The Towers of the Sunset (Saga of Recluce Book 2)

The Towers Of The Sunset: Book Two: The Saga of Recluce [L. E. Modesitt] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Tells the story of Creslin, son .
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And this happens in reverse too. In the end, the land of Recluse is supposed to be dedicated to the concept of balance. I enjoyed the philosophical studies and seeing the history so I will continue to read in internal chronological order. This is technically the second recluse book by the author and I wonder if the weakness in the writing and characterization is simply due to being earlier in his writing career.

The later characters have been better and the later series, especially the imager portfolio, is much better. Feb 04, Alexander Sprague rated it it was amazing. While many people comment on what place this book is chronologically, Anyone who is looking at this should realize that the author strongly suggest you read them in order of publication. I liked this book for a lot of reasons, the first being that it made the world that contains Recluse seem real, it has a history and religion that can be explored later. The system for magic was expanded upon, and the events of the first book, even though they were in the future, seem more clear and epic with the While many people comment on what place this book is chronologically, Anyone who is looking at this should realize that the author strongly suggest you read them in order of publication.

The system for magic was expanded upon, and the events of the first book, even though they were in the future, seem more clear and epic with the information that I got from this book. While many are criticizing the book for being simple, I for one would not say that is a bad thing. The story is told in a straight forward manor that makes it so you do not have to cross reference everything and helps the flow dramatically.

Also the characters in this book were just as engaging as the first, or on second thought, more so. Overall a great book, especially if you liked the first.

Feb 18, Ron rated it liked it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

He earned these stars. A self-contained story, not a rambling part of a dozen-plus saga ala Robert Jordan. His writing is better, too, though he depends too heavily on clique reversals.

The Towers of the Sunset

It's a good device, just over used. It is odd, and off-putting, that everything new his protagonist tries works Even as he is berating himself for not single-handedly and instantly solving all the problems of the world. Sep 07, Tanya rated it did not like it Shelves: I'm pretty convinced the L. Modesitt sucks, despite a general liking for fantasy writing and series fiction. At least this story wasn't as bad as The SpellSong series. Jan 31, Pickyreader rated it it was ok Shelves: Annoying is all I have to say.

Aug 07, Michael rated it it was ok. Another likeable Modesitt hero, another unlikable Modesitt heroine and much more world-building than plot. Mar 16, Rebecca rated it liked it. Nothing exciting - about the struggle to establish early Recluce. Touches on magic, politics, adventure, intrigue and romance but i wouldn't say any particular element stands out. Jun 11, Kathi rated it liked it Shelves: Creslin and Megaera, betrothed and tied together by their life force, battle family, expectations, wizards, assassins, and each other as they find their way to love and learn the price of power and the costs of the decisions they feel compelled to make.

The magic system of this world continues to fascinate me. The sound effects in the text are intrusive and the characters are, at time, incredibly obtuse. Yet the story is imaginative and entertaining while posing serious questions about the use of power. May 21, Andrew rated it it was ok Shelves: I won't go into detail about other shortcomings reviewers have covered in great detail but I will mention the innate sexism and misandry that is a constant theme.

Yes, I get the cultural and historical bias for it in the story, but it just goes on and on, and there's no stopping once the protagonists are married. You would think that living together and actually sharing intimate thoughts would help overcome this bigotry, but no. We're told that Megaera is unwillingly life-linked to Creslin as par I won't go into detail about other shortcomings reviewers have covered in great detail but I will mention the innate sexism and misandry that is a constant theme. We're told that Megaera is unwillingly life-linked to Creslin as part of their betrothal, a bond that cannot be broken without killing them both, that allows her to sense his emotions and strong thoughts.

So he has no privacy either physical or mental, and any moment he goes off-script or thinks something inappropriate he is excoriated by Megaera again and again even when he is eventually proven correct. Eventually, being continually browbeaten and told he is a reckless fool with no constructive criticism or alternative plan offered he becomes depressed and despondent. Yet he continually attempts to patch things up and find better way, always with his partners interests first. Yes, a lot of this hate goes back to the first incident with the dream 'rape', but you have to remember he had no idea he was linked, or who she even was.

This is the actual text of of that scene: In the darkness, he cannot tell the color of her hair, except that it is not blond or pale. That darkish hair glitters with the tiniest of red sparks. Her body is warm against his, and her lips burn.

SF leondumoulin.nl: The Towers of the Sunset / L. E. Modesitt, Jr. ☆☆½

But Creslin awakens alone in the middle of a rumpled bed, the predawn light as bright as any sun to his night sight. He squints and turns. Certainly Megaera did not fight back, refuse or otherwise tell him his approach was not welcome. Given how much he think about others and puts them ahead of himself, I find it hard to believe he would casually rape someone.

This takes me to a point that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet - this guy is an absolute hero with an iron will. Here we have a young man with a normal sex drive who is married off to someone who hates him or at least says she does over and over. From this time on his sex life is over and he is forbidden from having any sexual thoughts about her and presumably anyone.


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He has the power to force himself on her both mentally and physically, yet he does not, waiting for her acceptance. He doesn't even have the option of 'taking care of himself' and this goes on for years. Think about that and how much willpower he has to have to manage that. I doubt few would. I personally think the double link was good idea considering that he had been told over and over that they would die unless they resolved their issues, that even his suicide wasn't an option to save Megaera, and the link was developing anyway.

I have tried to be a friend. I have tried to court her, to sing to her, and to be gentle. The situation is no better, and perhaps worse, than in the beginning. My death will kill her. Tell me that things will be better. Klerris waits for them to finish their argument. No one has ever tried a double link. He should have known that Megaera would never agree to another link, but I guess he felt he had no choice, certainly that's the way he put it. Viewed in context of many of his actions, he eventually proved right, so I suspect he was short-cutting a lot of to his mind pointless bickering and negotiation over a change which effectively balanced the playing field.

Again she is giving him no chance at all. I'd read more more of Modesitts work, but I'd be a bit more careful about checking reviews first. Aug 21, Jim rated it really liked it Shelves: My review is in the audio edition here. Dec 27, Matko rated it it was ok. I should have learned by now not to read random things off the Web without prior research. But what can you do, I'm thick that way. In these type of deals one should always except some amount of blowing one's own horns, and indeed, accompanying essays talked about Modesitt and his Recluce saga as a second comi I should have learned by now not to read random things off the Web without prior research.

In these type of deals one should always except some amount of blowing one's own horns, and indeed, accompanying essays talked about Modesitt and his Recluce saga as a second coming. Of course, one is wary of these things and approaches them with a foot pole, knowing that everything just may not be as advertised.

One downloads the offering nevertheless. Persona Balcanica within me cannot resist free things and, after all, new Kindle needs new data to display, does it not? It's pointless having it gather dust in the corner… Cracking it open metaphorically speaking It didn't hide its usual epic fantasy staples greatest wizard, greatest swordsman, etc. It's been ages since I read something fairly straightforward and I kinda missed that.

Eventually this got me thinking. Having no prior knowledge of Mr. Modesitt's work, I checked some things and found out that, since With a brilliant and sudden mathematical insight I calculated that this amounted to almost two novels a year. Every year for almost four decades. I can't really be the judge of general value of Mr. Modesitt's writing having read just this one book , but I surely can bitch about this one. After all, that's what we're here for. Delivery of these things is another matter.

For me, though, it's the more important one. After all, delivery is what differentiates literature from a survival manual. When you write two novels a years, I guess that what at some point starts as an actual act of creative writing quickly deteriorates into algorithmic typing. Reading this novel you can see patches of text which were put there just to bloat page count. Then you have thematic 'shortcuts' and weird choices that read funny even for a fantasy of the 's. Creslin is sort of a superman even for a heroic fantasy staple , his enemies are weak and quite nonthreatening bunch of plotting wizards which he dispatches with ease , supporting characters aren't quite characters at all and our 'love interest' Megaera behaves and acts as a stupid person — like no woman ever acted not counting pulp fiction of the 30's nor ever will.

While this may be funny to some, it presents a problem, especially when you devote major part of the book to this relationship which is supposed to grow over time, becoming deeper and more profound. Transition from bickering, resentful and almost hysteric couple to a loving and demure one is both funny and quite unconvincing. While that relationship had some quite good 'drama potential', not to mention quite serious venue for character development you can work wonders with a 'I can't ever be alone in my mind' concept the entire thing comes off as whiny, juvenile representation of a relationship which reads as something a pining teenager would have written and Mr.

Modesitt wasn't quite a young man when he wrote this. One other thing, which just came to mind. There's a weird chastity surrounding this novel. It's a clean, polished and strangely naive representation of history, politics and human relationship which, much more than wizards and sorcerers, pushes this novel into the realm of fantasy. Not of a good kind. To sum it all up, I'll just say that it just may be me, or the fact that I read this right between Ursula K. Le Guin and Ken Liu, both of which inhabit some completely different plane of existence that Mr.

Or it's not that. Plainly written fantasy built around interesting but undeveloped idea which doesn't want to be anything more than innocent entertainment for a couple of afternoons. If this works for you, go for it. For me, time is too short and books are too many to bother with that kind of literature.

Recluce will probably not see me again. Feb 06, Christopher rated it it was ok. I didn't much care for the first Recluce novel but since each novel in the series is a stand-alone story, I thought I'd give the second a shot. It was a bad decision. Similar to the first novel, this second tells the story of a young noble Creslin who leaves his homeland to basically walk the earth and haggle. And there's a lot of haggl "Walking Simulator: And there's a lot of haggling.

This time it's trade negotiations for the new settlement of Recluce this novel takes places long before the first and the titular Recluce is still a new settlement. There's further discussions of Order vs Chaos and it's all a big old pile of "meh. His plots and characters meander and there's no real narrative drive in them.

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Read reviews that mention towers of the sunset magic of recluce present tense main characters rest of the series magic engineer sound effects main character arranged marriage book in the series white wizards matriarchal society recluce saga read this book good vs evil character development magic of recluse favorite series recluce series point of view. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. The new arrivals were not magical before arriving.

The influx of magic from the other universe occurred twice. The ancestors of the people who wield white chaos were stranded first. The ancestors of those who wield black order were marooned years later. Offspring can usually inherit magical abilities. The native people have medieval technology. Both groups of newcomers were space-farers but, in time, descend to the level of the locals. Most of the novels take place long after these arrivals.

The reader discovers these matters through quotes and legends peppered throughout the series. Fall of Angels provides a brief glimpse into that other universe. Wizards descend from Rationalists "Rats", "Demons".

Mages descend from Angels. The Rationalists and Angels were separate cultures of a space-faring people in another universe. The cultures were engaged in a war that spanned generations. The technology, weaponry, and ideology of each culture is reflected in the magical abilities, hair colour, and world views of their descendants in the Recluce universe. The arrival of the Angels is described in Fall of Angels: The Angels are losing.

During the battle, an exceptional event occurs: The result is surprising: From various evidence, the crew concludes that they are in an alternate universe, ruled by different physical laws. The ship no longer functions but it is close to a habitable planet, and the crew crash lands there. Soon, individuals discover strange talents and physical changes such as hair colour that will ultimately become linked to order magic.

Upon contacting the planet's locals, they discover that Rationalists are also present on the planet. Using their manifest chaos powers as well as their advanced technology, these people create an empire called Cyador, on the continent of Candar. While the series is named after Recluce, that island is uninhabited for the first millennium of the story. The first two books, chronologically, are Magi'i of Cyador and Scion of Cyador , which describe the operation of the Cyador army and its battles against the natives of Candar.

These novels primarily serve to flesh out a formerly unknown part of the history of the universe. The story does establish one key element in the history of Cyador: Initially, upon landing on a mostly-uninhabited part of one of the world's continents, the Rationalists later known as Demons managed to create a number of advanced mechanical devices, powered by chaos. They also erected a number of collection towers that were used to focus chaos into these devices.

By the time of the first novel, these towers are failing, and the empire is losing the ability to maintain its advanced technology. The opening of Magi'i of Cyador is usually considered "Year 1" in the history of Recluce. Unlike the Demons, the Angels manipulate order. Of note are two specific angels, Nylan and Ryba, who would become legendary figures in coming novels. Ryba develops a talent for prophecy. Her extensive writings are quoted by future generations as The Book of Ryba , while Nylan develops the foundations of order magic.

Nylan also fathers the child Weryl. By this time, the fire-wagons and fire-lances that were once central to the empire have vanished, and the empire is fully dependent on its chaos wizards. The ultimate result of this confrontation is the founding of the Druids, which take up residence in a magically active forest called The Accursed Forest by the natives, but The Great Forest of Naclos in later generations.

She tries to protect Westwind, as political and military problems build in the surrounding countries of Gallos, Lornth, and Suthya. In this novel, characters indicate that almost 10 generations have passed since the reign of Lorn in Cyador. Decades after the fall of Cyador, Cyador's Heirs finds its survivors have reestablished themselves in Cigoerne, a fertile country coveted by hostile neighbors in less hospitable lands.

Young Lerial, the second son of Duke Kiedron, lives in the shadow of his older brother Lephi, the heir to their father's realm. Lerial's future seems preordained: He will one day command his brother's forces in defense of Cigoerne, serving at his older sibling's pleasure and no more. But when Lerial is sent abroad to be fostered by Major Altyrn to learn the skills and wisdom he will need to fulfill his future duties, he begins a journey into a much larger world that brings out his true potential.

Lerial has talents that few, as yet, suspect: And as war finally engulfs the fringes of Cigoerne, Lerial's growing mastery of Order and Chaos is tested to its limits and his own. Generations after the Angels reshaped the political climate in central Candar, the Prefect of Gallos seeks for an excuse to start another war with Westwind in the opening of The Mongrel Mage.

The Prefect sends three white mages with an escort to investigate 'raids' in the bordering plains between the two powers.

The Towers of the Sunset: Saga of Recluce, Book 2 (Unabridged)

Those mages are Beltur, his prominent white mage uncle, and his uncle's apprentice. After their findings displease the Prefect and his high mages, Beltur's uncle sacrifices himself so the young man can flee. With the aid of Jesslya, a young healer, Beltur travels to Elparta in Spidlar alongside a black mage named Athaal. Beltur, always considered weak as a white mage, is revealed to be a black, or possibly gray, mage.

In Elparta he increases his skills in order magic, finds works serving in the city patrol and helping a coppersmith forge cupridium, and strives to recover from the turmoil of Gallos. Soon, however, he discovers he cannot escape his past, as the Prefect and his white mages decide to conquer Elparta with their powerful army.

Recruited into Elparta's defense, Beltur excels as an arms-mage, bolstered by his desire to defend his new home and its people which now includes Jesslya, her mother, and many other recent friends. The victory of Elparta is marred by the loss of Athaal who Beltur was unable to save in battle. In Outcasts of Order Beltur attempts to return to his daily routine immediately after the war with Gallos but intrigue among the Trader's Council and the local group of black mages removes any chance he has to make Elparta his permanent home.

He begins to train the young daughter of a black mage who is destined to be a powerful chaos wielder. Forced to flee after defending himself and his coppersmith partner from two murderous black mages, Beltur travels to Axalt as the request of the smith and with Jesslya as his new consort. Adjusting to a new life in Axalt grows increasingly complicated as once again the powerful are threatened by his presence.

When his white mage apprentice and her family are exiled from Elparta they seek refuge with Beltur in Axalt. Despite assistance from the coppersmith's family Beltur, Jesslya and their guests are barely able to secure permission to stay. When he is unable to prevent a murder, Beltur tries to enact some justice for it, but ultimately is forced out of another city.