The Mage-Fire War

Name: The Mage-Fire War
Rating: 3.857 (14 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250207814

By L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Publisher Description

L. E. Modesitt, Jr., continues his bestselling Saga of Recluce with The Mage-Fire War, the third book in a story arc which began with The Mongrel Mage and Outcasts of Order.

A USA Today Bestseller!

Once again, prejudices against the use of chaos magic force Beltur and his companions to flee their refuge in Axalt. The rulers of nearby Montgren have offered them sanctuary and the opportunity to become the Councilors of the run-down and disintegrating town of Haven.

Montegren lacks any mages—white or black—making this seem like the perfect opportunity to start again.

However, Beltur and the others must reinstitute law and order, rebuild parts of the town, deal with brigands—and thwart an invading army.

Saga of Recluce

#1 The Magic of Recluce / #2 The Towers of the Sunset / #3 The Order War / #4 The Magic Engineer / #5 The Death of Chaos / #6 Fall of Angels / #7 The Chaos Balance / #8 The White Order / #9 Colors of Chaos / #10 Magi’i of Cyador / #11 Scion of Cyador / #12 Wellspring of Chaos / #13 Ordermaster / #14 Natural Order Mage / #15 Mage-Guard of Hamor / #16 Arms-Commander / #17 Cyador’s Heirs / #18 Heritage of Cyador / #19 The Mongrel Mage / #20 Outcasts of Order / #21 The Mage-Fire War / #22 Fairhaven Rising (forthcoming)

Story Collection: Recluce Tales

Other Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Imager Portfolio
The Corean Chronicles
The Spellsong Cycle
The Ghost Books
The Ecolitan Matter

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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The Mage-Fire War Reviews

3.5

Butterbean126

Created about 1 year ago

Metaphorosis Reviews

Created over 1 year ago

“2 stars, http://reviews.metaphorosis.com/review/the-mage-fire-war-l-e-modesitt-jr/ Summary Beltur, black mage and occasional healer, his wife, and friends, searching for a place they can live in peace, have agreed to be the councilors for Haven, a town on the edge of the duchy of Montgren. But Montgren's neighbours want the town for themselves, and Beltur and crew have to fight multiple battles just to stay free. Review "A mage who's also a healer. That's rare." "Yes." "And a healer who's also a mage. I've never heard of that." With those three lines, you've now read at least a dozen pages of The Mage Fire War. It's an exchange that was repeated ad nauseam in the book before this, and is repeated many, many more times here. Technically, one could argue that for every new character encountered in the book, this is new information. But one element of good writing is presenting things in a way that's interesting to the reader. Otherwise, what you have is a logbook. We don't need a character to explain how many coppers in a silver every time they buy something; once is enough. In this book and its predecessor, I found myself actually shouting at the page, "We got it. Let it go!" Modesitt is a better author than this. And that, actually, is the explanation that finally came to me in the shower one morning: Modesitt is a better author than this; maybe this isn't Modesitt. Now, I'm not one for conspiracy theories. I don't really believe that someone else is ghost writing Modesitt's books. But it's a pretty fair explanation of what's here - a tone much like Modesitt's usual, but without almost any of the storytelling skill we're used to. Instead, it's endless, ad nauseam repetition of petty details. Maybe Modesitt is trying something out. Maybe he thought that, for one sub-series, a day-by-day logbook of events would be interesting. It's not, and it should have been obvious after (or before) one book. That's not to say there aren't interesting elements here; there are, and the sub-series itself contains a good story. But between the last book and this one, there's material for maybe 2/3 of a book instead of this bloated, stultifying, indigestible mass. That sounds harsh. But this book really is dull - not because of concept or subject matter, but because it's just so darned repetitive. Maybe I made a mistake by reading the book over only a few weeks. Maybe if I put it down for a month between chapters, each repetition of a basic concept would have felt fresh. I don't think so. The long and the short of it is that this book is only for true Modesitt completists, and perhaps not even for them. Received gratis in exchange for an honest review. Merged review: 2 stars, http://reviews.metaphorosis.com/review/the-mage-fire-war-l-e-modesitt-jr/ Summary Beltur, black mage and occasional healer, his wife, and friends, searching for a place they can live in peace, have agreed to be the councilors for Haven, a town on the edge of the duchy of Montgren. But Montgren's neighbours want the town for themselves, and Beltur and crew have to fight multiple battles just to stay free. Review "A mage who's also a healer. That's rare." "Yes." "And a healer who's also a mage. I've never heard of that." With those three lines, you've now read at least a dozen pages of The Mage Fire War. It's an exchange that was repeated ad nauseam in the book before this, and is repeated many, many more times here. Technically, one could argue that for every new character encountered in the book, this is new information. But one element of good writing is presenting things in a way that's interesting to the reader. Otherwise, what you have is a logbook. We don't need a character to explain how many coppers in a silver every time they buy something; once is enough. In this book and its predecessor, I found myself actually shouting at the page, "We got it. Let it go!" Modesitt is a better author than this. And that, actually, is the explanation that finally came to me in the shower one morning: Modesitt is a better author than this; maybe this isn't Modesitt. Now, I'm not one for conspiracy theories. I don't really believe that someone else is ghost writing Modesitt's books. But it's a pretty fair explanation of what's here - a tone much like Modesitt's usual, but without almost any of the storytelling skill we're used to. Instead, it's endless, ad nauseam repetition of petty details. Maybe Modesitt is trying something out. Maybe he thought that, for one sub-series, a day-by-day logbook of events would be interesting. It's not, and it should have been obvious after (or before) one book. That's not to say there aren't interesting elements here; there are, and the sub-series itself contains a good story. But between the last book and this one, there's material for maybe 2/3 of a book instead of this bloated, stultifying, indigestible mass. That sounds harsh. But this book really is dull - not because of concept or subject matter, but because it's just so darned repetitive. Maybe I made a mistake by reading the book over only a few weeks. Maybe if I put it down for a month between chapters, each repetition of a basic concept would have felt fresh. I don't think so. The long and the short of it is that this book is only for true Modesitt completists, and perhaps not even for them. Received gratis in exchange for an honest review.”

F Duncan

Created about 2 years ago

AlohaG

Created over 2 years ago

RobinH

Created over 2 years ago

About L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

L. E. MODESITT, JR. is the author of more than seventy books—primarily science fiction and fantasy, including the long-running, bestselling Saga of Recluce, including The Mongrel Mage and Outcasts of Order, and Imager Portfolio, as well as a number of short stories.

Other books by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

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