the end of the timeline), this book starts off fresh, and the reader has to try to acclimate to this entirely new worldbuilding. And unfortunately, there isn't an incredible amount of excitement in the story until later on.
The story begins with Creslin, who is a consort (in waiting) in a land where the women have all the power and the men are encouraged to be very submissive. He bucks that tradition, and does not enjoy the prospect of having an arranged marriage where the status quo would stay the same, so he runs away. However, he ends up with the woman he would have been married to.
The first portion slowly folllows Creslin cross the land of Candar, until he gets to Montrgen. Once he's in Montrgen, the story picks up substantially. This is because of the dynamic introduced with Magaera. She is a very strong-opinionated and strong-willed woman who is none-too-happy about the arrangement that she and Creslin are forced into: Being co-regents of Recluce.
Interestingly, their relationship is the absolute best part of the book. The middle portion (pages 200-400) really follow Creslin trying desperately to connect with Magaera, and she ends up getting frustrated with him. They have a very "Hepburn-Tracy" dynamic, which I really like.
I also really liked seeing Creslin work hard to build a new civilization out of Recluce. It felt very much like the video game "The Guild 2: Renisance" or "Sid Meyer's Civilization". I think Modesitt Jr. could have devoted more time on this part and less on the journey towards the beginning.
The climactic ending (roughly pages 400-end) is fine. It's not particularly stellar, but not particularly boring. A well done ending, and I left being interested in future Recluce stories.
Overall, when the story is great, it is fantastic! When the story is boring, it is interminable. Ordinarily, I would give it a more middling rating. However, upon completion, I felt better overall about the book than I did in my dislike for portions of it, so I'll give it a decent rating. 7 out of 10.
March 21, 2021
Reading this book was like filling a grocery cart with my favorite foods, then launching it off a bridge into a river and watching it sink.
“The Towers of the Sunset” is a good story. Magically bonded lovers, all-women warrior tribes, cross country skiing, storm magic, and an arc straight from Animal Crossing where we’re building an island kingdom from scratch. I unironically love this crap. I even love Chosen Ones.
So, where did it go wrong? Quickly and often. First, the fighting: “Blades caress, for Creslin knows he can do no more than slide the other’s blade.”
Then the romance: “He’s not my boyfriend!’ The words hiss through Megaera’s teeth and rattle in her mind. ‘Damn you, sister...’ But the tears roll from the corners of her eyes.”
Then the magic. I’ll spare you quotes, but imagine villains who we only hear about as they sit around gossiping about how strong and mighty the chosen one is. All supporting characters in the book exist only to confirm, out loud, how strong and skilled our hero is at everything.
This is just the beginning. It gets worse. The ruined love story in particular is worth a documentary of its own—powerful themes of free will, fate, communication, and sacrifice get tossed aside in favor of a “difficult woman” narrative. By the end, she assumes her rightful place in the bedroom and kitchen and abdicates political power to her (much weaker and busier) husband. And these could have been interesting character choices! But it wasn’t like that. It was pastiche.
I wouldn’t have been so bummed out by this book if I hadn’t, in some way, loved it. Maybe a better writer can take a whack someday.
“The Towers of the Sunset” is a good story. Magically bonded lovers, all-women warrior tribes, cross country skiing, storm magic, and an arc straight from Animal Crossing where we’re building an island kingdom from scratch. I unironically love this crap. I even love Chosen Ones.
So, where did it go wrong? Quickly and often. First, the fighting: “Blades caress, for Creslin knows he can do no more than slide the other’s blade.”
Then the romance: “He’s not my boyfriend!’ The words hiss through Megaera’s teeth and rattle in her mind. ‘Damn you, sister...’ But the tears roll from the corners of her eyes.”
Then the magic. I’ll spare you quotes, but imagine villains who we only hear about as they sit around gossiping about how strong and mighty the chosen one is. All supporting characters in the book exist only to confirm, out loud, how strong and skilled our hero is at everything.
This is just the beginning. It gets worse. The ruined love story in particular is worth a documentary of its own—powerful themes of free will, fate, communication, and sacrifice get tossed aside in favor of a “difficult woman” narrative. By the end, she assumes her rightful place in the bedroom and kitchen and abdicates political power to her (much weaker and busier) husband. And these could have been interesting character choices! But it wasn’t like that. It was pastiche.
I wouldn’t have been so bummed out by this book if I hadn’t, in some way, loved it. Maybe a better writer can take a whack someday.
December 30, 2010
“The Towers of the Sunset” is the second book of the Recluce saga. However, instead of depicting events that occur subsequent to the ending of the first book, it jumps back in time to before the island of Recluce was established. Overall, it's a good read if you liked Modesitt’s first novel.
The Plot
There are two kinds of societies in Modesitt's world, ones that respect "The Legend" and ones that don't. What "the Legend" exactly is isn't spelled out in the book, although some "quotes" from the ancient "Book of Ryba" are given. The reader soon realizes that those societies that respect "the Legend" are matriarchies and those that don't are patriarchies. The patriarchies are dominated by the white wizards, who are again the antagonists of this book and of the Recluce saga as a whole so far.
Creslin is born into a matriarchy. He is the son of the Marshall of Westwind. He is betrothed, against his will, to the sister of the Tyrant of Sarronyn: a woman named Megaera (Sarronyn is also a matriarchy). Creslin decides that he doesn’t want to get married and flees from Westwind. However, he and Megaera share a bond. This bond they share is potentially fatal to Megaera, so she also sets out to find him, not out of love, but out of self-preservation.
Meanwhile, Creslin is being hunted by white Chaos mages, who believe him to be a threat to their empire. The plot goes on from there.
The Good
The characters in this second book of the Recluce saga are more memorable than the ones in the first book. Creslin is pretty well characterized as a young guy who comes into his own over the course of the novel. Megaera is also well done as a conflicted, angsty girl who sorts herself out over the course of the book.
The first half of the book, which has Creslin out “on the road” trying to survive, is very well done and he meets some memorable characters, such as Derrild the trader and his family, as well as Hylin, a caravan guard who helps Creslin orient himself to the world beyond Westwind. I found myself really enjoying this section of the book with its chase scenes as well as Creslin’s discovery of the wider world around him.
I also enjoyed the relationship between Creslin and Megaera, which was rather well done.
The Not-So-Good
I wouldn’t call anything in this book “bad” particularly. When the action moves to the island of Recluce, it sort of shifts to a war between the order and chaos forces as well as Creslin and Megaera’s developing relationship. I didn’t find this quite as interesting as the first part of the book, and I thought that the relationship between Creslin and Megaera, while more complex than a typical fantasy novel male-female relationship, cried out for a little more complexity. Things just sort of resolved themselves on their own, despite repeated mistakes by them both. I guess this is what happens in real life, but it didn’t make for a compelling read.
The antagonists of the book, the white wizards, were rather non-descript. They weren’t particularly evil or anything, which is good (I hate it when the bad guys are all like Snidely Whiplash), but I didn’t really feel anything towards them. I think good literature makes the reader feel some kind of empathy for an antagonist, and enables the reader to at least see things from the antagonist’s point of view. This wasn’t done to my satisfaction here.
Some complaints have been made that Modesitt’s use of the present tense (e.g.: “Creslin walks quickly through the dry grass.”) throughout the book is distracting. I agree with this to an extent, but I got used to it pretty quickly and it didn’t bother me very much throughout the course of my reading.
Feminism
I think this topic deserves its own section, because it seems to be the sorest point of discussion regarding this book. The matriarchal societies of “The Towers of the Sunset” are all female versions of patriarchies. That is, take a patriarchy, make all of the men women, and you have a matriarchy. I don’t think this would be true in reality. I think a matriarchy would be entirely different from a patriarchy. However, it certainly wouldn’t be perfect and it would have its own challenges and weaknesses different from a patriarchy’s, as well as different strengths. I think Modesitt really missed the boat here and he could have put out some really fantastic literature exploring the nature and operation of a matriarchy, instead of making the matriarchal women into female versions of “male chauvinists”.
For example, Westwind, a matriarchy, has a reputation for having the finest warriors in the world. While the whole Amazon legend theme is not beyond the scope of reason, it really seemed to cement the whole attitude of the novel of feminists being “manly women”. I’d have rather read about a matriarchy that thrived by peacefully and cleverly manipulating the patriarchies around it into becoming economically and culturally dependent upon it. That would have been more interesting, in my opinion. However, it should be noted that the fighting skills of Westwind’s women becomes key in the plot of the novel, so I guess this depiction of Westwind as a warlike society was necessary.
Megaera, despite being a high ranking member of a matriarchy, has a feminist sensibility that seems to extend to stamping her foot and shouting “Men!” in an exasperated voice. This became annoying very quickly. I would think that, coming from a matriarchy, as soon as she became infatuated with her eventual husband, she would pursue him or at least manipulate him somehow into pursuing her, instead of waiting to be pursued. I would also think that she would assume the leader role over Creslin and that Creslin would have a tendency to allow her to do this and even be relieved that she was taking charge, seeing as they both were born into matriarchies.
I think that Creslin also should have been written differently. As a male growing up in a matriarchal society, he should have had different notions of what is "manly" and what is "womanly". The only way this is depicted is in his general acceptance of women as being good fighters. I don't think that, coming from a matriarchy, Creslin should have taken on a leadership role as readily and confidently as he did. Granted, he was the son of the leader of Westwind, but, as a man in that society, he wouldn't have received any kind of education in war, tactics, or economics. It would have also been inculcated into him at a young age that the woman is the authority figure in any government or household. However, he doesn't defer to Megaera much at all. The women from these matriarchal societies just seem to want to sit there and be led by him, which seems out of character to me.
Conclusion
I know it sounds like I hated the book, but I really didn't. If you can "forget" that Creslin and Megaera come from matriarchies (which is easy to do since the characters aren't written like they come from matriarchies), there is a very good read here. The relationship between the two protagonists is interesting and sometimes even romantic. The action and plot are well done and not rushed in any way. The magic system is still really cool, logical, and interesting. This book was never dull, in my opinion.
If you can overlook the faults listed above, you’ll find, I believe, a better novel here than the first Recluce novel. It still depicts order as being “good” and chaos as being “bad”, but I’ve been assured that this changes throughout the series. If you enjoyed the first novel at all, you should read this one. Just be aware of its faults and try to overlook them. I give it 3 ½ stars.
The Plot
There are two kinds of societies in Modesitt's world, ones that respect "The Legend" and ones that don't. What "the Legend" exactly is isn't spelled out in the book, although some "quotes" from the ancient "Book of Ryba" are given. The reader soon realizes that those societies that respect "the Legend" are matriarchies and those that don't are patriarchies. The patriarchies are dominated by the white wizards, who are again the antagonists of this book and of the Recluce saga as a whole so far.
Creslin is born into a matriarchy. He is the son of the Marshall of Westwind. He is betrothed, against his will, to the sister of the Tyrant of Sarronyn: a woman named Megaera (Sarronyn is also a matriarchy). Creslin decides that he doesn’t want to get married and flees from Westwind. However, he and Megaera share a bond. This bond they share is potentially fatal to Megaera, so she also sets out to find him, not out of love, but out of self-preservation.
Meanwhile, Creslin is being hunted by white Chaos mages, who believe him to be a threat to their empire. The plot goes on from there.
The Good
The characters in this second book of the Recluce saga are more memorable than the ones in the first book. Creslin is pretty well characterized as a young guy who comes into his own over the course of the novel. Megaera is also well done as a conflicted, angsty girl who sorts herself out over the course of the book.
The first half of the book, which has Creslin out “on the road” trying to survive, is very well done and he meets some memorable characters, such as Derrild the trader and his family, as well as Hylin, a caravan guard who helps Creslin orient himself to the world beyond Westwind. I found myself really enjoying this section of the book with its chase scenes as well as Creslin’s discovery of the wider world around him.
I also enjoyed the relationship between Creslin and Megaera, which was rather well done.
The Not-So-Good
I wouldn’t call anything in this book “bad” particularly. When the action moves to the island of Recluce, it sort of shifts to a war between the order and chaos forces as well as Creslin and Megaera’s developing relationship. I didn’t find this quite as interesting as the first part of the book, and I thought that the relationship between Creslin and Megaera, while more complex than a typical fantasy novel male-female relationship, cried out for a little more complexity. Things just sort of resolved themselves on their own, despite repeated mistakes by them both. I guess this is what happens in real life, but it didn’t make for a compelling read.
The antagonists of the book, the white wizards, were rather non-descript. They weren’t particularly evil or anything, which is good (I hate it when the bad guys are all like Snidely Whiplash), but I didn’t really feel anything towards them. I think good literature makes the reader feel some kind of empathy for an antagonist, and enables the reader to at least see things from the antagonist’s point of view. This wasn’t done to my satisfaction here.
Some complaints have been made that Modesitt’s use of the present tense (e.g.: “Creslin walks quickly through the dry grass.”) throughout the book is distracting. I agree with this to an extent, but I got used to it pretty quickly and it didn’t bother me very much throughout the course of my reading.
Feminism
I think this topic deserves its own section, because it seems to be the sorest point of discussion regarding this book. The matriarchal societies of “The Towers of the Sunset” are all female versions of patriarchies. That is, take a patriarchy, make all of the men women, and you have a matriarchy. I don’t think this would be true in reality. I think a matriarchy would be entirely different from a patriarchy. However, it certainly wouldn’t be perfect and it would have its own challenges and weaknesses different from a patriarchy’s, as well as different strengths. I think Modesitt really missed the boat here and he could have put out some really fantastic literature exploring the nature and operation of a matriarchy, instead of making the matriarchal women into female versions of “male chauvinists”.
For example, Westwind, a matriarchy, has a reputation for having the finest warriors in the world. While the whole Amazon legend theme is not beyond the scope of reason, it really seemed to cement the whole attitude of the novel of feminists being “manly women”. I’d have rather read about a matriarchy that thrived by peacefully and cleverly manipulating the patriarchies around it into becoming economically and culturally dependent upon it. That would have been more interesting, in my opinion. However, it should be noted that the fighting skills of Westwind’s women becomes key in the plot of the novel, so I guess this depiction of Westwind as a warlike society was necessary.
Megaera, despite being a high ranking member of a matriarchy, has a feminist sensibility that seems to extend to stamping her foot and shouting “Men!” in an exasperated voice. This became annoying very quickly. I would think that, coming from a matriarchy, as soon as she became infatuated with her eventual husband, she would pursue him or at least manipulate him somehow into pursuing her, instead of waiting to be pursued. I would also think that she would assume the leader role over Creslin and that Creslin would have a tendency to allow her to do this and even be relieved that she was taking charge, seeing as they both were born into matriarchies.
I think that Creslin also should have been written differently. As a male growing up in a matriarchal society, he should have had different notions of what is "manly" and what is "womanly". The only way this is depicted is in his general acceptance of women as being good fighters. I don't think that, coming from a matriarchy, Creslin should have taken on a leadership role as readily and confidently as he did. Granted, he was the son of the leader of Westwind, but, as a man in that society, he wouldn't have received any kind of education in war, tactics, or economics. It would have also been inculcated into him at a young age that the woman is the authority figure in any government or household. However, he doesn't defer to Megaera much at all. The women from these matriarchal societies just seem to want to sit there and be led by him, which seems out of character to me.
Conclusion
I know it sounds like I hated the book, but I really didn't. If you can "forget" that Creslin and Megaera come from matriarchies (which is easy to do since the characters aren't written like they come from matriarchies), there is a very good read here. The relationship between the two protagonists is interesting and sometimes even romantic. The action and plot are well done and not rushed in any way. The magic system is still really cool, logical, and interesting. This book was never dull, in my opinion.
If you can overlook the faults listed above, you’ll find, I believe, a better novel here than the first Recluce novel. It still depicts order as being “good” and chaos as being “bad”, but I’ve been assured that this changes throughout the series. If you enjoyed the first novel at all, you should read this one. Just be aware of its faults and try to overlook them. I give it 3 ½ stars.
October 15, 2024
I am not an impartial reviewer of the Recluse books as I have loved them for as long as they have been being written and at 20+ novels this has been awhile .
That being said this is one of the most action packet of the series. While most in the series are mellow affairs that lead more to contemplation than excitement this one is action throughout.
I am rereading the series and it still holds up. Worth reading.
Note this is the second in published order but not chronological order.
That being said this is one of the most action packet of the series. While most in the series are mellow affairs that lead more to contemplation than excitement this one is action throughout.
I am rereading the series and it still holds up. Worth reading.
Note this is the second in published order but not chronological order.
September 25, 2022
I really enjoyed this one. Looking forward to about 20 more novels and a short story collection. The first book takes place way off in Recluce's future. This book deals with the early days of the land of Recluse.
August 27, 2021
3 stars for an interesting setting and magic system, characters that started interesting but wore a little thin, and an ending that kinda fizzled. But there was enough here such that I want to read the next soon.
The Saga of Recluce is Good, Actually?
L.E. Modesitt Jr. seems to be underappreciated compared to other fantasy authors of his time (90s-present), if the number of Goodreads reviews and talk of his books is anything to go on. And I find myself guilty of that, too, with this being only the second book I've read by him. Very recently I've been on a kick of reading a lot of fantasy, most of it from the 80s/90s, and it got me considering checking back in with the Recluce series.
I read the first of this series, The Magic of Reluce in the 90s - probably alongside Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, and R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books, etc. I certainly didn't like it at first. Lerris, the protagonist, was insufferable at the beginning, as his character's primary motivation was that he was bored working as an apprentice to his uncle, a carpenter. He was insufferable to the extent that his family kicked him off the island of Recluce, Survivor-style. (I'm taking some liberties here). He marginally improves after being kicked off the island as he finds work helping a failing carpenter, and we're treated to several scenes of woodworking, selling breadbaskets, bargaining for scrap wood, negotiating wages, etc. It's all very compelling typical fantasy stuff. And yet, somehow, I kept reading and by the end I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.
Lerris gets somewhat more tolerable. And it wasn't so much that he was voted off the island, but that his inability to fit in with Recluce's mores lead to him being sent on a sort of fantasy Rumspringa, which I thought was a cool concept. There's also a pretty nifty Order & Chaos based magic system that stays internally consistent without being explained to within an inch of its life, Sanderson-style (though it does, due to the color associations - Order = Black, White = Chaos - lead to some questionable phraseology, like "the Blacks" and "White power" 😬). And, yeah, I actually liked the shoptalk. I remember a scene in which Lerris constructs chairs so well, and imbues them with such a strong amount of Order, that they cause pain to Chaos-oriented people who sit on them. Anyway, by the end I realized I had enjoyed it. And so I bought The Towers of the Sunset, but for some reason never read it. My loss!
The Towers of the Sunset tells the story of Creslin, son of the Marshall, the matriarch of the powerful military-oriented mountain kingdom of Westwind. Westwind, due to the teachings of "the Legend", which describes how male angels caused the downfall of Heaven, allows only women to be in positions of power. Its soldiers, all women, are well respected for the fierceness and skill, and the leadership is semi-hereditary, going from mother to daughter only if the daughter proves herself. Though men are typically not trained in warfare, Creslin, as son of the Marshall, has been, and is a capable swordsman in his own right. He's also a powerful Order-based "Storm Wizard", though untrained in the art. He's due to be married off in a political arrangement, and decides to escape so as to avoid this.
It also tells the story of Megaera, his betrothed, who is the sister of the Tyrant of Sarronnyn, a kingdom that likewise subscribes to the Legend. She's about as eager as Creslin to be forced into their marriage. Her sister has forced Megaera to wear iron chains to prevent her from using her powers, which happen to be Chaos-oriented (important to note, Order does not equal "good", and Chaos does not equal "evil"), and has also magically bound Megaera to Creslin, such that she can sense Creslin's thoughts and feelings, and will die if Creslin does (the inverse is not true).
And without giving away much more of the story, Megaera and Creslin do eventually meet up, finding themselves targets of the powerful White Wizards of Fairhaven, and with no other obvious options available for sanctuary, they flee to the barren island of Recluce, taking advantage of Megaera's familial connections, where they're to serve as co-regents and build up the island's economy.
I enjoyed this book, possibly more than The Magic of Recluce, though that one really grew on me after I finished it. I think it helped that I had some familiarity with Modesitt's style. He's not big on front-loading exposition, and so I was a little lost at the beginning, but most everything is eventually explained to an acceptable level as the book progresses. This includes character motivations, too. Megaera is initially presented short-tempered and unreasonable, as the story is mostly told through Creslin's perspective, but has every reason to act the way she does, due to both her upbringing and the bond she shares with Creslin.
One oddity with Modesitt's writing is his heavy use of onomatopoeia that often appear before they're attributed to what they're describing. Scccttttccchhh . . . to describe the sound of skis. Frummmmp . . . to describe the sound of snow falling on someone. Squuuuushhh . . . Squuuushhh to describe a horse walking through mud. Another is his use of half-heard conversations from passers-by or people just out of good hearing range, which I'd compare to NPC dialog in an open-world game like Skyrim. So you get things like ". . . know who he is. The killer . . . the one I told you about. Took all of Froee's band single-handed." ". . . thought he might be --" ". . . dangerous." ". . . Hardly. Dangerous to anyone who attacks us. Good cheap protection." ". . . attack us?" Both things are unique to Modesitt (in my experience) and something you have to get used to, but they worked for me.
Anyway - this has gone far longer than I intended. Suffice it to say, with only two books in, I'm making the premature judgment that The Saga of Recluce is worth spending time with, even if the first book didn't draw you in. We'll see if I maintain that feeling as I read more.
The Saga of Recluce is Good, Actually?
L.E. Modesitt Jr. seems to be underappreciated compared to other fantasy authors of his time (90s-present), if the number of Goodreads reviews and talk of his books is anything to go on. And I find myself guilty of that, too, with this being only the second book I've read by him. Very recently I've been on a kick of reading a lot of fantasy, most of it from the 80s/90s, and it got me considering checking back in with the Recluce series.
I read the first of this series, The Magic of Reluce in the 90s - probably alongside Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, and R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books, etc. I certainly didn't like it at first. Lerris, the protagonist, was insufferable at the beginning, as his character's primary motivation was that he was bored working as an apprentice to his uncle, a carpenter. He was insufferable to the extent that his family kicked him off the island of Recluce, Survivor-style. (I'm taking some liberties here). He marginally improves after being kicked off the island as he finds work helping a failing carpenter, and we're treated to several scenes of woodworking, selling breadbaskets, bargaining for scrap wood, negotiating wages, etc. It's all very compelling typical fantasy stuff. And yet, somehow, I kept reading and by the end I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.
Lerris gets somewhat more tolerable. And it wasn't so much that he was voted off the island, but that his inability to fit in with Recluce's mores lead to him being sent on a sort of fantasy Rumspringa, which I thought was a cool concept. There's also a pretty nifty Order & Chaos based magic system that stays internally consistent without being explained to within an inch of its life, Sanderson-style (though it does, due to the color associations - Order = Black, White = Chaos - lead to some questionable phraseology, like "the Blacks" and "White power" 😬). And, yeah, I actually liked the shoptalk. I remember a scene in which Lerris constructs chairs so well, and imbues them with such a strong amount of Order, that they cause pain to Chaos-oriented people who sit on them. Anyway, by the end I realized I had enjoyed it. And so I bought The Towers of the Sunset, but for some reason never read it. My loss!
The Towers of the Sunset tells the story of Creslin, son of the Marshall, the matriarch of the powerful military-oriented mountain kingdom of Westwind. Westwind, due to the teachings of "the Legend", which describes how male angels caused the downfall of Heaven, allows only women to be in positions of power. Its soldiers, all women, are well respected for the fierceness and skill, and the leadership is semi-hereditary, going from mother to daughter only if the daughter proves herself. Though men are typically not trained in warfare, Creslin, as son of the Marshall, has been, and is a capable swordsman in his own right. He's also a powerful Order-based "Storm Wizard", though untrained in the art. He's due to be married off in a political arrangement, and decides to escape so as to avoid this.
It also tells the story of Megaera, his betrothed, who is the sister of the Tyrant of Sarronnyn, a kingdom that likewise subscribes to the Legend. She's about as eager as Creslin to be forced into their marriage. Her sister has forced Megaera to wear iron chains to prevent her from using her powers, which happen to be Chaos-oriented (important to note, Order does not equal "good", and Chaos does not equal "evil"), and has also magically bound Megaera to Creslin, such that she can sense Creslin's thoughts and feelings, and will die if Creslin does (the inverse is not true).
And without giving away much more of the story, Megaera and Creslin do eventually meet up, finding themselves targets of the powerful White Wizards of Fairhaven, and with no other obvious options available for sanctuary, they flee to the barren island of Recluce, taking advantage of Megaera's familial connections, where they're to serve as co-regents and build up the island's economy.
I enjoyed this book, possibly more than The Magic of Recluce, though that one really grew on me after I finished it. I think it helped that I had some familiarity with Modesitt's style. He's not big on front-loading exposition, and so I was a little lost at the beginning, but most everything is eventually explained to an acceptable level as the book progresses. This includes character motivations, too. Megaera is initially presented short-tempered and unreasonable, as the story is mostly told through Creslin's perspective, but has every reason to act the way she does, due to both her upbringing and the bond she shares with Creslin.
One oddity with Modesitt's writing is his heavy use of onomatopoeia that often appear before they're attributed to what they're describing. Scccttttccchhh . . . to describe the sound of skis. Frummmmp . . . to describe the sound of snow falling on someone. Squuuuushhh . . . Squuuushhh to describe a horse walking through mud. Another is his use of half-heard conversations from passers-by or people just out of good hearing range, which I'd compare to NPC dialog in an open-world game like Skyrim. So you get things like ". . . know who he is. The killer . . . the one I told you about. Took all of Froee's band single-handed." ". . . thought he might be --" ". . . dangerous." ". . . Hardly. Dangerous to anyone who attacks us. Good cheap protection." ". . . attack us?" Both things are unique to Modesitt (in my experience) and something you have to get used to, but they worked for me.
Anyway - this has gone far longer than I intended. Suffice it to say, with only two books in, I'm making the premature judgment that The Saga of Recluce is worth spending time with, even if the first book didn't draw you in. We'll see if I maintain that feeling as I read more.
December 5, 2009
This is the 5th Recluce book as chronology goes and it chronicles the founding of the isle itself as a "powerhouse", the destruction of Westwind and the fulfillment of Ryba's prophecy regarding that
It is also the weakest Recluce novel I read with a telegraphed plot and un-engaging characters, though it was enough of a page turner to keep reading it, but it shows its lack of subtlety with villains being villainous, heroes being heroic and destined for greatness and one another and the whole caboodle; read the later (written) Recluce books and you will appreciate the difference much more
It is also the weakest Recluce novel I read with a telegraphed plot and un-engaging characters, though it was enough of a page turner to keep reading it, but it shows its lack of subtlety with villains being villainous, heroes being heroic and destined for greatness and one another and the whole caboodle; read the later (written) Recluce books and you will appreciate the difference much more
May 26, 2025
This second book takes place 900 years before the first book. Modesitt jumps around in time in every series that I've read from him. Doing so seems to be his preferred way, which provides a different perspective from the usual linear progression through time in a series, where the past is the mystery rather than the future.
This book ought to have been called The Founding of Recluce, as that's literally what the second half is about. The first half is rather meh, and honestly it should've skipped straight to the development of the island which I found to be much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, the protagonist simply wasn't developed enough to do so. The first half is him going through various hardships to build character, as the saying goes.
He comes from a matriarchy where the gender roles are reversed. So it begins with him trying to escape from a politically arranged marriage to a dangerous princess. Basically the usual sort of thing, with the genders reversed. As with most (almost all?) Modesitt novels there's a significant romance subplot. At times it's arguably the main plot and it's definitely toxic for most of the book. That's to be expected since the love interest can remotely read the protagonist's mind. Most of the time it's reduced to MEN ONLY WANT ONE THING AND IT'S DISGUSTING! To which the protagonist reacts with frustration and which leads to back and forth silliness.
In usual circumstances, considering my level of enjoyment, the unevenness of the books, and it the series length, I'd probably drop it. That's one of the reasons it's been so long in coming for me to be reading it, but circumstances being what they are, unless it becomes dreadful, I'll eventually make it through the series.
This book ought to have been called The Founding of Recluce, as that's literally what the second half is about. The first half is rather meh, and honestly it should've skipped straight to the development of the island which I found to be much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, the protagonist simply wasn't developed enough to do so. The first half is him going through various hardships to build character, as the saying goes.
He comes from a matriarchy where the gender roles are reversed. So it begins with him trying to escape from a politically arranged marriage to a dangerous princess. Basically the usual sort of thing, with the genders reversed. As with most (almost all?) Modesitt novels there's a significant romance subplot. At times it's arguably the main plot and it's definitely toxic for most of the book. That's to be expected since the love interest can remotely read the protagonist's mind. Most of the time it's reduced to MEN ONLY WANT ONE THING AND IT'S DISGUSTING! To which the protagonist reacts with frustration and which leads to back and forth silliness.
In usual circumstances, considering my level of enjoyment, the unevenness of the books, and it the series length, I'd probably drop it. That's one of the reasons it's been so long in coming for me to be reading it, but circumstances being what they are, unless it becomes dreadful, I'll eventually make it through the series.
January 5, 2017
I should have learned by now not to read random things off the Web without prior research. But what can you do, I'm thick that way. Anyway, Tor.com has recently launched monthly book club which features free Kindle editions of books from their catalog. December pick was “The Towers of the Sunset” by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. In these type of deals one should always except some amount of blowing one's own horns, and indeed, accompanying essays talked about Modesitt and his Recluce saga as a second coming. Of course, one is wary of these things and approaches them with a 10-foot pole, knowing that everything just may not be as advertised. One downloads the offering nevertheless. Persona Balcanica within me cannot resist free things and, after all, new Kindle needs new data to display, does it not? It's pointless having it gather dust in the corner…
Cracking it open (metaphorically speaking...it's hard to do these things with digital editions) I was immediately drawn into a new, and possibly exciting world. It didn't hide its usual epic fantasy staples (greatest wizard, greatest swordsman, etc.) but I couldn't care less. It's been ages since I read something fairly straightforward and I kinda missed that. “The Towers of the Sunset” promised to deliver and I was glad. Unfortunately I forgot that, more often than not – especially in the realm of SF&F fiction - 'fairly straightforward' is usually accompanied with fairly awful writing. It isn't always the case – and it really shouldn't be a rule – but “The Towers of the Sunset”, sadly, wasn't an exception.
Eventually this got me thinking. Having no prior knowledge of Mr. Modesitt's work, I checked some things and found out that, since 1982. and “The Fires of Paratime”, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. has written 67 novels. With a brilliant and sudden mathematical insight I calculated that this amounted to almost two novels a year. Every year for almost four decades. This kind of graphomania had to have some side effects and one can look at “The Towers of the Sunset” as a paradigmatic example of those. I can't really be the judge of general value of Mr. Modesitt's writing (having read just this one book), but I surely can bitch about this one. After all, that's what we're here for.
“The Towers of the Sunset” has some nice ideas in it (the entire “Recluce saga” is interesting just by the fact that it choses to have a region as a main 'character'). It subverts some usual fantasy tropes, it deals with politics and economics of an emerging kingdom in a 'down to earth' manner which you don't encounter much in 'heroic fantasy', it deals with everyday living on an isolated, low on resources, piece of land in almost Settlers/Civilization manner and so on. Delivery of these things is another matter. For me, though, it's the more important one. After all, delivery is what differentiates literature from a survival manual.
When you write two novels a years, I guess that what at some point starts as an actual act of creative writing quickly deteriorates into algorithmic typing. Reading this novel you can see patches of text which were put there just to bloat page count. Countless (and quite needless) onomatopoeic insertions, repetitions and explanations (both within and outside of dialogue), random songs/ballads (quite horrid to be honest), excessive small talk and so on.
Then you have thematic 'shortcuts' and weird choices that read funny even for a fantasy of the 1990's. Creslin is sort of a superman (even for a heroic fantasy staple), his enemies are weak and quite nonthreatening (bunch of plotting wizards which he dispatches with ease), supporting characters aren't quite characters at all and our 'love interest' Megaera behaves and acts as a stupid person – like no woman ever acted (not counting pulp fiction of the 30's) nor ever will. While this may be funny to some, it presents a problem, especially when you devote major part of the book to this relationship which is supposed to grow over time, becoming deeper and more profound. Transition from bickering, resentful and almost hysteric couple to a loving and demure one is both funny and quite unconvincing. While that relationship had some quite good 'drama potential', not to mention quite serious venue for character development (you can work wonders with a 'I can't ever be alone in my mind' concept) the entire thing comes off as whiny, juvenile representation of a relationship which reads as something a pining teenager would have written (and Mr. Modesitt wasn't quite a young man when he wrote this).
One other thing, which just came to mind. There's a weird chastity surrounding this novel. It's not that I'm calling for needless sex/violence acts (that would be tacky and, quite honestly, we have quite enough of these in recent SF&F fiction) it's just that, for a book that prides itself in tackling serious socio-economical problems of pseudo-feudal kingdom, lack of violence (which doesn't come off as cartoony) and lust is quite noticeable. It's a clean, polished and strangely naive representation of history, politics and human relationship which, much more than wizards and sorcerers, pushes this novel into the realm of fantasy. Not of a good kind.
To sum it all up, I'll just say that it just may be me, or the fact that I read this right between Ursula K. Le Guin and Ken Liu, both of which inhabit some completely different plane of existence that Mr. Modesitt. Or it's not that. It may just be that “The Towers of the Sunset” are what they are. Plainly written fantasy built around interesting but undeveloped idea which doesn't want to be anything more than innocent entertainment for a couple of afternoons. If this works for you, go for it. For me, time is too short and books are too many to bother with that kind of literature. Recluce will probably not see me again.
Cracking it open (metaphorically speaking...it's hard to do these things with digital editions) I was immediately drawn into a new, and possibly exciting world. It didn't hide its usual epic fantasy staples (greatest wizard, greatest swordsman, etc.) but I couldn't care less. It's been ages since I read something fairly straightforward and I kinda missed that. “The Towers of the Sunset” promised to deliver and I was glad. Unfortunately I forgot that, more often than not – especially in the realm of SF&F fiction - 'fairly straightforward' is usually accompanied with fairly awful writing. It isn't always the case – and it really shouldn't be a rule – but “The Towers of the Sunset”, sadly, wasn't an exception.
Eventually this got me thinking. Having no prior knowledge of Mr. Modesitt's work, I checked some things and found out that, since 1982. and “The Fires of Paratime”, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. has written 67 novels. With a brilliant and sudden mathematical insight I calculated that this amounted to almost two novels a year. Every year for almost four decades. This kind of graphomania had to have some side effects and one can look at “The Towers of the Sunset” as a paradigmatic example of those. I can't really be the judge of general value of Mr. Modesitt's writing (having read just this one book), but I surely can bitch about this one. After all, that's what we're here for.
“The Towers of the Sunset” has some nice ideas in it (the entire “Recluce saga” is interesting just by the fact that it choses to have a region as a main 'character'). It subverts some usual fantasy tropes, it deals with politics and economics of an emerging kingdom in a 'down to earth' manner which you don't encounter much in 'heroic fantasy', it deals with everyday living on an isolated, low on resources, piece of land in almost Settlers/Civilization manner and so on. Delivery of these things is another matter. For me, though, it's the more important one. After all, delivery is what differentiates literature from a survival manual.
When you write two novels a years, I guess that what at some point starts as an actual act of creative writing quickly deteriorates into algorithmic typing. Reading this novel you can see patches of text which were put there just to bloat page count. Countless (and quite needless) onomatopoeic insertions, repetitions and explanations (both within and outside of dialogue), random songs/ballads (quite horrid to be honest), excessive small talk and so on.
Then you have thematic 'shortcuts' and weird choices that read funny even for a fantasy of the 1990's. Creslin is sort of a superman (even for a heroic fantasy staple), his enemies are weak and quite nonthreatening (bunch of plotting wizards which he dispatches with ease), supporting characters aren't quite characters at all and our 'love interest' Megaera behaves and acts as a stupid person – like no woman ever acted (not counting pulp fiction of the 30's) nor ever will. While this may be funny to some, it presents a problem, especially when you devote major part of the book to this relationship which is supposed to grow over time, becoming deeper and more profound. Transition from bickering, resentful and almost hysteric couple to a loving and demure one is both funny and quite unconvincing. While that relationship had some quite good 'drama potential', not to mention quite serious venue for character development (you can work wonders with a 'I can't ever be alone in my mind' concept) the entire thing comes off as whiny, juvenile representation of a relationship which reads as something a pining teenager would have written (and Mr. Modesitt wasn't quite a young man when he wrote this).
One other thing, which just came to mind. There's a weird chastity surrounding this novel. It's not that I'm calling for needless sex/violence acts (that would be tacky and, quite honestly, we have quite enough of these in recent SF&F fiction) it's just that, for a book that prides itself in tackling serious socio-economical problems of pseudo-feudal kingdom, lack of violence (which doesn't come off as cartoony) and lust is quite noticeable. It's a clean, polished and strangely naive representation of history, politics and human relationship which, much more than wizards and sorcerers, pushes this novel into the realm of fantasy. Not of a good kind.
To sum it all up, I'll just say that it just may be me, or the fact that I read this right between Ursula K. Le Guin and Ken Liu, both of which inhabit some completely different plane of existence that Mr. Modesitt. Or it's not that. It may just be that “The Towers of the Sunset” are what they are. Plainly written fantasy built around interesting but undeveloped idea which doesn't want to be anything more than innocent entertainment for a couple of afternoons. If this works for you, go for it. For me, time is too short and books are too many to bother with that kind of literature. Recluce will probably not see me again.
June 22, 2021
Ooof, finished most of this book in one day - haven't done that in awhile - always kinda surprises me when I do (still got it lol). Going into week 3 of working from home with the lockdown and I can say I've gotten used to it (it's tough potatoes if you have toddlers and an open floorplan sort of apartment but yeah, it's a lot better than most people have). So I guess diving into a book was coming sooner or later.
Hmm, what can I say about this. As per what I recall of Magic of Recluce the balance between order and chaos is what kept me on the page, the overall world building too was pretty interesting - Creslin and Megaera though I have to admit I found a bit cringy at times as were some of the overall stereotypes that people put them in but what have you.
Still overall it was a pretty wild ride - found Creslin's power OTP at times but it did make for some overall interesting considerations with regards to the whole Order vs Chaos thingy.
Having said that, I'm all for going onto the next volume - The Magic Engineer!
// prolly going to rewrite this one a few times hahaha //
First finished: 20June2021
Source: Bought Used @betterworldbooks
Hmm, what can I say about this. As per what I recall of Magic of Recluce the balance between order and chaos is what kept me on the page, the overall world building too was pretty interesting - Creslin and Megaera though I have to admit I found a bit cringy at times as were some of the overall stereotypes that people put them in but what have you.
Still overall it was a pretty wild ride - found Creslin's power OTP at times but it did make for some overall interesting considerations with regards to the whole Order vs Chaos thingy.
Having said that, I'm all for going onto the next volume - The Magic Engineer!
// prolly going to rewrite this one a few times hahaha //
First finished: 20June2021
Source: Bought Used @betterworldbooks
August 6, 2021
I forgot how good this book is. I love it. Great story, great characters and a love story that feels very real.
February 9, 2014
I really liked this series, and I think it starts to get going with Book 2 here.
See, I have a feeling many fantasy authors write that first book, maybe with the idea there'll be another one (or 10), but just not sure all the same.
When The Magic of Recluse really took off in '92, Modesitt had the permission to do his series.
I read about 6 of them, and they're great. I love the aspects of carpentry that are discussed, as well as the unique magic system that drains properties and such.
Plus you have some early steampunk aspects in here as well.
Overall a really good one, and by golly, now I feel like reading one of these books again!
See, I have a feeling many fantasy authors write that first book, maybe with the idea there'll be another one (or 10), but just not sure all the same.
When The Magic of Recluse really took off in '92, Modesitt had the permission to do his series.
I read about 6 of them, and they're great. I love the aspects of carpentry that are discussed, as well as the unique magic system that drains properties and such.
Plus you have some early steampunk aspects in here as well.
Overall a really good one, and by golly, now I feel like reading one of these books again!
July 8, 2015
7/10
This entry in the Saga of Recluce takes the reader to the founding of Recluce as a haven for wizards of order and others. Creslin and Megaera, betrothed and tied together by their life force, battle family, expectations, wizards, assassins, and each other as they find their way to love and learn the price of power and the costs of the decisions they feel compelled to make. The magic system of this world continues to fascinate me. The sound effects in the text are intrusive and the characters are, at time, incredibly obtuse. Yet the story is imaginative and entertaining while posing serious questions about the use of power.
This entry in the Saga of Recluce takes the reader to the founding of Recluce as a haven for wizards of order and others. Creslin and Megaera, betrothed and tied together by their life force, battle family, expectations, wizards, assassins, and each other as they find their way to love and learn the price of power and the costs of the decisions they feel compelled to make. The magic system of this world continues to fascinate me. The sound effects in the text are intrusive and the characters are, at time, incredibly obtuse. Yet the story is imaginative and entertaining while posing serious questions about the use of power.
June 9, 2010
Better. He earned these stars.
A self-contained story, not a rambling part of a dozen-plus saga ala Robert Jordan.
His writing is better, too, though he depends too heavily on clique reversals. It's a good device, just over used.
It is odd, and off-putting, that everything new his protagonist tries works ... often spectacularly. Even as he is berating himself for not single-handedly (and instantly) solving all the problems of the world .
A self-contained story, not a rambling part of a dozen-plus saga ala Robert Jordan.
His writing is better, too, though he depends too heavily on clique reversals. It's a good device, just over used.
It is odd, and off-putting, that everything new his protagonist tries works ... often spectacularly. Even as he is berating himself for not single-handedly (and instantly) solving all the problems of the world .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2017
Annoying is all I have to say.
August 7, 2018
Another likeable Modesitt hero, another unlikable Modesitt heroine and much more world-building than plot.
November 22, 2021
i started this and The Magic of Recluce before knowing about the Chronological Reading Order ,and i won't be reading any more of the series because of it
i HATE jumbled timelines
i HATE jumbled timelines
July 15, 2025
Saga of Recluse, book 2. The character work is better, the prose is better. But the plotting needed some help.
We start with the gender swapped take on a time honored fantasy trope. We end on the formation of what the island of Recluse will become (as seen in book 1). In between was a lot of story that just got in its own way.
I liked the different take on the magic system, and love how the world balances chaos and order. Gender dynamics were explored here, but not done as well as could be.
Going to step back for a bit and not go into book three just yet.
We start with the gender swapped take on a time honored fantasy trope. We end on the formation of what the island of Recluse will become (as seen in book 1). In between was a lot of story that just got in its own way.
I liked the different take on the magic system, and love how the world balances chaos and order. Gender dynamics were explored here, but not done as well as could be.
Going to step back for a bit and not go into book three just yet.
March 25, 2024
A depressed silver-haired waif of a man travels the world to escape his mommy issues and go on a hero’s journey, accidentally establishing an (authoritarian?) oligarchy in the process. Angry old homophobic wizards pray night and day for his downfall, which only makes him more powerful, sadly indirectly resulting in his twink death.
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