The Magic Engineer

The chronicles of the magical island of Recluce continue as young Dorrin, fascinated by forbidden science, goes into exile in the lands of Chaos, where he unwillingly invents devices of war to save his land from the evil Chaos wizards. By the author of The Towers of the Sunset.

There is little to distinguish this newest Recluce work (after Towers of the Sunset ) from its myriad fantasy brethren. This time around, Modessit's world of Order (Black) and Chaos (White) features the plodding Dorrin, a healer/engineer who dreams of making machines and often denies what other people consider his extraordinary abilities. When the White Wizards of Chaos threaten the area of the world to which the Order-based Dorrin has been exiled to "find himself," he uses his engineering talents to design and build weaponry and his dreamed-of machines. Modesitt's prose lacks the range to make his rather pedestrian narrative interesting: more than a few events are unnecessarily telegraphed to readers several chapters before they happen, and the same character often--irritatingly--described three different ways within a few paragraphs. The most effective moments are those depicting the troubled relationship between Dorrin and a woman named Liedral. There's not much else to sustain the reader.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Third in Modesitt's series (The Magic of Recluce, 1991; The Towers of the Sunset, 1992) about the island kingdom of Recluce, and the incessant tensions between Chaos (white magic) and Order (black magic). This time, young Dorrin of Recluce, a scion of the Order magicians, develops an interest in forbidden arts--science and engineering--and so, by the laws of Recluce, must accept exile in the lands of Chaos in order to work out his own destiny. Unfortunately, the Chaos wizards are intent on conquering Recluce, so Dorrin is torn between his desire to practice Chaos arts and his steadfast loyalty to the principles of Order. In sum, another uneven installment, sometimes engaging, often frustrating, with interesting inversions and sidelights; and, the worst distraction of all, set forth in an ultimately self-destructive present tense. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A young smith with healing talents, exiled from the land of Recluce for his desire to work with the stuff of chaos, becomes the fulcrum for a war between the forces of chaos and order. This latest novel in Modesitt's "Recluce" series demonstrates the author's subtle storytelling, as the everyday lives of her characters intertwine with events of epic proportions. Grand fantasy on a small scale, this intelligently crafted novel deserves consideration by most libraries.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In Modesitt's third novel about the island of Recluce, Dorin, a young engineer in that bastion of magical Order, is more interested in machinery than both his family and government think appropriate. His exile takes him close to the borders of the lands of Chaos, where a young wizard with more skill and time to waste than good sense has notions of founding an empire. Modesitt continues to develop the underlying concepts of Recluce with better-than-average skill; both his pacing and command of language are deserving of praise. He remains a vendor of intellectual rather than visceral pleasure, yet he has developed so much over the years that it seems even this limitation may not last forever. Roland Green