Magi'i of Cyador
Written by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Narrated by Kirby Heyborne
4/5
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About this audiobook
Magi'i of Cyador marks the beginning of a new tale from deep within the rich depths of the history of Recluce. This is the story of Lorn, a talented boy born into a family of Magi'i. A diligent student of remarkable talent, Lorn lacks only the single most coveted attribute required of a Magus of Cyador: unquestionable loyalty. Lorn is too independent for his own good.
So Lorn is forced to become a lancer officer, and he's sent to the frontier to fight off the all-too-frequent barbarian raids-a career that comes with a fifty percent mortality rate. His enemies don't expect him to survive...
Lorn is a fresh, new character who will enrich one of today's most important fantasy series: the saga of Recluce.
L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the bestselling author of the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce, Corean Chronicles, and the Imager Portfolio. His science fiction includes Adiamante, the Ecolitan novels, the Forever Hero Trilogy, and Archform: Beauty. Besides a writer, Modesitt has been a U.S. Navy pilot, a director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant and staff director for a U.S. Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.
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Titles in the series (38)
The Magic Engineer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magic of Recluce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Towers of the Sunset Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magic of Recluce (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Towers of the Sunset (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magic of Recluce (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Death of Chaos (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Order War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Towers of the Sunset (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Order War (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magic Engineer (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArms-Commander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Order War (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magic Engineer (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColors of Chaos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Chaos (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Chaos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chaos Balance (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Saga of Recluce 7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chaos Balance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall of Angels (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Saga of Recluce 6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe White Order Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scion of Cyador Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wellspring of Chaos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall of Angels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall of Angels (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Saga of Recluce 6 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Chaos Balance (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Saga of Recluce 7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrdermaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mongrel Mage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magi'i of Cyador Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mage-Guard of Hamor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Magi'i of Cyador
149 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This series drags at times when they get into discussing the battles... but the underlying story is great.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Its been a little over 20 years since I last read a Magic of Recluce novel. I remember the series being a bit slow to start, nonlinear from book to book, with most of them being in pairs of chronological tales, and that they were nuanced and thoughtful. This book was definitely nuanced, but was not plot driven rather more of a character study. This book serves to illuminate some ancient history in the lore of this world, exploring the story of Lorn, a character who mixes order and chaos and is therefore an enemy of the traditional chaos-run society. He is maneuvered into positions where he is supposed to fail, but he succeeds by thinking outside of the box and bucking tradition, which just gets him promoted into an even more dangerous position. Through it all, he remains rational, finds love, and starts to build the foundations of power. I enjoyed this book, but it didn't grab me as much as the previous Magic of Recluce novels have. Perhaps it was the lack of a plot-driven story, or perhaps it was the dryness of the characters or the repetition of the story, or perhaps my tastes have changed over the past 20 years. I did enjoy the political plotting and the hints of science fiction in the origins of chaos in this world. I liked many of the world-building aspects. It was still enjoyable, but not one of my favorites of the series. I'm still interested enough to check out the next book though.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have to give L. E. Modesitt a lot of credit, in this 10th book of the series, he still manages to keep things interesting. It helps that this book is entirely about Cyador and not Recluce, like many of the previous books. Cyador is the kingdom founded on the control of chaos - not in an orderly way, but the use of chaos to produce useful effects, like propelling trucks and cars and powering fire lances. Cyador is stuck in a rut though, which is strange for a kingdom founded on chaos. The mages, warriors and merchants subtly struggle for control while barbarians and the Forest try to tear the kingdom apart. As is usual for his books, while white Chaos is usually evil in previous books, that's not always the case as presented here. Good, unusual fantasy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cyador pair may be my favorite of the Recluce novels. They're cohesive, form a compelling arc, and have a number of engaging characters - not just the main character. They're fairly distant chronologically from all of the rest, even the Angels books, and that allows them some substantial freedom - they're also much more about maintaining an empire in the face of failing resources than about the order/chaos dichotomy that is the focus of all the rest.
They're not perfect. Lorn is a solid character in general, but his ruthlessness is offputting - he kills at least four people in this book in more-or-less cold blood without ever showing any indication of having considered alternatives. This is consistent with the extreme pragmatism of the society in general - it doesn't count the human cost - but it makes Lorn less sympathetic for sure.
And Modesitt develops a tic in this pair of books that I don't recall him using anywhere else - the overuse of "such." Characters are always saying such, or doing such, or using verbal constructions like "I would have, had I known such." It seems like Modesitt is trying to create an archaic feel by just making the dialog more stilted, and it might work better if he had more tools to do so.
I do enjoy the female characters - in a society that is aggressively patriarchal, there are a number of women who figure out ways to get exactly what they want, and Modesitt treats their choices as not only valid but obviously, inevitably so. I'm particularly curious what his concept of the woman who refuses to marry and spends her free time dressed up as a man was - was she intended to be gay, or trans, or just a free spirit? It's never really addressed, but also not treated as anything particularly deviant.
Magi'i is really half of a book, like many of his other pairs in this series, but it's a solid half to one of the better stories. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is currently the first book in the Recluse series chronologically. A Chaos based society, although Order workers are part of the society, they're just not as highly thought of. The hero is Modesitt's standard guy; thoughtful, responsible & with limited, but above average powers. A hero in his understated way. This is one of my favorite books of the series.