The White Order (Recluce) [Hardcover]

In this author's popular Recluce fantasies--beginning with The Magic of Recluce, 1991--the classic theme of youngsters growing to adult power and responsibility is repeatedly retold in terms of magic skill. Past books focused on the apparent good guys--"black" magicians who use order-magic (cooling, healing, strengthening) and constantly oppose the White Order of chaos wizards whose talent is fire and dissolution. Young hero Cerryl has a natural bent for chaos, and for him the Whites offer the only game in town. Painfully he learns about balance: order-magic can be deviously used for destruction, chaos can cleanse and anyway requires order-control if it's not to destroy the user. This moves interestingly away from simplistic "black is good, white is bad" magical colour-coding ... but although Cerryl is a decent, ethical white wizard the Order remains unpleasantly tyrannical--e.g., instant life sentence of slave labour for the equivalent of an outdated road-tax disc. The magic training is interesting if repetitive (apprentices practice firebolts by zapping blockages in the public sewers), but Modesitt's real story is waiting for Cerryl to become a full mage of the Order and perhaps confront its injustices in the massive forthcoming sequel, Colours of Chaos. --David Langford --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

'Modesitt creates a deeper and more intricate world with each volume' - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY; 'An intriguing fantasy in a fascinating world' - Robert Jordan on THE MAGIC OF RECLUCE; 'Modesitt follows the very real concerns for food, latrines, shelter, medicine, and the struggle for power within the group, while tracing the lives of gifted men and women in th eprocess of becoming legends ' - LOCUS on FALL OF ANGELS --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

L.E.Modesitt's bestselling fantasy novels set in the magical world of Recluce are among the most popular in contemporary fantasy. THE WHITE ORDER is the story of Cerryl, a boy orphaned when the powerful white mages killed his amateur-magician father. Cerryl, raised by his aunt and uncle, is a curious boy, attracted to mirrors and books. The miller's daughter teaches Cerryl to read his father's books, and it seems that the talent for magic has been passed from father to son. When Cerryl and the miller witness a white mage destroy a renegade magician, the miller realises that he can no longer keep the boy safe. So Cerryl is sent to the city of Fairhaven to finds his destiny: To become one of the great magicians of his age. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr is the author of the Recluce series, the Spellsong Cycle and a number of science fiction novels including THE PARAFAITH WAR. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.