Customer Reviews

Imager's Intrigue: The Third Book of the Imager Portfolio

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I actually like reading L.E. Modesitt, but he can be somewhat infuriating at times. Imager's Intrigue, the third book in his Imager's trilogy, is typical. This, unlike much fantasy fiction is not intended for a 13 year old audience. At times I get the feeling that he's only concerned about the plot as a secondary outcome. Honestly, I suspect that he uses these novels as a way to role-play some of his ideas about economics and political theory. I think perhaps the fact that he fits his fantastical and otherworldly elements into such a mundane setting is what makes the story interesting for an adult. As always, the magic available to the characters has rules, very real limits, and often difficult consequences.

If you've read the first two books, you do want to find out what happens to the protagonist, Rhennthyl, and his wife Seliora. They are interesting, consistent characters, if they do suffer sometimes at the hands of Modesitt's style. As usual, the author keeps a hard remove from his character's emotions. He describes their actions and some of their thoughts, but he only lets us infer their motives and emotions. In some ways, this is what makes this a more adult version of the genre. It isn't an emotional rollercoaster, it is a story about events. It reads almost as a historical document.

The action is evenly paced, with lots of political machinations and subplots, although if I read one more paragraph about the theory and history of water rights, you can just go ahead and shoot me. On the other hand, the resolution of the story is satisfying and very logical. We end up going along with Rhenn's journey, I suppose in the same way one would go along for a ride-along in the day-by-day events in the life of, say, Harry Truman. (I mention Truman not because Rhenn is anything like him, but because Rhenn faces a similar type of historical situation and similar types of choices.)

Still, I know this review sounds as if I hated the book, but I did not. For some reason, I find Modesitt's fantasy storytelling compelling. I have a hard time putting his books down once I start them, even on those occasions when the action flags, and such was the case with Imager's Intrigue; I didn't put it down until I was done. I suppose that's the ultimate gauge for such a book.

In the interest of full disclosure, the reader should know that while I don't consider myself a Modesitt fan-boy, it's very rare that I don't love his work. So, a 4 of 5 star rating for Imager's Intrigue is, coming from me, a big deal. As I thought about why I wasn't thrilled with this novel, I finally decided on the following:

1. It seemed out of place. True to its title, Imager's Intrigue is all about Rhenn unravelling schemes and machinations, and not so much about Rhenn being a hands-on imager. To be fair, we still get to see Rhenn in action, but it's really not the point of this book. In fact, the largest action sequence in the story doesn't even involve (directly) Rennn. Not to say that a book of intrigue is a bad thing, but it is a significant departure from the rhythm established in the prior two books. I found it jarring, and since it really wasn't what I was looking forward to, a bit disappointing.

2. It felt repetitive. I'm not sure how many times the reader needs to be reminded about the Rhenn's morning calisthenics rituals, or how important it is that imagers sleep in lead-lined rooms or have to read prayers to The Nameless, but in these areas (and others) I felt like Modesitt went a little overboard. I'll give Modesitt the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was trying to convey that the structure of Rhenn's days are routine (wake up, exercise, read reports while taking hack to work...), but enough already.

3. It got a little preachy. Modesitt explores the relative merits of capitalism, free-trade, benevolent monarchies, the military industrial complex and tax law. Oh, and women's rights. Can't forget women's rights. Suffice to say, the reader is left with little doubt as to where the author stands on these issues, and his arguments are a bit ham-handed.

Despite these issues, I still heartily recommend this series, and this book, to friends and strangers. The world is expertly crafted. The (many) characters are nuanced, true to their motives and so well presented that most readers will (continue to) care about what happens to all of the primaries. The overall story arc, while a bit predictable, still has enough surprises that the reader can't take anything for granted. And if a lecture on the impact of land valuation is not something you want to sit through, just skip it. Unlike several books I've read of late where I find myself skipping over large sections of smut and am left with little to call a story, even if you skim through all of the "boring" in Imager's Intrigue you are still left with a lot to enjoy.

Out of all three books in the Imager series, this one was my least favorite. This is not a bad book, it just did not live up to my expectations. First, I was a little disappointed that this book took us five years into the future. I felt a little robbed after going through two books of Rhenn courting Seloria and not getting to read about the wedding and their life as a new married couple. I also felt there could have been a good story about Rhenn's first years as a Captain in the Patrol.

Second, the book seemed overloaded with characters. If they had not had the character list at the beginning of this book, I would have been lost. There were times that I just could not keep straight who was who and what side they were on and if they were a High Holder a Free Holder etc...

Third, there was too much politics and little action. The political intrigue was one thing I liked about the other books, but mainly because it was only part of the story, not the whole story. In this book, politics takes the forefront and it becomes a bit of a bore after a while.

Lastly, the book seemed to move slowly. It took me far longer to read this book than the other two in the series. I did not find that it captivated my interest as much as the other books.

I did not hate the book, it just was not the best in the series. It does tie things up and you are not left hanging in the end. I just think that more could have been done with it.

This is the third in this series and is every bit as good as the first two. This leaves one waiting anxiously for the next book. He can't write them fast enough to keep us, his eager readers satisfied. If this is your first experience with this author, do read the first book in this series so you are caught up. I can't recommend it enough.

In this third book in the Imager Portfolio, we find Rhenn five years on, married with a child and going about business as usual. This doesn't last long however, as political intrigue between nations creates effects that are seen in various ways in the city of L'Excelsis and throughout Solidar.

This series is anything but character-driven. Rhenn can seem the most affect-less character ever written at times. People fall dead around him and he just continues on, reporting his daily routine rather like the most annoying Tweets from the guy reporting on what he had for breakfast and whether he felt like running in the morning or not, then what he did for lunch, etc. I'm not sure why all these things are mentioned, which makes it all a bit worse. But if you like slow-moving detailed descriptions of minutiae, this won't bother you a bit. I usually don't mind... I've read all of Cherryh's Foreigner books, after all, but all the little actions actually have import on that world, unlike in the Imager world. Aside from these things, I still had no problem reading through this book, which does have action and danger to spice things up now and then. And plenty of intrigue, although it's not something that the main characters are involved in. They are mostly dealing with intrigue's effects.

This is Modesitt's best novel yet -- lots of action and thoughtful concepts. However, so much of this series is about foreign wars, it badly needs a world map.

I love the concepts Modesitt works with. The plots are very well done, although over used. However, that said, it just takes so... long to get to the point. There is a pedantic,overworking of detail, as though filling space. Imager's Intrigue was particularly weak in this area. I found myself yawning over our hero's parenting skills, and a bit irritated that the courtship which comprised so much of previous episodes was set aside, while we spent endless paragraphs on getting up, eating and traveling. Too much of the wrong detail! I don't buy nor read the books for these repetitive glimpses. Anyway, parts of the book were heavy and ponderous, and parts focused overly much on the unimportant. Now having said this, it was still a good read, even though slow. There are major possibilities still left unexplored and it seems the author needs to move on to either new vista's or arrange for a suitable ending. This series does not measure up to the Legacy series, but is still superior to most. Enough so to make me still want more.

Imager's Intrigue, the third novel in L.E. Modesitt's IMAGER PORTFOLIO fantasy series, starts a few years after the events of Imager's Challenge. The young master imager Rhenntyl is now a successful Captain in the Civic Patrol, which makes this new novel initially feel very similar to the previous book in the series. He's also happily married to Seliora and has a 3-year-old daughter, which is a refreshing touch, because how many fantasy heroes are ever shown with a young family like this?

The first third of Imager's Intrigue is extremely exciting and possibly the most enjoyable part of the series so far. By now, Rhenn has become a fascinating, well-rounded character, and his adventures in the city of L'Excelsis, dealing with an increase in drug overdoses due to a suspiciously stronger variety of elveweed, lead up to a stunning mid-novel climax.

After this, the novel slows down considerably as the main intrigue, which again combines local Solidar politics with an international plot, quickly gets very intricate. There's lots of politics in this middle third of the book, and it occasionally feels a bit crowded and confusing when Modesitt Jr. introduces the various players. Many of them have similar-sounding names (thank goodness for the handy character list at the front of the book) and the connections between all those different actors initially aren't always clear. Because of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s familiar first person p.o.v., reading that part of the novel can be as confusing for the reader as experiencing the events seems to be for Rhenn -- but rest assured that all the different strands are connected and resolved more than satisfactorily in the end.

Another recognizable L.E. Modesitt Jr. feature is the focus on the everyday details of the protagonist's life. Especially in the first part of the novel, the author consistently includes Rhenn's daily routine in each chapter, including the imager group workout in the morning, dropping off his wife and daughter at their place of business, reading the newspaper during the rest of the coach ride to work (which also provides a handy way to keep the reader informed of the international situation), and so on. All of this information is even included when nothing eventful happens, and as a matter of fact, Modesitt Jr. will only rarely write things like "the rest of the week was routine" and instead usually describe that routine in some detail. Even though this may sound a bit dry and even boring, it's strangely enjoyable to read because it genuinely helps the reader's understanding of, and immersion in, the hero's world and mindset.

One of the most interesting aspects of the IMAGER PORTFOLIO series is its setting: Solidar is a country in the middle of its industrial revolution, with new technologies such as steam engines and machine manufacturing gaining ground and changing the power base in an already complex society. Socially, this creates tension between the guilds, landholders, merchants, and owners of manufactories -- and of course the existence of the Collegium Imago makes things even more complicated. Interestingly, the series will now, in typical L.E. Modesitt Jr. fashion, take a step in a different direction: according to the author's website, the next novel, tentatively titled Scholar, is the first book in a trilogy set well before the events of the first 3 Imager novels, in the time before Solidar was unified.

I would have liked to read more about Rhenntyl too, but on the other hand, things are neatly wrapped up by the end of Imager's Intrigue... and knowing L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s skill and experience in showing and connecting different eras of his fantasy worlds, it's hard not to get excited about a few books set in the past of this already fascinating fantasy universe. A brief conversation towards the end of Imager's Intrigue contains a brief mention of historical figures like Rex Regis and Rex Caldor, and Rhenn is actually compared to a "warrior imager champion" called Bilbryn, so my guess is that's where we're heading in Scholar (which is expected for Fall 2011, but first we're getting treated to a standalone SF novel, Empress of Eternity). Count me excited.

Imager's Intrigue is the third in Modesitt's Imager Portfolio series. The world of the Imager Portfolio novels may well be the most advanced in technology that Modesitt has used in his fantasy writings. Naval vessels are coal-fired and tug boats are in use - so we're most definitely into the steam age; but is still only in the hands of the military and some emerging industrial uses. And personal sidearms have progressed to semi-automatic, magazine fed pistols. So if you're looking for a real-world parallel, think sometime in the late 1800s.

In Intrigue, Rhenn needs to deal with several interlocking problems - starting with conflict between the entrenched High Holders to maintain their status quo against the emergence of a very strong merchant class, political intrigue and espionage from both foreign and domestic sources, as well as the jealousy of some of Rhenn's former superiors. As is typical of Modesitt, his protagonist is a combination of reluctant hero and crusader. Rhennthyl follows the author's usual pattern of being the crusader towards the end goal of his hero, while being forced to actions he'd rather not take on an encounter by encounter basis. We're often told by Rhenn that he would have rather not taken that action that he did, but that he was forced into the use of deadly force. The plots and subplots have a much wider scale then as presented in the first two novels - where world events were very much part of the background previously, here their impact is much more central to the overall story. And the key players in this novel are much more 'world-centric' as well, by which I mean that their actions have a greater effect on society and Solidar as a whole, as opposed to the first two novels where the antagonists and minor protagonists were motivated only by their actions towards Rhenn.

Modesitt does his usual good job is presenting some very detailed motivations for this characters, whether are they are economic, political, or social ideals. Some people have said that he is overly preachy towards his presentation of his various ideals, but actually I think he works them into the story fairly well. They tend to be compact parts of the stories, and rarely take up more than a page at a time when he does present them. Because he does take the time to do this, rarely do any of Modesitt's characters appear paper-thin.

Overall, this is a good story. Modesitt does an excellent job of crafting a story with many subplots and linking them in plausible ways. There are no moments where you think things worked out a little too neatly for the protagonist. And Rhenn does grow quite a bit - as towards the middle and the end he's far less 'reluctant hero' and much more ruthless frankly. It's a good, if typical of Modesitt, progression for his hero.

I waited for this one because I felt they could only get better and sure enough it is better. Not one of his best, but better than the last one. I wish he could leave out abit of his prose and some of the story is just boring. There were several things I could have done without knowing. But all in all it is worth reading. I don't know if I would have spent the money for the hardback tho.

Rhenn is five years older but treated the same by the leaders of the the Collegium. He is still a Captain with the Patrol. He is married to Seliora and they have a three year old daughter. Seliora's family play a very important part in the story and she has become the only one Rhenn can truly talk to.

A stronger type of Elveweed has come to the taudis and is killing Elvers. Not only in the taudis but in the other districts as well. As Rhenn investigates he becomes a target for the terrorists. The same Ferren terrorists that he thwarted in the first book. He is still fighting in his own quiet way against the Holders, the terrorists, the factors, and the members of his own Collegium.

People are dying from Elveweed and by murder, several of the Captains of the Patrol are dying in accidents (?). When the unthinkable happens, Rhenn is faced with major decesions and he must use every tool at his disposal. Not just the Patrol but the very country is in danger. Rhenn is the only one who really understands what is going on and now he is the only one who can face the enemy.

The action is slow and the pace draggy in places but the overall story is good and the ending leaves us with a good place for another book set in the future. I did look forward to this book but it was abit of a disappointment. However, I will still look forward to others by this author. Even his excessive prosiness is better than most others.