At the same time I picked up that Eddings book reviewed below, I also took a small (four dollar) chance on the first volume in a “recommended” series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
“The Magic of Recluce” is interesting, amusing at times, moderately compelling, well-told, and takes an effective approach to the whole “good/bad, order/chaos” thing. It’s not exactly a white-knuckle page-turner (especially when the lead-character-slash-narrator settles down for a year to make a living as a woodcrafter) but the writing’s enjoyable enough to keep me hooked even through that bit of downtime. I’m pleased with the book overall, and I’ll definitely check out the next one in the series.
Comments
2 responses to “MiniReview: Magic of Recluce”
The only trouble I had with the series is the author’s habit of narrating events by sound effects alone, with a lack of wordage to set things up. Say, when the caravaneer tried to hold the hero’s staff and got burned. Seems to me there should have been a verbal setting-up of things.
Yeah, I’d forgotten about the cheesy, cheesy sound effects throughout the book. Mind you, I didn’t have a problem with the lack of (for instance) fight choreography. That’s probably because I’m incapable of writing any such myself. 😉