The Magic of Recluse by L. E. Modesitt Jr. is the gateway into one of those storied Epic Fantasy franchises that you’ve probably heard of but were too intimidated to jump into. That may be because it’s the first book in The Saga of Recluse, an ongoing juggernaut of a series that currently spans twenty-six separate books. Yeah, I definitely understand the hesitation.
But before you go screaming back to your Wheel of Time comfort food (a mere fifteen entries), let me first interject that Magic can definitely be consumed as a standalone entrée. And if you enjoy it as much as I have, know that there are roughly two separate books devoted to each main character/time period, each duology fitly neatly into the overarching chronology of the series. You can read only this one, or follow up with it’s immediate sequel. Or, if you happen to really like a particular character introduced in one entry or another, you can scan the series as a whole and see if that character has a more prominent role in another book or two. Pretty nifty, right?
But perhaps we’re putting the tart before the horse radish. Let’s dig into the meat of what really makes The Magic of Recluse work for me.
Without a doubt, Modessit Jr. is a maestro of world-building. And the first component in his grand schema is, fittingly, magic itself. Like his penchant for duologies, Modessit Jr’s magic system can be divided into two halves: Order and Chaos. But it’s not as neat and tidy as it sounds. The good guys aren’t necessarily the mages who practice Order. In fact, they wear black all the time. Likewise, you can at the very least sympathize with the motivations of the Chaos wizards, who are at times portrayed as idealistic—if misguided—dreamers. Order mages love structure on principal, so they tend towards engineering and the hard sciences. While the white-clad Chaos wizards tend toward the fiery, more fantastical elements of creation. It’s not their fault that all their meddling with the natural forces in ages past created a miniature sun that basically wiped out a whole civilization. They’re just the Fantasy equivalent of liberal arts majors!
Speaking of grand catastrophes and fiery balls of death, the geography of this world is almost entirely dictated by the events of a past war on the main continent some decades before the events of this first book. (But don’t worry, you can read about it starting in The Order War, a prequel to this story, if you feel so inclined.) As a result of this previous war, the geopolitical coloring of the map leaves the Chaos wizards in control of the main continent, while the Order mages have withdrawn to build their utopian society on a large island nearby.
These two forces come into conflict when the protagonist, a young man named Lerris, is effectively banished from his island home of Order for the great crime of not being particularly motivated or knowing what he wants to do with his life. It turns out that the elders of the Order nation have a tried-and-true solution for getting rid of their rebels without causes: train them up in the use of weapons or magic, and then dump them as refugees over on the main Chaos-governed continent. Lerris gets a few months of training alongside a few other outcasts, and is then thrust into what is effectively the “real” world. He embarks on a journey to find himself in a place where thieves and cutthroats abound, where bounty hunters are constantly trying to kill or arrest him, and where he must earn a living for himself through his own wits while staying one step ahead of his hunters.
Lerris’ journey of self-discovery and survival works for me because it feels so grounded, and in that way parallels the real-life experiences of any adolescent who has had to bumble his way into manhood in a world where the deck is stacked against him. Just because Lerris possesses an innate gift for Order magic does not mean that he can use it as a shortcut to success. In fact, at one point, Lerris has to cease his Fantasy road-trip through this cold, foreign region in order to save up money. And how does he do that? By becoming an apprentice carpenter and being really good at his day job! How oddly relatable is that?
And along the way, Lerris bumps into many of the other misfits whom he trained with back on the island. These aren’t all good people, but there is a sense of comradery amongst the rest of these deadly, gun and knife-wielding rejects which is, strangely, heartwarming. There’s even a minor, minor romance sub-plot.
All in all, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of this story. And the good news is that you can find it pretty much everywhere, owing to its status as a modern classic. In fact, I don’t even own a copy, having picked it up at my local library. Its always worth checking into before you plop down twenty bucks on the first entry in a series that might not be your particular cup of tea.
That being said, the odds of outright not enjoying this story are low. In fact, I would go so far as to call it, well, magic.