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The Grand Illusion #1
Isolate
L. E. Modesitt, Jr., bestselling author of The Mongrel Mage, has a brand new gaslamp political fantasy Isolate.
Industrialization. Social unrest. Underground movements. Government corruption and surveillance.
Something is about to give.
Steffan Dekkard is an isolate, one of the small percentage of people who are immune to the projections of empaths. As an isolate, he has been trained as a security specialist and he and his security partner Avraal Ysella, a highly trained empath are employed by Axel Obreduur, a senior Craft Minister and the de facto political strategist of his party.
When a respected Landor Councilor dies of "heart failure" at a social event, because of his political friendship with Obreduur, Dekkard and Ysella find that not only is their employer a target, but so are they, in a covert and deadly struggle for control of the government and economy.
Steffan is about to understand that everything he believed is an illusion.
Industrialization. Social unrest. Underground movements. Government corruption and surveillance.
Something is about to give.
Steffan Dekkard is an isolate, one of the small percentage of people who are immune to the projections of empaths. As an isolate, he has been trained as a security specialist and he and his security partner Avraal Ysella, a highly trained empath are employed by Axel Obreduur, a senior Craft Minister and the de facto political strategist of his party.
When a respected Landor Councilor dies of "heart failure" at a social event, because of his political friendship with Obreduur, Dekkard and Ysella find that not only is their employer a target, but so are they, in a covert and deadly struggle for control of the government and economy.
Steffan is about to understand that everything he believed is an illusion.
608 pages, Hardcover
First published November 16, 2021
275 people are currently reading
4642 people want to read
About the author
L.E. Modesitt Jr.
191 books2,591 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 209 reviews
October 10, 2021
The blurb totally hooked me and I was intrigued by the Victorian setting.
Problem is, I don't think there was enough material to warrant a full novel here. Isolate features a political tale and a love story, both of which struggling to get out. Unfortunately, the bulk of the book focuses on the excruciating minutia of Steffan's day-to-day life, from what he has for breakfast every morning, to his reading petitions and answering letters, to what he does before going to bed at night. God knows that Modesitt isn't known for his fast pace, but Isolate makes the Recluce volumes feel like balls-to-the-wall affairs. And there's only so much every day minor detail one can take. Of the 608 pages, there can't be more than 200 pages that have to do with the story itself.
As a big Modesitt fan, you should know that rhythm is seldom an issue with me. I'm used to the pace of his novels and I can live with the slow-moving sections of his books. But it felt as though Isolate was the introduction to a multilayered tale that was then padded with a vast amount of extraneous and repetitive material to make it a novel. When, in truth, it should have been the first portion of book and not a novel-length project, in and of itself.
Unless you already are a Modesitt fan, I doubt that you'll want to wade through Isolate. Which is too bad, because there's a lot of good stuff in there. It's just buried deeply underneath a ton of superfluous details that bring little or nothing to the story. . .
Problem is, I don't think there was enough material to warrant a full novel here. Isolate features a political tale and a love story, both of which struggling to get out. Unfortunately, the bulk of the book focuses on the excruciating minutia of Steffan's day-to-day life, from what he has for breakfast every morning, to his reading petitions and answering letters, to what he does before going to bed at night. God knows that Modesitt isn't known for his fast pace, but Isolate makes the Recluce volumes feel like balls-to-the-wall affairs. And there's only so much every day minor detail one can take. Of the 608 pages, there can't be more than 200 pages that have to do with the story itself.
As a big Modesitt fan, you should know that rhythm is seldom an issue with me. I'm used to the pace of his novels and I can live with the slow-moving sections of his books. But it felt as though Isolate was the introduction to a multilayered tale that was then padded with a vast amount of extraneous and repetitive material to make it a novel. When, in truth, it should have been the first portion of book and not a novel-length project, in and of itself.
Unless you already are a Modesitt fan, I doubt that you'll want to wade through Isolate. Which is too bad, because there's a lot of good stuff in there. It's just buried deeply underneath a ton of superfluous details that bring little or nothing to the story. . .
August 31, 2021
An excellent book that grows on you; will add more detail after re-reading it; in short though this is the novel that would continue the politics of Rhenn's saga in a somewhat different context and with a protagonist with considerably less fantasy-power
Isolate takes place in a universe based on coal and steam power (as an experiment described in the book shows, the magnetic field is negligible in this universe so presumably is the electric field) with steam-based cars, trains, and factories; there are semi-automatic and automatic guns but in the Empire of Guldor or Gold Empire those are banned or tightly controlled - though of course the underworld still has them imported from the over the border autocracy of Atacama.
There is fairly little so far of world politics - there are a few countries named, most notably, Argental, the original home of Steffan's parents, an equalitarian country where everything has to be for the "common good" so in particular artisans and painters that can, flee over the border to Guldor, which can be quite dangerous - Steffan's mom and elder sister are noted painters of different styles, while his father is a successful artisan, but Steffan having little talent in those directions went to the Military Academy, graduated in the top 10 and while he had his pick of plume security jobs - staying in the army was not optimal both as native-born but son of immigrants and being an Isolate which meant that he cannot be read by his superiors' empaths so his advancement would be slow and curtailed - chose to work security for up-and-coming councilor Axel Obreduur de facto leader of the Craft party.
As in pretty much all recent of the author's books, the political system is formed by capitalists (Commerce Party here, factors in Imager and Recluce), landed aristocracy (Landors here), and guilds and workers (Craft party), though in this series, society advanced to the point where the capitalists dominate, the landed aristocracy is fading (though mostly still supporting the capitalists) and the Craft party is rising as the Commerce Party's decades-long rule has become corrupt to the extreme.
Guldor while having an Emperor (Imperador) with some powers (eg he can dissolve the Council, appoint a temporary Prime Minister and presumably more powers regarding the fleet and armed forces, though little so far is about those) is ruled by 66 Councillors from the 3 parties above but under the Great Charter there are a few peculiarities - most notably numerical limits (one party can have at most 30 and at least 16 Councillors), votes secret by party, so one knows how many members of a party voted for a given measure but not who, every time an election is called, at least two - usually the most senior except the leader- Councillors from each party have to step down, the franchise is fairly expansive including working people and women who are married regardless if they work or not - the most notable exceptions are the Susceptibles below - the press is theoretically free though it may not print known factual inaccuracies and "Security" - a sort of FBI - has been more and more overt in supressing stuff disliked by the capitalist leaders and by the corporations who dominate society.
The fantasy element is the existence of Empaths, Isolates, Susceptibles and Normals (the vast majority of course though there are degrees to which everyone leans towards one of the three categories); Empaths (who can "read" everyone but Isolates, influence to some lesser or greater extent and even in extreme injure or kill Normals and completely dominate Susceptibles) which are about 2/3 women (and whose actions decades ago called "The Silent Revolution" and involving a bunch of councilors and other retrograde figures dropping dead of heart attacks and the like, led to a massive expansion of women's rights including in voting, professions etc and is still resented in some parts of the country of course) are quite prised but regulated and they cannot serve as Councillors or rise to the top in various professions, so they generally are main aides to the leaders in politics. business, army/navy, police, guilds etc; Isolates (who are impervious to Empaths) which are rarer, have no legal restrictions, but not being able to be "read" by empaths are distrusted in high positions so they usually work security-related jobs where they pair with empaths and are extremely effective together, while Susceptibles (who can be ordered at will by Empaths) are treated like "children" in Guldor and cannot vote or hold anything but menial jobs (this last is not embedded in law but it is what happens usually of course); still their lot is much better as other countries (Atacama) treat them like slaves or like in case of Argental, exile them, which in practice means selling them into slavery (debt servitude) to places like Atacama, which is considered progress as in the past they used to be euthanized as a danger to the social compact; in this book, Susceptibles do not really appear beyond the above stuff, but I expect them to play a role in future novels
When the novel starts, the Craft Party is getting close to parity with the Commerce party in the Council, but Commerce still rules as they have the support of most of the Landors, however, their extreme corruption and departure from the Great Charter accepted practices start being exposed both in the press (nudged by the resurgent Craft party) and by a new "revolutionary" group - the New Meritorists - who advocate a wholesale change in the political system of Guldor, by force if necessary;
Steffan and his Empath partner Avraal (who as a minor spoiler is a daughter of old and previously famed nobility fallen somewhat on hard times - still landed but much less rich - who together with her sister who is currently a sort of policewoman in an upscale neighborhood - left their ancestral home and confining roles for daughters of the aristocracy - eg be decorative, marry and have children - and made careers in the capital) have to protect Axel and his quite noted legalist (lawyer) wife against overt and covert attacks, protect themselves against same and help the Councillor expose the capitalist corruption and maybe bring needed change and a return to the ideals of the Great Charter.
As noted, the book grows on you and while it has a lot of political machinations, there is still action, intrigue, romance, and a fascinating society to explore. A great ending (kind of clear of course after a while) at a perfect tbc place and book 2, Councillor (hint, hint) is another huge asap
Isolate takes place in a universe based on coal and steam power (as an experiment described in the book shows, the magnetic field is negligible in this universe so presumably is the electric field) with steam-based cars, trains, and factories; there are semi-automatic and automatic guns but in the Empire of Guldor or Gold Empire those are banned or tightly controlled - though of course the underworld still has them imported from the over the border autocracy of Atacama.
There is fairly little so far of world politics - there are a few countries named, most notably, Argental, the original home of Steffan's parents, an equalitarian country where everything has to be for the "common good" so in particular artisans and painters that can, flee over the border to Guldor, which can be quite dangerous - Steffan's mom and elder sister are noted painters of different styles, while his father is a successful artisan, but Steffan having little talent in those directions went to the Military Academy, graduated in the top 10 and while he had his pick of plume security jobs - staying in the army was not optimal both as native-born but son of immigrants and being an Isolate which meant that he cannot be read by his superiors' empaths so his advancement would be slow and curtailed - chose to work security for up-and-coming councilor Axel Obreduur de facto leader of the Craft party.
As in pretty much all recent of the author's books, the political system is formed by capitalists (Commerce Party here, factors in Imager and Recluce), landed aristocracy (Landors here), and guilds and workers (Craft party), though in this series, society advanced to the point where the capitalists dominate, the landed aristocracy is fading (though mostly still supporting the capitalists) and the Craft party is rising as the Commerce Party's decades-long rule has become corrupt to the extreme.
Guldor while having an Emperor (Imperador) with some powers (eg he can dissolve the Council, appoint a temporary Prime Minister and presumably more powers regarding the fleet and armed forces, though little so far is about those) is ruled by 66 Councillors from the 3 parties above but under the Great Charter there are a few peculiarities - most notably numerical limits (one party can have at most 30 and at least 16 Councillors), votes secret by party, so one knows how many members of a party voted for a given measure but not who, every time an election is called, at least two - usually the most senior except the leader- Councillors from each party have to step down, the franchise is fairly expansive including working people and women who are married regardless if they work or not - the most notable exceptions are the Susceptibles below - the press is theoretically free though it may not print known factual inaccuracies and "Security" - a sort of FBI - has been more and more overt in supressing stuff disliked by the capitalist leaders and by the corporations who dominate society.
The fantasy element is the existence of Empaths, Isolates, Susceptibles and Normals (the vast majority of course though there are degrees to which everyone leans towards one of the three categories); Empaths (who can "read" everyone but Isolates, influence to some lesser or greater extent and even in extreme injure or kill Normals and completely dominate Susceptibles) which are about 2/3 women (and whose actions decades ago called "The Silent Revolution" and involving a bunch of councilors and other retrograde figures dropping dead of heart attacks and the like, led to a massive expansion of women's rights including in voting, professions etc and is still resented in some parts of the country of course) are quite prised but regulated and they cannot serve as Councillors or rise to the top in various professions, so they generally are main aides to the leaders in politics. business, army/navy, police, guilds etc; Isolates (who are impervious to Empaths) which are rarer, have no legal restrictions, but not being able to be "read" by empaths are distrusted in high positions so they usually work security-related jobs where they pair with empaths and are extremely effective together, while Susceptibles (who can be ordered at will by Empaths) are treated like "children" in Guldor and cannot vote or hold anything but menial jobs (this last is not embedded in law but it is what happens usually of course); still their lot is much better as other countries (Atacama) treat them like slaves or like in case of Argental, exile them, which in practice means selling them into slavery (debt servitude) to places like Atacama, which is considered progress as in the past they used to be euthanized as a danger to the social compact; in this book, Susceptibles do not really appear beyond the above stuff, but I expect them to play a role in future novels
When the novel starts, the Craft Party is getting close to parity with the Commerce party in the Council, but Commerce still rules as they have the support of most of the Landors, however, their extreme corruption and departure from the Great Charter accepted practices start being exposed both in the press (nudged by the resurgent Craft party) and by a new "revolutionary" group - the New Meritorists - who advocate a wholesale change in the political system of Guldor, by force if necessary;
Steffan and his Empath partner Avraal (who as a minor spoiler is a daughter of old and previously famed nobility fallen somewhat on hard times - still landed but much less rich - who together with her sister who is currently a sort of policewoman in an upscale neighborhood - left their ancestral home and confining roles for daughters of the aristocracy - eg be decorative, marry and have children - and made careers in the capital) have to protect Axel and his quite noted legalist (lawyer) wife against overt and covert attacks, protect themselves against same and help the Councillor expose the capitalist corruption and maybe bring needed change and a return to the ideals of the Great Charter.
As noted, the book grows on you and while it has a lot of political machinations, there is still action, intrigue, romance, and a fascinating society to explore. A great ending (kind of clear of course after a while) at a perfect tbc place and book 2, Councillor (hint, hint) is another huge asap
March 16, 2022
Started off slow as Modesitt built a whole new world, but it came together fairly quickly. Full of politics & economics, both subjects that he excels at. He poses interesting issues that often parallel ours in some ways, but are just different enough that there's no way he's making this into a partisan debate of ours. I appreciate that since I'm sick of our politics.
His world is a steampunk one in some ways. It's fantasy due to a large minority of people having an empathic sense. There's nothing very magical about it & he clearly shows both its strengths & disadvantages as two bodyguards struggle to keep their councilor alive during a critical political period which lends some action to the story.
The politics revolve around a 3 party system where no individual councilor's vote is ever known. The reasoning behind that is really interesting. There are protesters demanding individual responsibility & they're quite effective. It will be interesting to see what they get up to in the next book.
The ending was predictable, but still well done. I'm not sure it was quite a 4 star read, but certainly more than 3 stars. Well narrated, as usual, too.
His world is a steampunk one in some ways. It's fantasy due to a large minority of people having an empathic sense. There's nothing very magical about it & he clearly shows both its strengths & disadvantages as two bodyguards struggle to keep their councilor alive during a critical political period which lends some action to the story.
The politics revolve around a 3 party system where no individual councilor's vote is ever known. The reasoning behind that is really interesting. There are protesters demanding individual responsibility & they're quite effective. It will be interesting to see what they get up to in the next book.
The ending was predictable, but still well done. I'm not sure it was quite a 4 star read, but certainly more than 3 stars. Well narrated, as usual, too.
November 1, 2021
A new and fascinating Modesitt world!
Entering a new Modesitt world always fills me with goose bumps of expectancy. What intriguing differences might this place hold? The opening events throw us right into the thick of things. And Yes, there’s that familiar cadence Modesitt brings to his works. Complex places without question. A troubled society, with different groups jockeying for power. Political / social divisions that are out of kilter demanding change and justice. I sigh with relief as the prose wraps around me. I know this rhythm. There’s echos of tropes from other tales but given a wholly new and mesmerising sheen.
The characters begin to take shape. Steffan Dekkard, an Isolate and Avraal Ysellla, an Empath are employed by Councilor Axel Obreduur the Leader of the Craft Party, as his security aides.
Dekkard has that restrained air of someone who is more. Someone comfortable with themselves. It’s through his eyes the country of Guldor unfurls. Ysella is more mysterious, politically aware, with hidden depths. But very knowledge about the political process. (I do so appreciate the the male and female hero’s Modesitt gives us!) Councilor Obreduur is enlightened, forward thinking and plays the long game. He encourages his aides to question and to think. I really liked that about him.
Guldor appears to be a place where groups are sorted by trades and psychic abilities. The social heirachy is well defined and appears immutable.
Empies or empathetics can sense intent, manipulate feelings, and inflict harm.
Isolates can’t be manipulated and are mostly teamed with empies as security agents for Corporacions (I love the spelling BTW), CEO’s and political leaders.
Susceptibles or Sussies are those who appear to be expendable. They can be easily influenced by Empathetics and in dark times were used as indentured servants. In other countries they still are.
The Great Charter (playing off the Magna Carta) is a charter of rights setting out how society should run. However it seems to have been cannibalized away from its original purpose in favour of, yes you’ve guessed it, the Corporacions and the Commerce Party. The Charter is both a best friend to the society’s running and an enemy, depending on interpretation. Maybe the subtitle says it all.
There is a ruling monarch type figure, The Imperador. He can call for elections and take action in the political scape where absolutely necessary, such as a huge political scandal.
There are three parties: the Commerce Party, the Craft Party and the Landor Party. The Commerce Party currently holds leadership. The Premier of the country is the leader of the party in power. How to bring about leadership change and elections is the challenge facing the Craft Party.
However there’s a revolution hatching by an entity known as the New Meritorists. They feel that councilors should be elected by merit of their vote, and not by party politics. They want it seems more accountability. Demonstrations have been swiftly and harshly dealt with. Disruptive action on major resources and infrastructures are targeted. They appear to be coming more violent. Mind you the actions of the Security Ministry are atrocious.
Elements of Guldor are more in tune with the Gaslamp fantasy trope with vehicles powered by steam. There’s the search for alternative power sources. Now that resonates with me. There’s coal shortages and trade deficits. That too! Hmm!
Do I see a running commentary on todays society? Well commerce is King. Corporacions and councilors are all powerful. Goods are being made cheaper by slave labor in other countries and imported in unfair competition with the Artisan community. The press is hardly free and the landed class is giving way to big coporacions. The artisan community represented by the Craft Party is on the rise. The status quo is changing. For the better?
Once again the deeper I get into a Modesitt novel the more I’m intrigued. (I was fascinated by the segue into tulip petals as a substitute for onions. I looked it up. It was a food source during World War II in Holland in famine times, although the bulbs are poisonous unless treated properly.)
I am so enjoying the unique setting of Modisett’s latest novel and must confess to some impatience for the next in the series. Be calm my beating heart!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
Entering a new Modesitt world always fills me with goose bumps of expectancy. What intriguing differences might this place hold? The opening events throw us right into the thick of things. And Yes, there’s that familiar cadence Modesitt brings to his works. Complex places without question. A troubled society, with different groups jockeying for power. Political / social divisions that are out of kilter demanding change and justice. I sigh with relief as the prose wraps around me. I know this rhythm. There’s echos of tropes from other tales but given a wholly new and mesmerising sheen.
The characters begin to take shape. Steffan Dekkard, an Isolate and Avraal Ysellla, an Empath are employed by Councilor Axel Obreduur the Leader of the Craft Party, as his security aides.
Dekkard has that restrained air of someone who is more. Someone comfortable with themselves. It’s through his eyes the country of Guldor unfurls. Ysella is more mysterious, politically aware, with hidden depths. But very knowledge about the political process. (I do so appreciate the the male and female hero’s Modesitt gives us!) Councilor Obreduur is enlightened, forward thinking and plays the long game. He encourages his aides to question and to think. I really liked that about him.
Guldor appears to be a place where groups are sorted by trades and psychic abilities. The social heirachy is well defined and appears immutable.
Empies or empathetics can sense intent, manipulate feelings, and inflict harm.
Isolates can’t be manipulated and are mostly teamed with empies as security agents for Corporacions (I love the spelling BTW), CEO’s and political leaders.
Susceptibles or Sussies are those who appear to be expendable. They can be easily influenced by Empathetics and in dark times were used as indentured servants. In other countries they still are.
The Great Charter (playing off the Magna Carta) is a charter of rights setting out how society should run. However it seems to have been cannibalized away from its original purpose in favour of, yes you’ve guessed it, the Corporacions and the Commerce Party. The Charter is both a best friend to the society’s running and an enemy, depending on interpretation. Maybe the subtitle says it all.
There is a ruling monarch type figure, The Imperador. He can call for elections and take action in the political scape where absolutely necessary, such as a huge political scandal.
There are three parties: the Commerce Party, the Craft Party and the Landor Party. The Commerce Party currently holds leadership. The Premier of the country is the leader of the party in power. How to bring about leadership change and elections is the challenge facing the Craft Party.
However there’s a revolution hatching by an entity known as the New Meritorists. They feel that councilors should be elected by merit of their vote, and not by party politics. They want it seems more accountability. Demonstrations have been swiftly and harshly dealt with. Disruptive action on major resources and infrastructures are targeted. They appear to be coming more violent. Mind you the actions of the Security Ministry are atrocious.
Elements of Guldor are more in tune with the Gaslamp fantasy trope with vehicles powered by steam. There’s the search for alternative power sources. Now that resonates with me. There’s coal shortages and trade deficits. That too! Hmm!
Do I see a running commentary on todays society? Well commerce is King. Corporacions and councilors are all powerful. Goods are being made cheaper by slave labor in other countries and imported in unfair competition with the Artisan community. The press is hardly free and the landed class is giving way to big coporacions. The artisan community represented by the Craft Party is on the rise. The status quo is changing. For the better?
Once again the deeper I get into a Modesitt novel the more I’m intrigued. (I was fascinated by the segue into tulip petals as a substitute for onions. I looked it up. It was a food source during World War II in Holland in famine times, although the bulbs are poisonous unless treated properly.)
I am so enjoying the unique setting of Modisett’s latest novel and must confess to some impatience for the next in the series. Be calm my beating heart!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
January 23, 2024
Someday in the future I'll look back on this day and say "I finished Isolate by L. E. Modesitt Jr. and it only took me a year and five months!!!!"
I swear I wasn't actually reading that whole time, more like I started it back in 2022, then put it on hold until the very end of 2023 and finally picked it back up again and finished it. WOO!!!! I'm so proud of me, you don't even know.
This book is incredibly slow, I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone because of it, but I ended up loving it all the same, which rarely happens with me and slower paced books.
This was also my first intro to the author, and I know I haven't made a mistake in purchasing physical copies of this series. I knew back in those first few chapters that it would work for me and that I had to have it.
For some reason, the repetitive nature of Dekkard & Ysella's lives never bored me, I delighted in going through their daily tasks with them, following their interactions with each other and getting fed crumbs of their romance which doesn't even make a proper appearance until page 700 ish, probably a few pages before then.
But I shipped it from the beginning and that's what matters!!! There's barely any romance though, so if you're looking for that here - don't, and if you aren't then don't worry because it's so small, it's not even a subplot.
You know what there's an abundance of though? Politics. Day in and day out. So if you like your books politics heavy, Isolate is your girl.
I'm not a politics girlie, so what I really appreciate here is that the author made it all so easy to understand and get into, it didn't feel like a slog and my eyes didn't gloss over the second someone started discussing it. So bonus points for that.
And can we just talk about the covers for this series? Gorgeous, I love them so much.
I won't be jumping into book two immediately, but what I can tell you is that Dekkard and Ysella have lived in my head rent free since I started this, and it doesn't look like they're going anywhere any time soon.
I swear I wasn't actually reading that whole time, more like I started it back in 2022, then put it on hold until the very end of 2023 and finally picked it back up again and finished it. WOO!!!! I'm so proud of me, you don't even know.
This book is incredibly slow, I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone because of it, but I ended up loving it all the same, which rarely happens with me and slower paced books.
This was also my first intro to the author, and I know I haven't made a mistake in purchasing physical copies of this series. I knew back in those first few chapters that it would work for me and that I had to have it.
For some reason, the repetitive nature of Dekkard & Ysella's lives never bored me, I delighted in going through their daily tasks with them, following their interactions with each other and getting fed crumbs of their romance which doesn't even make a proper appearance until page 700 ish, probably a few pages before then.
But I shipped it from the beginning and that's what matters!!! There's barely any romance though, so if you're looking for that here - don't, and if you aren't then don't worry because it's so small, it's not even a subplot.
You know what there's an abundance of though? Politics. Day in and day out. So if you like your books politics heavy, Isolate is your girl.
I'm not a politics girlie, so what I really appreciate here is that the author made it all so easy to understand and get into, it didn't feel like a slog and my eyes didn't gloss over the second someone started discussing it. So bonus points for that.
And can we just talk about the covers for this series? Gorgeous, I love them so much.
I won't be jumping into book two immediately, but what I can tell you is that Dekkard and Ysella have lived in my head rent free since I started this, and it doesn't look like they're going anywhere any time soon.
Read
July 6, 2022DNF at 20%.
Paint dries faster than this story progress. I was almost 200 pages into the book and barely anything happened. We get day after day in the life of our protagonist described in infinite boring detail. What he ate for breakfast, where he went for a walk, what letters and petitions he reviewed for his employer... yawn.
I might have been more invested in this if the protagonist wasn't boring as fish. Seriously, dude has no personality.
I mean, book works well as a sleeping aid, but not something I would read for entertainment.
Paint dries faster than this story progress. I was almost 200 pages into the book and barely anything happened. We get day after day in the life of our protagonist described in infinite boring detail. What he ate for breakfast, where he went for a walk, what letters and petitions he reviewed for his employer... yawn.
I might have been more invested in this if the protagonist wasn't boring as fish. Seriously, dude has no personality.
I mean, book works well as a sleeping aid, but not something I would read for entertainment.
March 4, 2022
I finished it! My chief thoughts are these: first, the character writing is way below what I expect from L.E. Modesitt, a lot of the dialogue felt like the same character talking to themselves. The main protagonist feels rather bland, and the decision to use a very limited perspective with little input into his personal interests, ambitions, and desires makes him feel even blander. It takes like 300 pages to realize that he even has a romantic interest much less that he's going to do anything about it (and another 200 pages to give a reason why he hasn't). I think he'd been better if we had met him prior to his placement as a security officer and actually met him as a growing character rather than a fully-formed professional. I have a big problem with a central aspect of the story in that the main two characters are the security guards of a highly placed politician, but he has them work as his aides as well. This doesn't really make much sense. Bodyguard work requires intense concentration and focus, meaning that the last thing you want your guards doing is having multiple responsibilities that might distract them, particularly when there's a developing revolutionary movement blowing up things and a rash of assassinations going around. The fact is that the semi-magical abilities of our heroes are the only thing that makes this even marginally supernatural (the world itself is sort of a steampunk Latin American-inspired world) and that those abilities are primarily of value IN that work, but the story that L.E. Modesitt wanted to tell was the story of staffers working for a rising politician out to reform a country stumbling under the weight of corruption and corporate greed. Given his background in politics, Modesitt KNOWS what he's talking about in terms of giving us a detailed look inside the fictional nation of Guldor's parliamentary-esque democracy and there's a lot of interesting political theorizing, but his effort to bind this to his fantasy elements just doesn't really work, and unfortunately a lot of the dialogue gets repetitive as characters cover the same points over and over, which means that this book is WAY too long and frankly, while there are plot points of interest, the story just doesn't feel like it has a driving narrative. I like Modesitt a lot, but this just didn't work very well for me.
August 19, 2021
Isolate by L.E. Modesitt
Modesitt can get wordy and is a social scientist in his writing. His social commentary is often subtle and occasionally less than subtle. In a fictional land government is in need of a change. The major characters are a councilor, one of sixty-six and his two security aides. How they go about making change is the plot.
Avrall, an empath, and Dekkard an isolate are security specialists guarding Obreduur a Craft Councilor. Avrall’s ability to sense others thoughts and Dekkard’s exceptional reflexes do an admirable job of protecting Obreduur.
The three find themselves dealing with assassins, political chicanery and the tedium of politicking.
Once again those who avidly read Modesitt are aware that his books carry a load of societal insights. There is some action.
I really enjoyed the book and I always lament there isn’t more on the last page.
Modesitt can get wordy and is a social scientist in his writing. His social commentary is often subtle and occasionally less than subtle. In a fictional land government is in need of a change. The major characters are a councilor, one of sixty-six and his two security aides. How they go about making change is the plot.
Avrall, an empath, and Dekkard an isolate are security specialists guarding Obreduur a Craft Councilor. Avrall’s ability to sense others thoughts and Dekkard’s exceptional reflexes do an admirable job of protecting Obreduur.
The three find themselves dealing with assassins, political chicanery and the tedium of politicking.
Once again those who avidly read Modesitt are aware that his books carry a load of societal insights. There is some action.
I really enjoyed the book and I always lament there isn’t more on the last page.
October 8, 2021
Isolate is steampunk fantasy set in a world that’s not ours. It’s slightly more modern than the usual Victorian, and has steam operated automobiles and factories, but also guilds and people with special abilities, empaths, and isolates who are immune to them. The country where events take place is rigidly governed by Imperator and a government that isn’t exactly democratically elected. Nothing about the world is explained, but it’s written well-enough that the differences to our world (bells and sixths etc.) become understood.
We follow Steffan Dekkard, an isolate who works as a bodyguard/clerk to a Craft Minister. Why isolates work as bodyguards isn’t explained, other than that they can’t be killed by a mind attack (though as we learn in the prologue, it’s Dekkard’s empath partner Avraal Ysella who blocks the attack.) Dekkard is a sharp man who has more interest in the everyday politics he gets to witness than a bodyguard should, but the societal norms and behaviour are rigid, and he knows his place.
This is a book that has more promise than it can deliver. Or rather, it doesn’t try to deliver a book that a casual reader might be interested in. We follow Dekkard’s days, day by day, in a rather boring detail that wouldn’t need repetition. The focus is on everyday governing, the behind-the-scenes complaints that the minister has to deal with, whether it is the interior of railroad cars or the status of foreign workers. We get a picture of a country that is managed to suit the rich and few else.
What we don’t get are people. We follow the events with Dekkard, but don’t learn anything about him, not even his age. We learn even less about the people he works with, other than what they wear any given day (uniform, most days). We learn a great deal about the world, but not how people live in it.
Unfortunately, a book that is more interested in squabbles (no matter how great a scope they’ll take) than the people squabbling, is not interesting. I tried to give it a proper chance, to see if it gets going at some point, but it’s just so excruciatingly long, that I decided to give up. But if you’re into unique worlds and their politics, give it a try.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
We follow Steffan Dekkard, an isolate who works as a bodyguard/clerk to a Craft Minister. Why isolates work as bodyguards isn’t explained, other than that they can’t be killed by a mind attack (though as we learn in the prologue, it’s Dekkard’s empath partner Avraal Ysella who blocks the attack.) Dekkard is a sharp man who has more interest in the everyday politics he gets to witness than a bodyguard should, but the societal norms and behaviour are rigid, and he knows his place.
This is a book that has more promise than it can deliver. Or rather, it doesn’t try to deliver a book that a casual reader might be interested in. We follow Dekkard’s days, day by day, in a rather boring detail that wouldn’t need repetition. The focus is on everyday governing, the behind-the-scenes complaints that the minister has to deal with, whether it is the interior of railroad cars or the status of foreign workers. We get a picture of a country that is managed to suit the rich and few else.
What we don’t get are people. We follow the events with Dekkard, but don’t learn anything about him, not even his age. We learn even less about the people he works with, other than what they wear any given day (uniform, most days). We learn a great deal about the world, but not how people live in it.
Unfortunately, a book that is more interested in squabbles (no matter how great a scope they’ll take) than the people squabbling, is not interesting. I tried to give it a proper chance, to see if it gets going at some point, but it’s just so excruciatingly long, that I decided to give up. But if you’re into unique worlds and their politics, give it a try.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2021
Modesitt begins a new series with this steampunk style of fantasy novel. It's written in typical Modesitt style with slow, steady world building and character development. As is usual for his books the main characters slowly grow in depth and skill as they both go about their daily lives as well as meet progressively greater challenges. The premise of the series is an interesting departure as Modesitt creates a world where people vary in their empathic skills, ranging from being able to sense the emotions of others and project emotions of varying degree onto them to either being increasingly susceptible to such "control" or being completely blocked off from both being sensed or affected (the isolate). The two main characters are a security team for a political leader in the minority of the local government. The book focuses on the political and class distinctions of an early industrialization society and the struggles for power, wealth and social change. Overall I found the book interesting and did hold my attention as well as left me looking forward to the next book in the series. However, I also found the depth of detail offered during daily life (e.g. the meals eaten, the food consumed, the clothing worn) to be tedious and excessive. This tedium markedly lowered my enjoyment of the book and my final rating.
January 4, 2022
I had a lot of trouble making myself get through this novel and I'm familiar with the author so I know he's detail oriented in his world building but... Political Bureaucracy? It put me in mind of a spy novel with a lot of secret motivations, corrupt government with State controlled media and violent revolutionaries.
For the first third of the book you just follow the main protagonist and his daily routine guarding a member of the Council Of Sixty-six. It's a steampunk city just entering its industrial era. What we'd call Capitalists or Industrialist dominate the government. They'll stoop to anything; from blackmail to murder, to keep their power and money.
The main fantasy element is the security guard's ability (Isolate) to not have his mind influenced or read by a minority called Empaths who can do just that. He's partner (and love interest) does read minds and uses this to protect the Counselor they guard. The first real action that occurs is a murder by a supposed rogue Empie projecting pure hate, to give a government official a heart attack.
There's a lot about this story that feels allegorical to our own political mess. I certainly have fantasized killing a few politicians with my mind. In the end it was a dull read with little that draws me to fantasy. I doubt I'll bother with further installments.
For the first third of the book you just follow the main protagonist and his daily routine guarding a member of the Council Of Sixty-six. It's a steampunk city just entering its industrial era. What we'd call Capitalists or Industrialist dominate the government. They'll stoop to anything; from blackmail to murder, to keep their power and money.
The main fantasy element is the security guard's ability (Isolate) to not have his mind influenced or read by a minority called Empaths who can do just that. He's partner (and love interest) does read minds and uses this to protect the Counselor they guard. The first real action that occurs is a murder by a supposed rogue Empie projecting pure hate, to give a government official a heart attack.
There's a lot about this story that feels allegorical to our own political mess. I certainly have fantasized killing a few politicians with my mind. In the end it was a dull read with little that draws me to fantasy. I doubt I'll bother with further installments.
June 7, 2025
i had reasonably high hopes for this one, but instead of slowburning it was a damp squib that never ignited. at no point did this book get exciting, not even at the end (after 1000 ebook pages!). the worldbuilding is incredibly thorough on all the politics, but venture outside the politics is almost nonexistent and you definitely don't get any clue as to the lives of characters outside of those involved in the council. it was dry and the characters are hardly better developed than the world. and the plot became hellishly repetitive after a point.
March 29, 2023
“Good seldom happens overnight. Only darkness.”
Glacial pace. Alfred Hitchcock said drama is life with the dull parts cut out. Modesitt leaves them in. Every meal, every change of clothes, traffic directions, weather reports. Curiously omits smells. A 300-page story crammed into 600.
“Politics is a combination of bitter reality and necessary illusion.” “Isn’t life, sometimes?” “Sometimes, but not always. Unlike politics.”
Virtuoso world building. Steam-punk analog of Europe circa 1900. Politics, economics, murder, and romance as seen by an Isolate, one whose emotions are hidden to others. Others include emphatics, normal, and susceptibles based on their ability to perceive and project emotions. Despite guns restricted to the military and police plenty of mayhem and bloodshed.
“Everything is more complex when you look into it.”
Because the protagonist tells the reader what he perceives and thinks, the reader must deduce what’s really happening. The conclusion is obvious, but Modesitt builds a plausible case and maintains suspense. Series opener.
“Right now … we don’t need any more complications.” I’d love some complications. “I understand.” I don’t have to like it, but I understand.
Glacial pace. Alfred Hitchcock said drama is life with the dull parts cut out. Modesitt leaves them in. Every meal, every change of clothes, traffic directions, weather reports. Curiously omits smells. A 300-page story crammed into 600.
“Politics is a combination of bitter reality and necessary illusion.” “Isn’t life, sometimes?” “Sometimes, but not always. Unlike politics.”
Virtuoso world building. Steam-punk analog of Europe circa 1900. Politics, economics, murder, and romance as seen by an Isolate, one whose emotions are hidden to others. Others include emphatics, normal, and susceptibles based on their ability to perceive and project emotions. Despite guns restricted to the military and police plenty of mayhem and bloodshed.
“Everything is more complex when you look into it.”
Because the protagonist tells the reader what he perceives and thinks, the reader must deduce what’s really happening. The conclusion is obvious, but Modesitt builds a plausible case and maintains suspense. Series opener.
“Right now … we don’t need any more complications.” I’d love some complications. “I understand.” I don’t have to like it, but I understand.
dnf-with-no-shame
July 29, 2022DNF @ page 122
Fair warning, this review may be considered biased because I paid full pop for this hardcover at around $40.00 with tax and I am still salty about it considering this just became a DNF.
No big deal.
At page 15 of this story I noticed that our MC, Dekkard, wondered about things a lot. Many things. Many boring things. And we the readers are privy to it all, which is great and an interesting choice considering he can’t be read emotionally whatsoever, but also why did it have to be so explicitly stated and so frequently?
It was also oh so very slow paced. The slowest of paces. This may be the slowest paced book I’ve tried to read in a very long time. And it feels like a strange combination of slice of life alongside political thriller and those are two genres that I’m not sure ever needed to be combined.
From a writing style perspective, there was a lot of the mundane in routine being focussed on and it was not particularly interesting despite being set in a gas lamp world. I think it’s because the main plot was so politically motivated that everything else, especially with how repetitive the mundane all was, acts as a means to bog down what little plot was actually occurring. It was almost a constant bombardment of minutaie and considering this novel is almost 600 pages long, a lot of it could’ve been cut. Truth talk? I’m not sure the plot warranted the tedious length of the story and I’m fairly confident that it wasn’t captivating enough to do so either.
The characterization was strange for lack of a better word. It was a lot of other people telling me as the reader what Dekkard was like despite me reading his thoughts and seeing his mannerisms. And being so privy to his life, I feel like I should’ve gotten more of a sense of who he was, but at no point did that occur. It was much the same of all the other characters; the few things that happen in terms of plot didn’t reveal much of the people involved. Honestly, it kinda gave me aliens-inhabiting-the-bodies-of-humans-and-trying-and-failing-to-impersonate-them vibes and it’s not something that really worked for me because that’s not actually what was happening here. Like at all. We’re not even in the same genre.
And then I didn’t find the writing particularly compelling. The same went for the characters. The worldbuilding seemed to be more complex than I needed it to be in terms of the politics and the economy and yet also was not explored enough in terms of culture and setting and surroundings. There was just something analytic to the tone of this work. And as this is my first foray into this author’s work, I’m not sure if this is just a part of his nature (I think it may be) but I’m pretty sure that it’s not for me.
That, coupled with the romance which I was not interested in leaves us with a plot that is buried underneath mountains of politicking and it never felt natural or necessary to include IMHO.
And so yeah, ditching this and I won’t apologize, not even to it’s gorgeous cover/dust jacket.
Fair warning, this review may be considered biased because I paid full pop for this hardcover at around $40.00 with tax and I am still salty about it considering this just became a DNF.
No big deal.
At page 15 of this story I noticed that our MC, Dekkard, wondered about things a lot. Many things. Many boring things. And we the readers are privy to it all, which is great and an interesting choice considering he can’t be read emotionally whatsoever, but also why did it have to be so explicitly stated and so frequently?
It was also oh so very slow paced. The slowest of paces. This may be the slowest paced book I’ve tried to read in a very long time. And it feels like a strange combination of slice of life alongside political thriller and those are two genres that I’m not sure ever needed to be combined.
From a writing style perspective, there was a lot of the mundane in routine being focussed on and it was not particularly interesting despite being set in a gas lamp world. I think it’s because the main plot was so politically motivated that everything else, especially with how repetitive the mundane all was, acts as a means to bog down what little plot was actually occurring. It was almost a constant bombardment of minutaie and considering this novel is almost 600 pages long, a lot of it could’ve been cut. Truth talk? I’m not sure the plot warranted the tedious length of the story and I’m fairly confident that it wasn’t captivating enough to do so either.
The characterization was strange for lack of a better word. It was a lot of other people telling me as the reader what Dekkard was like despite me reading his thoughts and seeing his mannerisms. And being so privy to his life, I feel like I should’ve gotten more of a sense of who he was, but at no point did that occur. It was much the same of all the other characters; the few things that happen in terms of plot didn’t reveal much of the people involved. Honestly, it kinda gave me aliens-inhabiting-the-bodies-of-humans-and-trying-and-failing-to-impersonate-them vibes and it’s not something that really worked for me because that’s not actually what was happening here. Like at all. We’re not even in the same genre.
And then I didn’t find the writing particularly compelling. The same went for the characters. The worldbuilding seemed to be more complex than I needed it to be in terms of the politics and the economy and yet also was not explored enough in terms of culture and setting and surroundings. There was just something analytic to the tone of this work. And as this is my first foray into this author’s work, I’m not sure if this is just a part of his nature (I think it may be) but I’m pretty sure that it’s not for me.
That, coupled with the romance which I was not interested in leaves us with a plot that is buried underneath mountains of politicking and it never felt natural or necessary to include IMHO.
And so yeah, ditching this and I won’t apologize, not even to it’s gorgeous cover/dust jacket.
August 11, 2022
An allegory is defined as a figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. Modesitt’s newest novel, ISOLATE, is an allegory of the 1st two decades of the 21st century. Masterfully blending gaslight fantasy, mystery, and political thriller, it is vast in scope and rich in detail, proving a captivating start to his newest series. In the vividly drawn world of Guldor, coal is the main energy source, so the suspected corruption in the awarding of lucrative mining leases to the Eastern Ironway causes a major scandal (think Teapot Dome). Under Guldor’s Constitution—written by a farsighted conquering emperor centuries before--the parliamentary government, the 66, is comprised of 3 parties (the Landors, the Commercials, & the Crafters). After the director of logistics for Eastern Ironway disappears, a Landor member who heads the investigating committee dies from a supposed heart attack, and a senior Craft Minister, Axel Obreduur, is targeted by an empathic attack. Obreduur's security aide, Steffan Dekkard, an isolate immune to the projections of empaths, investigates possible connections between the 3 events. Dekkard and his security partner Avraal Ysella, a highly trained empath, find that not only is their employer a target, but so are they, in a covert and deadly struggle for control of the government and economy. Their inquiries enable Modesitt to present the intricacies of Guldor's economic and political systems which led up to the current coup. The ending offers a moderate cliff-hanger which will entice readers to look for COUNCILOR, the sequel, due out in 2022.
December 8, 2021
Though I did win this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway, I have been reading L. E. Modesitt for my entire adult life and own almost all of his books, so I have no doubt I would have read this one at some point anyway. However, with it being a free copy, I thought it would be good to put some words down about it.
Modesitt’s works, particular his fantasy novels, are almost always slow burns. Isolate was no exception. Coming in at nearly 600 hardcover pages I think this is the longest one of his I’ve read.
The protagonist, Steffan Dekkard, is a bit more mature than many of Modesitt’s lead characters, particularly from his Recluce and Imager series. An Isolate working as a security aid for a councilor of one of the three major political parties, Dekkard finds himself thwarting numerous assassination attempts on the councilor. During this time, Dekkard also gradually learns more of the political side of things. He also develops a strong bond with his co-security aide, Avraal Ysella.
This book is typical Modesitt fantasy, focusing on slow but deep world building through the introduction of new regions and snippets of history. Though not action packed (again this is a Modesitt work), the depth of the story and the undeniable parallels to the real world political climate made for a very fascinating read.
I think this is one of Modesitt’s best works and am truly looking forward to its sequel next year.
Modesitt’s works, particular his fantasy novels, are almost always slow burns. Isolate was no exception. Coming in at nearly 600 hardcover pages I think this is the longest one of his I’ve read.
The protagonist, Steffan Dekkard, is a bit more mature than many of Modesitt’s lead characters, particularly from his Recluce and Imager series. An Isolate working as a security aid for a councilor of one of the three major political parties, Dekkard finds himself thwarting numerous assassination attempts on the councilor. During this time, Dekkard also gradually learns more of the political side of things. He also develops a strong bond with his co-security aide, Avraal Ysella.
This book is typical Modesitt fantasy, focusing on slow but deep world building through the introduction of new regions and snippets of history. Though not action packed (again this is a Modesitt work), the depth of the story and the undeniable parallels to the real world political climate made for a very fascinating read.
I think this is one of Modesitt’s best works and am truly looking forward to its sequel next year.
November 1, 2021
Ok…. Since March 2020 I’ve read and reviewed 180 books on NetGalley. This one is 181. It’s the first one I didn’t finish. I read a quarter of the book, 25 chapters out of 101 and I’m simply not the target audience. It’s too bad. The description sounded really good and I enjoyed the Recluce and Imager books I read. I just found it dry as dust to read page after page after page of the minutiae of the lives of a low level government employee along with the lives of those around him. There are multiple pages that discuss the type of wood paneling being used in train cars and the ramifications thereof….
I’m giving it what is for me a neutral that was fine three stars because while it wasn’t for me it was solidly written. There’s a skill in being able to write a doorstop of a book and keep it cohesive. If you’re a big Modesitt fan this might be the book for you. If you value setting over action this may also be the book for you. It’s not a bad book. I just wasn’t quite the right reader…
I’m giving it what is for me a neutral that was fine three stars because while it wasn’t for me it was solidly written. There’s a skill in being able to write a doorstop of a book and keep it cohesive. If you’re a big Modesitt fan this might be the book for you. If you value setting over action this may also be the book for you. It’s not a bad book. I just wasn’t quite the right reader…
November 29, 2021
So I tried reading the first Recluce book and was just struck by how dull it was. Like, the main character keeps complaining about how boring everything is, and he's right! But I GUESS it fit the tale? So I didn't hold it against Modesitt, and I saw this new book with a gorgeous cover and figured, what the hell, let's try getting in on a series on the ground floor.
This book is AGGRESSIVELY boring. It almost dares you to get angry over how plodding it is. It promises that it'll be about politics, and that's great - I love scheming political books. Nope, this is literally, like ... a guy resolves a dispute over wood rights, and that's a whole chapter. I could feel myself getting dumber reading it.
I can't believe Modesitt has written like 60 books, and they all appear to be about as exciting as watching paint dry.
This book is AGGRESSIVELY boring. It almost dares you to get angry over how plodding it is. It promises that it'll be about politics, and that's great - I love scheming political books. Nope, this is literally, like ... a guy resolves a dispute over wood rights, and that's a whole chapter. I could feel myself getting dumber reading it.
I can't believe Modesitt has written like 60 books, and they all appear to be about as exciting as watching paint dry.
October 24, 2022
It took awhile to get into, but at the end of the day I'm just a sucker for the way the author writes. The story was a mix of politics, business and government so it wasn't the most exciting of reads. It's almost like working to dig up buried treasure. If you devote yourself to actively read and pay attention to the details, you would realize that the story telling was great but the author buried that treasure DEEP. I am a big fan so I knew that I would eventually get there, but a lot of people will wonder if the work is worth it. Can't wait to read book 2!
Read
April 22, 2022*dnf pg. 60 - The book had a great concept, but the execution was monatnous at best, and there was very little captivating prose - the author was not able to get the political intrigue started, and their was very little world building, more just stating.
July 7, 2022
Enjoyable book
You'll get tired of the word sardonic. Interesting book set in alternate world in the steam era. No magic, but empathy exist.
You'll get tired of the word sardonic. Interesting book set in alternate world in the steam era. No magic, but empathy exist.
July 30, 2022
**As per all of my reviews, I like to preface by saying that I listened to this book in audiobook format. This does indeed slightly skew my rating. I have found that audiobooks, give me a better "relationship" with the characters if done well, but also kills the book for me if narrated poorly. Also due to the nature of listening to the text, names and places may be spelled incorrectly here as I often do not have the physical volume in front of me.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Okay.. I’m about an hour into this book…and I will be the first to say and admit. I bought this because of the cover… (Gaslight, steampunk with a short haired brunette? I’m in…) Now I was fully expecting this to backfire in my face and be a completely unreadable, cringe fest…
It’s…well..not entirely that. Right off the bat the world building is about as thick as frozen whole butter, whole milk cheesecake. I mean every sentence seems to hint at or drip with some background about this world. From city names, to the transit system, we spend paragraphs talking about the different type of wood paneling on cars..er…steamers I mean.
This book…wow where to start… it’s a Steampunk book..but it’s very.. Steam punk lite? Gaslight is a good way to describe it..it’s not Victorian..but more..Industrialized Gaslight? It’s a weird blend…but it works. Instead of the bright gleaming brass and high tech of most steampunk, this is very gritty, sooty and lived in…
The writing style seems to be as I would expect.. they have to explain a metric shit ton to the reader so there’s a lot of poorly disguised exposition. It’s not bad, but it’s always slightly annoying to hear characters explain things that everyone should literally know by now.
The setting itself is just very…well it’s my style… So there’s “Empaths” who can read and invoke emotions onto others. Then there’s Isolates who are like black holes of emotion. They can’t be read or projected on by Empaths.
Oh man, the deeper I get into this book, the more I get the feeling this is going to be one hell of a long ride…and I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing. Legitimately I have little idea what’s actually going on…but it’s bizarrely enough a fun listen to just hear about this world. We’re getting all of this background, history, and geography just blasted at us like a firehose on full tilt. Now there’s only so far that this will take me. I love cool sounding names, and ‘departs of X affairs’ and really gothic, gaslamp writing.. but if I can’t decipher what’s actually happening in the story it’s not going to last…Unfortunately I don’t foresee the the writing style to ease off the gas of describing every little minor name and action… this leads to the actual story being shrouded under a veil of flowery fluff that, while I like it, goes off as heavy handed..
That being said..I’m enjoying it so far. I like the relationship we have with Steffan Dekkard and Ysella.. Formal but perhaps something there? Though to be honest I’d love just a platonic friendship… And I still don’t know how Empaths and Isolates are as…’people’ they seem to be as normal as humans (minus the gifts) but they still seem oddly…formal and stiff..I wouldn’t say robotic but we’ve only seen them in more ‘work mode’… Except as Ysella visited her sister Emredla. Anyway like I said the goings on of the story seem so convoluted, but it’s oddly still entertaining. .
Our main character Steffan Deckkard is given the task of reading the “Charter”. From what I’m gathering this is like the Government’s mission statement, and how it’s organized and how it operates for it’s citizens. What’s funny (and annoying…) is that it’s clearly here to be read aloud by Dekkard for purposes of exposition. So it’d be like me pulling out the Constitution of America and reading it out loud to get a sense of my purpose on what to do today..It’s heavy handed, awkward and I feel like so much in this book it could have been done in a more subtle way.
That being said the political build up, the political parties (Crafts, Landors and Commerce that I know so far) are all vying for control and out maneuvering each other.
There’s mention of things like the “Silent Revolution” involving women who didn’t have the same rights of men, creating acts of protest, many of them empaths (look up in chapter 48)
So there’s all manner of opinions going on with this book…
There is a lot..and I mean a lot of exposition. The problem here is that because none of the political thriller stuff is based on real world politics we just have to go off what the author tells us at the moment. (Lol yes I know that’s how books work in general…)
What I mean is that because all of this is brand new and pretty complex, we get into situations where the following happens again and again…
X Event happens
Dekkard: “That was weird, I wonder why he did that”
Ysella: “Because Z Party wouldn’t like this. It’s a power play, it’ll cause Y party to react”
Dekkard: “You’re right, that way Z Party can move in and win”
It’s many permutations of this. Things happens (mostly assassination attempts or people disguised as others) and then they meet later to discuss it. And it turns into this thing where you obviously can’t follow along in the logic and reason becaue these parties and political groups don’t follow our system… If this were a book based on American politics for say in our known system, we don’t have to give these lengthy background descriptions of who and why other things are affected. We also, wouldn’t be led around by the nose while new constructs are tossed our way. If this were a real conversation happening in front of me..I’d have to literally just nod and smile. I would have to hang on to each new sentence because it’s all brand new. So the problem in trying to keep it interesting is that you can’t follow their train of thought because we don’t know what the ‘rules’ are.
That being said there is still very much some interesting stuff going down. Lots of political, and social unrest, the new
I keep thinking the “Landors” is a family, house name..not a political party name..
I find it interesting that the author Modesitt, probably has at least 30 pages total filled with descriptions of what the characters wear and what they’re eating, but yet I can’t recall them ever being described physically..
Because I’m listening to this on audio, I sometimes hear things, that I”m not 100% sure that I got the right context, (I may have only half heard the sentence before etc…) So I hear that in this world most paler, lighter skinned people are the working labor class (indoors serving all day) and while if your darker toned, that means you have more free time to be out and about, shopping, dining etc… I thought this was fascinating…
The story is..good. I will fully admit, in between the many (and I mean MANY) dinners, lunches, shopping trips and casual chat, when they’re actually discussing politics, it can get pretty tangled. You can follow the general narrative, but as I stated earlier, you just sort of go with it.. Reading this story reminds me of listening to a really creative imaginative kid tell a story and try to follow along. “So then..there was like.. a guy..with a sword..and he could shoot lazers from it! but then he flew up to the clouds and stopped a plane! But the plane was filled with…ROBOTS. And they were resistant to his lazers so he had to then call for his flying lion horse! And it can EAT ROBOTS. But the robot king is really from outer space…..”
All the while, you’re nodding, and just enjoying what comes next…
We also need to talk about just the relationship between Steffan and Ysella…this has been growing bit by bit through the book…and I’m here for it… but they need more time that’s not about work… well..they do eat and visit family a lot.. but what I mean is, let’s spend some time when they’re
A. Not working…
B. Not talking about work, or the history of the world which is silly since they both should know all of this….
C. Eating.
We do get some history of each other’s backgrounds, how Ysella is a Landor and how women in their family and social background are used to prop men up. But I want to see them together more.. I can’t say the romance isn’t earned… I enjoy them together… I would love for them to stay platonic in the end.. but I have no problem with some spark between them.
Turning from that for a moment, the book does seem a bit repetitive…how many attempted attacks…prevented attacks and then discussion about attacks are going to happen… Steffan has ‘accidently’ killed like 3 guys already…Each time it’s like some one disguised and they fail miserably to get passed him and they end up dead and Steffan and Ysella just shrug it off. Lol, “No Steffan, you literally killed a guy!”
The last stretch of the book turns into a legit political campaign trail… we jump on board with Steffan, and Ysella and they basically go on tour with Axel Obreduur (not even sure if I’ve mentioned him at this point…) the council man who’s affiliated with the Craft party. He’s running for Première which requires and overwhelming majority vote. Meanwhile the relationship between Steffan and Ysella is kicking into high gear. I’m not a fan of when authors write women to be seductive or ‘sexy’. It usually comes off as what a man would want to hear a woman say and tell him. Which is often not even close to how anyone actually speaks… Granted the dialogue in this entire book isn’t…great. It’s stunted, stiff, and exposition laden. So the fake coy/sexy ‘wink look at me’ dialogue from Ysella isn’t so far out of left field.. That all being said, I’m still really here for their relationship on one hand… but would love for them to just remain super pals.
So yea the end of the book wraps with a tour around the areas, campaigning and Obreduur pleading his case to get votes. You know in the back of my mind I was waiting for the shoe to drop that would make Obreduur out to be some villainous person, who secretly had Ysella’s Sister, Estella’s husband killed. But…no..he’s just a very business first guy..so far..there is a book 2 after all….
Umm what do I think of this.. I…like it..I like the world is tossed me in. I never read so much about food and choices of clothing. Which is 100% a stylistic choice and it helped shape the mood…however at the degradation of the description of the physical world. We got in surplus, food, clothing, and social/political structure… What we didn’t get in almost any amount was literally a description of how things looked, felt, or smelled. If it wasn’t for the cover of this book I’d have no idea what the real ‘theme’ was… well maybe from the clothing.. But nothing he described yelled Industrial.. maybe the ‘steamers’ would be a big hint.. but no factory descriptions, no descriptions of the buildings or anything. It felt he he had a budget of descriptors and blew it all on the Kraft services and wardrobe department.
Other than that…aside from it dragging in parts or perhaps spending too much time focused on the business, jobs of the main characters I enjoyed what it was putting down. I wanted more downtime with the characters. There’s also a very gaping lack of any other perspective. We get the view point of these security guards and the inner ring of a major political person. There’s no perspective of someone on the outside or just a ‘common man’. Even Estella, while she’s not in the political arena, she’s still in a position of wealth. The perspective doesn’t allow you to see much else except them waking up, and going to the city council building…that’s about it. For a book set in a gorgeous and unique world.. we didn’t get to see any of it.
I recommend the book, I enjoyed it, but I felt it was lacking in a few places that really detracted from the impact.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Okay.. I’m about an hour into this book…and I will be the first to say and admit. I bought this because of the cover… (Gaslight, steampunk with a short haired brunette? I’m in…) Now I was fully expecting this to backfire in my face and be a completely unreadable, cringe fest…
It’s…well..not entirely that. Right off the bat the world building is about as thick as frozen whole butter, whole milk cheesecake. I mean every sentence seems to hint at or drip with some background about this world. From city names, to the transit system, we spend paragraphs talking about the different type of wood paneling on cars..er…steamers I mean.
This book…wow where to start… it’s a Steampunk book..but it’s very.. Steam punk lite? Gaslight is a good way to describe it..it’s not Victorian..but more..Industrialized Gaslight? It’s a weird blend…but it works. Instead of the bright gleaming brass and high tech of most steampunk, this is very gritty, sooty and lived in…
The writing style seems to be as I would expect.. they have to explain a metric shit ton to the reader so there’s a lot of poorly disguised exposition. It’s not bad, but it’s always slightly annoying to hear characters explain things that everyone should literally know by now.
The setting itself is just very…well it’s my style… So there’s “Empaths” who can read and invoke emotions onto others. Then there’s Isolates who are like black holes of emotion. They can’t be read or projected on by Empaths.
Oh man, the deeper I get into this book, the more I get the feeling this is going to be one hell of a long ride…and I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing. Legitimately I have little idea what’s actually going on…but it’s bizarrely enough a fun listen to just hear about this world. We’re getting all of this background, history, and geography just blasted at us like a firehose on full tilt. Now there’s only so far that this will take me. I love cool sounding names, and ‘departs of X affairs’ and really gothic, gaslamp writing.. but if I can’t decipher what’s actually happening in the story it’s not going to last…Unfortunately I don’t foresee the the writing style to ease off the gas of describing every little minor name and action… this leads to the actual story being shrouded under a veil of flowery fluff that, while I like it, goes off as heavy handed..
That being said..I’m enjoying it so far. I like the relationship we have with Steffan Dekkard and Ysella.. Formal but perhaps something there? Though to be honest I’d love just a platonic friendship… And I still don’t know how Empaths and Isolates are as…’people’ they seem to be as normal as humans (minus the gifts) but they still seem oddly…formal and stiff..I wouldn’t say robotic but we’ve only seen them in more ‘work mode’… Except as Ysella visited her sister Emredla. Anyway like I said the goings on of the story seem so convoluted, but it’s oddly still entertaining. .
Our main character Steffan Deckkard is given the task of reading the “Charter”. From what I’m gathering this is like the Government’s mission statement, and how it’s organized and how it operates for it’s citizens. What’s funny (and annoying…) is that it’s clearly here to be read aloud by Dekkard for purposes of exposition. So it’d be like me pulling out the Constitution of America and reading it out loud to get a sense of my purpose on what to do today..It’s heavy handed, awkward and I feel like so much in this book it could have been done in a more subtle way.
That being said the political build up, the political parties (Crafts, Landors and Commerce that I know so far) are all vying for control and out maneuvering each other.
There’s mention of things like the “Silent Revolution” involving women who didn’t have the same rights of men, creating acts of protest, many of them empaths (look up in chapter 48)
So there’s all manner of opinions going on with this book…
There is a lot..and I mean a lot of exposition. The problem here is that because none of the political thriller stuff is based on real world politics we just have to go off what the author tells us at the moment. (Lol yes I know that’s how books work in general…)
What I mean is that because all of this is brand new and pretty complex, we get into situations where the following happens again and again…
X Event happens
Dekkard: “That was weird, I wonder why he did that”
Ysella: “Because Z Party wouldn’t like this. It’s a power play, it’ll cause Y party to react”
Dekkard: “You’re right, that way Z Party can move in and win”
It’s many permutations of this. Things happens (mostly assassination attempts or people disguised as others) and then they meet later to discuss it. And it turns into this thing where you obviously can’t follow along in the logic and reason becaue these parties and political groups don’t follow our system… If this were a book based on American politics for say in our known system, we don’t have to give these lengthy background descriptions of who and why other things are affected. We also, wouldn’t be led around by the nose while new constructs are tossed our way. If this were a real conversation happening in front of me..I’d have to literally just nod and smile. I would have to hang on to each new sentence because it’s all brand new. So the problem in trying to keep it interesting is that you can’t follow their train of thought because we don’t know what the ‘rules’ are.
That being said there is still very much some interesting stuff going down. Lots of political, and social unrest, the new
I keep thinking the “Landors” is a family, house name..not a political party name..
I find it interesting that the author Modesitt, probably has at least 30 pages total filled with descriptions of what the characters wear and what they’re eating, but yet I can’t recall them ever being described physically..
Because I’m listening to this on audio, I sometimes hear things, that I”m not 100% sure that I got the right context, (I may have only half heard the sentence before etc…) So I hear that in this world most paler, lighter skinned people are the working labor class (indoors serving all day) and while if your darker toned, that means you have more free time to be out and about, shopping, dining etc… I thought this was fascinating…
The story is..good. I will fully admit, in between the many (and I mean MANY) dinners, lunches, shopping trips and casual chat, when they’re actually discussing politics, it can get pretty tangled. You can follow the general narrative, but as I stated earlier, you just sort of go with it.. Reading this story reminds me of listening to a really creative imaginative kid tell a story and try to follow along. “So then..there was like.. a guy..with a sword..and he could shoot lazers from it! but then he flew up to the clouds and stopped a plane! But the plane was filled with…ROBOTS. And they were resistant to his lazers so he had to then call for his flying lion horse! And it can EAT ROBOTS. But the robot king is really from outer space…..”
All the while, you’re nodding, and just enjoying what comes next…
We also need to talk about just the relationship between Steffan and Ysella…this has been growing bit by bit through the book…and I’m here for it… but they need more time that’s not about work… well..they do eat and visit family a lot.. but what I mean is, let’s spend some time when they’re
A. Not working…
B. Not talking about work, or the history of the world which is silly since they both should know all of this….
C. Eating.
We do get some history of each other’s backgrounds, how Ysella is a Landor and how women in their family and social background are used to prop men up. But I want to see them together more.. I can’t say the romance isn’t earned… I enjoy them together… I would love for them to stay platonic in the end.. but I have no problem with some spark between them.
Turning from that for a moment, the book does seem a bit repetitive…how many attempted attacks…prevented attacks and then discussion about attacks are going to happen… Steffan has ‘accidently’ killed like 3 guys already…Each time it’s like some one disguised and they fail miserably to get passed him and they end up dead and Steffan and Ysella just shrug it off. Lol, “No Steffan, you literally killed a guy!”
The last stretch of the book turns into a legit political campaign trail… we jump on board with Steffan, and Ysella and they basically go on tour with Axel Obreduur (not even sure if I’ve mentioned him at this point…) the council man who’s affiliated with the Craft party. He’s running for Première which requires and overwhelming majority vote. Meanwhile the relationship between Steffan and Ysella is kicking into high gear. I’m not a fan of when authors write women to be seductive or ‘sexy’. It usually comes off as what a man would want to hear a woman say and tell him. Which is often not even close to how anyone actually speaks… Granted the dialogue in this entire book isn’t…great. It’s stunted, stiff, and exposition laden. So the fake coy/sexy ‘wink look at me’ dialogue from Ysella isn’t so far out of left field.. That all being said, I’m still really here for their relationship on one hand… but would love for them to just remain super pals.
So yea the end of the book wraps with a tour around the areas, campaigning and Obreduur pleading his case to get votes. You know in the back of my mind I was waiting for the shoe to drop that would make Obreduur out to be some villainous person, who secretly had Ysella’s Sister, Estella’s husband killed. But…no..he’s just a very business first guy..so far..there is a book 2 after all….
Umm what do I think of this.. I…like it..I like the world is tossed me in. I never read so much about food and choices of clothing. Which is 100% a stylistic choice and it helped shape the mood…however at the degradation of the description of the physical world. We got in surplus, food, clothing, and social/political structure… What we didn’t get in almost any amount was literally a description of how things looked, felt, or smelled. If it wasn’t for the cover of this book I’d have no idea what the real ‘theme’ was… well maybe from the clothing.. But nothing he described yelled Industrial.. maybe the ‘steamers’ would be a big hint.. but no factory descriptions, no descriptions of the buildings or anything. It felt he he had a budget of descriptors and blew it all on the Kraft services and wardrobe department.
Other than that…aside from it dragging in parts or perhaps spending too much time focused on the business, jobs of the main characters I enjoyed what it was putting down. I wanted more downtime with the characters. There’s also a very gaping lack of any other perspective. We get the view point of these security guards and the inner ring of a major political person. There’s no perspective of someone on the outside or just a ‘common man’. Even Estella, while she’s not in the political arena, she’s still in a position of wealth. The perspective doesn’t allow you to see much else except them waking up, and going to the city council building…that’s about it. For a book set in a gorgeous and unique world.. we didn’t get to see any of it.
I recommend the book, I enjoyed it, but I felt it was lacking in a few places that really detracted from the impact.
November 6, 2021
Originally published at Reading Reality
The Grand Illusion of the series title is the illusion that the government (any government) can solve every problem and make everyone happy – all at the same time. But as the story unfolds it acknowledges that this is very definitely an illusion, that a government can possibly make nearly all of the people happy some of the time, that it can certainly make some of the people happy nearly all of the time, but that making all the people happy all the time is neither possible nor realistic.
Although good people in government can do their best to walk the tightrope, to do the best job they can for most people most of the time. If they devote their lives to it and are even willing to give those lives in order to do the most good for the most people most of the time – even in the face of those same people not recognizing that it’s being done while resenting that it isn’t being done nearly fast enough..
In other words, this is a political story, told through fascinating characters. It also reads like a story about how to potentially stage a coup from the inside – and how to stop it. That could just be reading the real-life present into the opening salvo in what I hope will be a long and fascinating series. But the interpretation feels right to me and your reading mileage may vary.
So Isolate examines the dirty business of politics, as seen through the eyes of someone with an intimate view of just how the sausage is made, as the saying goes, and finds himself on the inside of an attempt to make it better. Or at least tastier for considerably more people than is currently the case.
Isolate can be read as an exploration of how politics and government work as well as a continuous discussion about how they should work, but the story is wrapped around the characters and that both personalizes it and makes it easier to get swept up in the discussion right along with them. It can also be read simply as a “power corrupts” type of story and it certainly works on that level, but it’s also competence porn of the highest order and I absolutely could not put it down.
(Speaking of not being able to put this down, readers should be aware that the count of 608 pages is a serious underestimate. It’s 15,000 kindle locs. I know there’s not a direct translation from locs to number of pages, but as an example, Jade City by Fonda Lee, which is awesome, BTW, is 560 pages and 7684 kindle locs. No matter how loosely you do the math, based on my reading time Isolate is more likely 806 pages, or more, than it is 608, unless they are very large pages and the print is very, very small. It is absolutely worth reading, I loved every minute, but it will take more time than you might think it will from the page count.)
I recognize that I’m all over the map in this review. There is a lot to this book, and it’s one that made me think quite a lot as I was reading it.
As I said earlier, there were quite a few points where it felt like a story about how to stage a coup from the inside – and how to stop it. At first, I thought that those currently in power were setting up the kind of coup that nearly happened in the U.S. after the election, but it didn’t get to quite that level of skullduggery – not that there wasn’t plenty but it didn’t go quite that far in quite that direction.
But there’s also an element that the forces of “good” or at least the forces we follow and empathize with the most, are staging a coup from inside the government but outside of real power to make change. That feels kind of right, but as it’s handled in the story it’s legal and on the side of the “angels”.
While never glossing over the fact that politics is a dirty business, and even those on the side of the “angels” sometimes have to get their hands dirty – even if by proxy.
Escape Rating A+: What made this story work for me was the way that it completely embodied its political discussions and political maneuvering in its characters. There’s a lot of necessary exploration and explanation of what government can and can’t, and should and shouldn’t, do for its people, in this country that reads just enough like ours – or Britain – to feel relevant without feeling so close that it ends up being either a political treatise or a work of alternate history.
Instead, it ends up being the story of three people doing the best that they can to help their country in spite of everyone who tries to get in their way. In the process, they all rise above the place they expected to be, and that’s just the kind of story I love to sink into.
It takes a bit to get the reader firmly ensconced in this world with these characters, but once it does, it’s riveting. And it ends, not so much with triumph – although that element is there – but with the sure and certain knowledge that Steffan, Avraal and Obreduur have plenty of work left to do. They’re eager to get started, and I’m eager to read what happens next in Councilor, due in August 2022.
The Grand Illusion of the series title is the illusion that the government (any government) can solve every problem and make everyone happy – all at the same time. But as the story unfolds it acknowledges that this is very definitely an illusion, that a government can possibly make nearly all of the people happy some of the time, that it can certainly make some of the people happy nearly all of the time, but that making all the people happy all the time is neither possible nor realistic.
Although good people in government can do their best to walk the tightrope, to do the best job they can for most people most of the time. If they devote their lives to it and are even willing to give those lives in order to do the most good for the most people most of the time – even in the face of those same people not recognizing that it’s being done while resenting that it isn’t being done nearly fast enough..
In other words, this is a political story, told through fascinating characters. It also reads like a story about how to potentially stage a coup from the inside – and how to stop it. That could just be reading the real-life present into the opening salvo in what I hope will be a long and fascinating series. But the interpretation feels right to me and your reading mileage may vary.
So Isolate examines the dirty business of politics, as seen through the eyes of someone with an intimate view of just how the sausage is made, as the saying goes, and finds himself on the inside of an attempt to make it better. Or at least tastier for considerably more people than is currently the case.
Isolate can be read as an exploration of how politics and government work as well as a continuous discussion about how they should work, but the story is wrapped around the characters and that both personalizes it and makes it easier to get swept up in the discussion right along with them. It can also be read simply as a “power corrupts” type of story and it certainly works on that level, but it’s also competence porn of the highest order and I absolutely could not put it down.
(Speaking of not being able to put this down, readers should be aware that the count of 608 pages is a serious underestimate. It’s 15,000 kindle locs. I know there’s not a direct translation from locs to number of pages, but as an example, Jade City by Fonda Lee, which is awesome, BTW, is 560 pages and 7684 kindle locs. No matter how loosely you do the math, based on my reading time Isolate is more likely 806 pages, or more, than it is 608, unless they are very large pages and the print is very, very small. It is absolutely worth reading, I loved every minute, but it will take more time than you might think it will from the page count.)
I recognize that I’m all over the map in this review. There is a lot to this book, and it’s one that made me think quite a lot as I was reading it.
As I said earlier, there were quite a few points where it felt like a story about how to stage a coup from the inside – and how to stop it. At first, I thought that those currently in power were setting up the kind of coup that nearly happened in the U.S. after the election, but it didn’t get to quite that level of skullduggery – not that there wasn’t plenty but it didn’t go quite that far in quite that direction.
But there’s also an element that the forces of “good” or at least the forces we follow and empathize with the most, are staging a coup from inside the government but outside of real power to make change. That feels kind of right, but as it’s handled in the story it’s legal and on the side of the “angels”.
While never glossing over the fact that politics is a dirty business, and even those on the side of the “angels” sometimes have to get their hands dirty – even if by proxy.
Escape Rating A+: What made this story work for me was the way that it completely embodied its political discussions and political maneuvering in its characters. There’s a lot of necessary exploration and explanation of what government can and can’t, and should and shouldn’t, do for its people, in this country that reads just enough like ours – or Britain – to feel relevant without feeling so close that it ends up being either a political treatise or a work of alternate history.
Instead, it ends up being the story of three people doing the best that they can to help their country in spite of everyone who tries to get in their way. In the process, they all rise above the place they expected to be, and that’s just the kind of story I love to sink into.
It takes a bit to get the reader firmly ensconced in this world with these characters, but once it does, it’s riveting. And it ends, not so much with triumph – although that element is there – but with the sure and certain knowledge that Steffan, Avraal and Obreduur have plenty of work left to do. They’re eager to get started, and I’m eager to read what happens next in Councilor, due in August 2022.
July 19, 2023
DNF - I tried, I really did, but after 318 pages, Isolate still feels like homework.
If you decide to undertake this nearly 600 page book, here is what you have to look forward to: Almost every chapter begins with the day of the week and whether or not Deckard had "quince paste" on his croissant for breakfast. Deckard reads the newspaper, he goes over his schedule with his coworker, Ysella, they recap the previous day's events. In the evening, Deckard takes walks, and on the weekends, he joins Ysella for lunch with her sister and brother-in-law. The pattern repeats in the next chapter and the next and the next. I'm autistic, and even I think this book is way too routine oriented.
Deckard also attends meetings with his mentor, Obreduur, concerning the type of wood that a railway company should use in their train carriages. He researches the legal definition of art and its implications for tariffs. He learns how to write political speeches that are both ethical and persuasive. Strangely, these are the parts of the book that kept me reading for as long as I did. It's mundanity feels like a statement. The books seems to say, "You want to know how to make meaningful change in government? Real politics don't play out like one of your dystopian sci fi novels. In real life, it's a lot of stuffy meetings, researching legal minutiae, attending mixers, and kissing asses." I admire Modesitt's bold experiment in challenging how we write about politics, but not all experiments are successful.
The problem is not that the book is overflowing with mundane detail. Anyone who has read Haruki Murakami knows that a book can be both mundane and a page turner. The problem is that none of these details teach us much about the personalities and motives of the characters. The numerous passages about Deckard putting quince paste on his croissant and Ysella teasing him for always putting quince paste on his croissant and Deckard having to put tomato jelly on his croissant that morning because the commissary ran out of quince paste feel like needless filler. Deckard otherwise keeps the significant details of his life pretty close to the chest, not only from the other characters, but from readers. Imagine being told "Tell me about yourself," in a job interview, and your only response is, "I like apricot jam on my toast." It is difficult to care what happens to a character when his author does not seem interested in doing the hard work of characterization.
Every few chapters, Modesitt seems to worry that he is boring his audience and drops an assassination attempt or a violent protest into the narrative for some much needed energy. But even if there were riots and burning buildings from pg 1 to 596, it wouldn't be enough to make this novel about morning routines and illegal land leasing scandals interesting. It is unlikely to appeal to fans of science fiction, but I wouldn't be surprised if, decades from now, some freshmen congressmen with bold new ideas name Isolate as one of their favorite books.
If you decide to undertake this nearly 600 page book, here is what you have to look forward to: Almost every chapter begins with the day of the week and whether or not Deckard had "quince paste" on his croissant for breakfast. Deckard reads the newspaper, he goes over his schedule with his coworker, Ysella, they recap the previous day's events. In the evening, Deckard takes walks, and on the weekends, he joins Ysella for lunch with her sister and brother-in-law. The pattern repeats in the next chapter and the next and the next. I'm autistic, and even I think this book is way too routine oriented.
Deckard also attends meetings with his mentor, Obreduur, concerning the type of wood that a railway company should use in their train carriages. He researches the legal definition of art and its implications for tariffs. He learns how to write political speeches that are both ethical and persuasive. Strangely, these are the parts of the book that kept me reading for as long as I did. It's mundanity feels like a statement. The books seems to say, "You want to know how to make meaningful change in government? Real politics don't play out like one of your dystopian sci fi novels. In real life, it's a lot of stuffy meetings, researching legal minutiae, attending mixers, and kissing asses." I admire Modesitt's bold experiment in challenging how we write about politics, but not all experiments are successful.
The problem is not that the book is overflowing with mundane detail. Anyone who has read Haruki Murakami knows that a book can be both mundane and a page turner. The problem is that none of these details teach us much about the personalities and motives of the characters. The numerous passages about Deckard putting quince paste on his croissant and Ysella teasing him for always putting quince paste on his croissant and Deckard having to put tomato jelly on his croissant that morning because the commissary ran out of quince paste feel like needless filler. Deckard otherwise keeps the significant details of his life pretty close to the chest, not only from the other characters, but from readers. Imagine being told "Tell me about yourself," in a job interview, and your only response is, "I like apricot jam on my toast." It is difficult to care what happens to a character when his author does not seem interested in doing the hard work of characterization.
Every few chapters, Modesitt seems to worry that he is boring his audience and drops an assassination attempt or a violent protest into the narrative for some much needed energy. But even if there were riots and burning buildings from pg 1 to 596, it wouldn't be enough to make this novel about morning routines and illegal land leasing scandals interesting. It is unlikely to appeal to fans of science fiction, but I wouldn't be surprised if, decades from now, some freshmen congressmen with bold new ideas name Isolate as one of their favorite books.
February 24, 2022
I always enjoy Modesitt’s writing and this book is no exception. This book has more political commentary than his previous novels (not surprising since it is set around a political leader). The book felt fairly long although I don’t know what content I would eliminate if asked. The book doesn’t have as satisfying a conclusion as his usual series books do. Clearly he has a longer story arc planned.
October 17, 2023
DNF @ page 250
I can certainly see why some people enjoy this book. The political intrigue was actually my favorite part of it - but things like dialogue, characterization, and world building were non-existent.
I can certainly see why some people enjoy this book. The political intrigue was actually my favorite part of it - but things like dialogue, characterization, and world building were non-existent.
November 30, 2021
3.9 < 4⭐️
Despite being a bit dry… I loved these lead characters and the political intrigue of this world.
Despite being a bit dry… I loved these lead characters and the political intrigue of this world.
May 9, 2022
thought provoking
I am eager for the next book in this series, as always with Modesitt books. This is a thoughtful and intriguing book. I want to know how things play out!
I am eager for the next book in this series, as always with Modesitt books. This is a thoughtful and intriguing book. I want to know how things play out!
dnf
October 5, 2022DNF. Good premise, but my god, the pace is painfully slow. I'm just not up for reading hundreds of pages of the main character going about his daily life...
March 29, 2025
The potential for 5 stars was there, but for the constant description of the food and clothing.
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