- Paperback: 566 pages
- Publisher: Orbit; paperback / softback edition (6 May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1857238435
- ISBN-13: 978-1857238433
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 363,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
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wizard the Order remains unpleasantly tyrannical--e.g., instant life sentence of slave labour for the equivalent of an outdated road-tax disc.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
Review
'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
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After reading the previous book ' The Chaos Balance' i was beginning to think of giving up the series. The storylines had become laboured and predictable and the characters flat. However, 'The White Order' was taken a different perspective and allowed us to associate with the enemy as they have been in the other books. The characters were realistic and it will give the white wizards in any future books a more human feel. The story, while simple, was compelling and I found it hard to put the book down.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When I first picked up this book and started reading it I wasnt sure what to think., Ive read the whole series at least 3 times now and Expect ill read it a fourth. A 10 is not a true rating for this book from me because i think its a 20, Modesitt has given a whole new twist to the world hes created and i loved playing devils advocate with him..fact is the whites are cool, in a world of chaos magic there can be no wuss'. you either got it or you die, and in the world of politics on Candor, like reality, its good to be the king. All I can say to Modesitt is dont let it end here dude. I can reread the series over and over, but its always a new Thrill seeing a book on the store shelves youve written that ive never read, because I know ill be losing sleep trying to get just one more page read before i start seeing double..Why cant our world be half as cool as his .. thanx to the StoryTeller
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
22 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
kind of a rambling review
8 July 1999
Format:Hardcover
An interesting departure from the earlier Saga of Recluce stories, as Cerryl is the first White to be a protagonist in the series. It might have been more of a departure, however, had Modesitt chosen to write about, say, Jeslek (the ending of such a story would necessarily be abrupt). Cerryl is really little different from Modesitt's Black heroes of earlier books. If the point is to show that Order and Chaos are basically the same, I think it might be better to have a Black villain in one of the stories. The Blacks of Recluce may be harsh and unfair, shortsighted, and perhaps even corrupt, but never evil. Enough on my first point. There are a lost of loose ends in this story, but so far Modesitt has tied up every loose end or hint of a story in a future book (and since this book has a sequel, I don't imagine that will change). All in all, one of the better installments in the Saga of Recluce (considering The White Order, Fall of Angels, etc., perhaps the series needs to be renamed).
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
The White Order
13 Feb 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book was great. I loved the emphasis on the White side of the story. It makes you think that the 'bad guys' are not all bad. It let you understand both sides to the story and more fully enjoy the series.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
excellent reading
12 Jan 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A nice change of direction. Instead of being from the Black Mage's point of view,(the 'good guys'), it is written from the perspective of an('evil') White Wizard. An apparently normal guy with powers that align with the White Wizards. A nice little twist that puts to rest the on-going trend that 'all' things White are evil, & all things Black are good. For those of you who have not read this series, the Whites(or Chaos Wizards) are aligned with destruction & short term answers to long term problems. The Black Mages are aligned with healing, adding order, & of course, long term solutions. A very enjoyable series. Don't let the fact that each book is about a different character put you off or confuse you(did me!). It comes together nicely as you read more books, & picks up where it leaves off in later books...BS
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