Although best known for his Fantasy novels, L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is author of a number of acclaimed SF novels, including THE PARAFAITH WAR and ADIAMANTE.
When the White Wizards of Fairhaven unleash their chaos-borne powers against the forces of order while laying siege to the land of Sarronyn, the order-bound Black Wizards of Recluce enter the battle on the side of the defenders. Justen, a young Black Engineer, discovers that the only sure road to victory over chaos involves breaching the gap between chaos and order-an action both forbidden and dangerous. In this latest addition to the Recluce saga, Modesitt (The Magic Engineer, LJ 3/15/94) fills another gap in this history of a world's ongoing struggle to balance opposing forces. The author's ability to concentrate on the personal lives of the characters as well as their involvement in world-shaking decisions gives depth and believability to a unique fantasy environment. A strong choice for most fantasy collections.
In this fourth tale set in Modesitt's universe, where good and evil, chaos and order, are in perpetual conflict, a young wizard reluctantly finds that his destiny is to strike a balance, but at considerable personal cost. Sometime well after the events in The Magic Engineer and before The Magic of Recluce, order engineer Justen, a junior in his guild, volunteers for a force sent by Recluce to aid the matriarchy of Sarronnyn, under attack by the White Wizards of Fairhaven in their move to extend the rule of chaos. The vastly outnumbered armies of order nearly succeed in holding back the conquerors, mostly due to Justen's development of chaos-destroying weapons and the efforts of his brother Gunnar, a powerful Air Wizard who marshals the weather as a formidable weapon and unleashes flash floods. But treason fells the defenders, and Justen is separated from his cohorts and ends up wandering in the deserts of Candar. Rescued by the druid Dayala, he is taken to her people in Naclos, where he learns about living in perfect harmony with nature, and about his fearsome destiny to curtail the savage war between order and chaos. Although at times his villains seem a touch unsophisticated and even simpleminded for the evil they perpetrate, Modesitt creates a deeper and more intricate world with each volume. (Jan.)
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