Customer Reviews

Legacies (Corean Chronicles, Book 1)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Legacies is the first novel in the Corean Chronicles. "The Duarchy of Corus blessed all the lands with peace and prosperity, for generation upon generation, from the times of the Forerunners onward ... Then came the Cataclysm, and the old ways and webs weakened, and the world changed for all time".

Alucius is the scion of a Herder family. He has the Talent and has learned the ways of the Iron Valleys and the Nightsheep. Now he is old enough to be inducted into the Militia as was his forefathers. Since his father did not come back from such service, his mother, Lucenda, is determined not to lose him as well, but his family cannot afford to buy out his enlistment.

His grandfather, who had been a Militia Captain, trains him well for the service; he can ride, shoot, swordfight and even fight hand to hand. His mother provides him with Nightsheep underclothes that will turn a sword and may even stop a bullet (although the impact could still kill him). When the time comes, Alucius is better prepared than most Militia inductees, but nothing can prevent random misfortunes.

Alucius has a girl who promises to wait for him. Wendra is a friend of the family whom he has known for years. She too comes from a herder family, although her father is a cooper, a maker of barrels.

Their immediate enemies are the Reillies and other brigands in the Westerhills. However, there are also the Lord-Protector of Lanachrona in the south as well as the Matrial of Madrien to the southwest beyond the Reillies. Madrien has been attacking the Reillies and many of them have come east to raid the Iron Valleys.

While Alucius is serving in the Militia, the Madrien attack the Iron Valleys with a powerful Duarchy device. Alucius is knocked unconscious by a falling building. Upon awakening, he finds a silver torque around his neck that can strangle him, cause intense pain or even kill him at the will of his commanders; also, the torque cancels most of his Talent. He has been captured by the matriarchal Madrien society, where most men wear the torque and even a few unruly or distrusted women. He is determined to escape, but he doesn't yet know enough to avoid recapture even if he can find a way to remove the torque.

This novel features a young man of talent serving in the military and greatly resembles the Magi'i of Cyador in those aspects. However, this is a time of war in Corus. Moreover, the young man is not as powerful in his talent as Lorn and is not an officer, but rather a low ranking trooper, although he is learning fast.

The world of Corus has an unusual ecology, with many animals and plants that are too poisonous to eat and some with strange powers. Moreover, there a still a few powerful artifacts of the Duarchy in working order, but the Legacies of the Duarchy are commonly considered curses.

Madrien is a matriarchy, but is opposed by nations that are rabid patriarchies. The Iron Valleys are a mildly patriarchal society when compared to the others. While the author has explored the differences between matriarchal and patriarchal societies elsewhere, one would think that the term "Duarchy" probably indicates a society with a more balanced division of power between the sexes. The sequels may be even more interesting than this volume.

Highly recommended for Modesitt fans and for anyone else who enjoys fantasy stories of smart and talented persons working their way out of a dangerous situation.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I like Modesitt. His characters - his young characters, in particular - are well drawn and vivid. His narrative is good, particularly in battle scenes. His handling of romance is less elegant, perhaps betraying some of his religious beliefs. But as much as I like him, I really, really wish he could come up with a new plot. He seems to have read or watched Bill Moyers' interviews of Joseph Campbell, and never gotten beyond the part about the Young Hero.

Alucius is a young man growing up in a fairly obscure part of the continent of Corus. He is a Herder, a part of a family that raises Nightsheep, and spins their wool into a kind of low-tech, flexible body armor. A natural nemourlon, if you will. Early on Alucius discovers he has magical/psychic powers, Talent. "Legacies" is the story of his growth as a young man and his growth in his ability to use his Talent. It is also the story of awkward, ambiguous good against comfortable, complacent and even seductive evil. If the adjoining country of Madrien is founded on an evil use of Talent, and enslaves men, but let's its people live comfortable and safe lives, should the evil use of Talent be destroyed?

If all of this sounds an awful lot like the Legend of Recluce, well, yes, it is. There's an added element of an earlier, more technological, collapsed culture whose powerful artifacts still litter the landscape, some to deadly effect. And no one will confuse Alucius's home, the Iron Valley, with the Black Island of Recluce. But here, as in Recluce, a specially Talented youngster is dragged against his will into war, with dramatic consequences for everyone involved.

As other reviewers have noted, we only get confusing glimpses of the earlier cultures and history of this land, and the events of the book take place on the westernmost part of the continent. Presumably, most of the loose ends will get cleared up over the next two books of this projected trilogy.

The writing is better than it was in the Recluce books (especially the early books), but the basis of the Talent isn't as well explained as the Order/Chaos of Recluce. There's a plethora of very strange creatures around: sanders, sand wolves, soarers and more. Perhaps all this will get explained later. For now, I guess readers are to take it as an annoying kind of foreshadowing.

The pacing is far better, although as has been the case since "The Magic of Recluce," there's not much question of what is going to happen, only how it is going to happen.

I just wish Modesitt could bring his considerable talents to new plots.

Having read every Recluse novel which L.E. Modesitt, Jr has written I can say with complete confidence that after two or three novels it becomes quickly apparent that Modesitt tells the same story over and over again. That's fine. I happen to enjoy the story that Modesitt tells. He tells the story of a young man from humble beginnings. This young man typically has a hidden "Talent" or magical skill which would set him apart from the rest of the world. His family tells him to not reveal this talent because he will never be safe when people know. The young man is moral. He always chooses to do the right thing, the proper thing, and the difficult thing if the difficult and dangerous thing will lead to a greater good. Eventually the young man becomes a target but rises to a level of power and authority because he is highly skilled.

I just described The Magic of Recluse, The Towers of the Sunset, a variation of Ordermaster, and pretty much every other Recluse novel.

This is also a very accurate description of Legacies, the first novel in Modesitt's Corean Chronicles.

Alucius is from a herder family. Herders typically have some measure of Talent. Alucius has Talent in full measure. Where do we think his story is going to go from here? What sort of novel is this? Who is the author?

Ah, yes. It is a fantasy novel written by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. The basic outline of the plot fits the outline given above. Add in the matriarchy vs patriarchy which also fills out Recluse and it makes me wonder if there isn't some way that the Corean Chronicles isn't set thousands of years after The Death of Chaos. Likely, it isn't. But there is a fit.

The book is workmanlike and decently crafted. Modesitt knows how to tell his story and if you space out his novels enough there isn't the full sense of retread.

-Joe Sherry

I liked this book.

The writing of this fantasy is plain and simple, no complicated words or phrases: but the story is told with the skill of a master taleteller and (just as important) with an easy readability. I found myself eager to get back to it whenever I found a spare moment.

I found I liked the central figure (Alucius) and his special "talent". Also, there seemed to be just the right balance of magic, suspense, love, friendship and battles to make this work a pleasure to read for any fantasy/adventure fan. Recommended!

Throughout his plethoric catalog (42 going on 44 as of this writing), the majority of Modesitt's work repeatedly returns to the good-old-teenager-coming-of-age novel. Sometimes it works. Several of the Recluce novels, the two Timegod books, the first Parafaith War book, the first book of the Forever Hero are all good novels. Other times they're awful. Unless you are filling out a collection, several of the later Recluce novels, Spellsong III, and a couple of his other stand alones are just not good work. However, in Legacies he comes up with his best fantasy coming of age novel, period.

The plot revolves around a simple country boy with the ubiquitous gifts you'd expect in a world-saving hero - in this case, Talent to use nature's magic. Essentially, the plot has him get drafted, get captured, and figure out how to escape. Nothing terribly extraordinary; in fact, Recluce and the world revolving around concepts of order and chaos is probably a more original creation.

Where Modesitt gets it right is his exploration of how this character, Alucius, really starts thinking about what makes right and wrong in his world and taking consequences for his actions and leadership. As usual, Modesitt isn't afraid to preach a bit, but unlike say the Ethos Effect it works. Rural versus urban, women versus men, slavery versus freedom all get a fairly balanced treatment. What makes this different is usually Modesitt will touch on one or the other but not to the degree that any real teen in that situation would have to deal with; here, this kid has to confront them all.

As usual, unfortunately Modesitt has a few plot and worldbuilding holes. I found the former to be annoying - the motivation of his characters, especially the development of romance, often makes no sense. Unlike other reviewers, I actually found the worldbuilding holes to be intriguing; perhaps it was a book-selling trick (the second book, Darknesses, contains many of the answers) but you really get a sense that while Modesitt may know, Alucius doesn't and shouldn't yet.

By now, you either hate Modesitt's style or love it; if you hate it, this won't change things. Still, Modesitt's best fantasy novel in years, and probably his best coming of age story ever. Recommended especially for teens given the topics.

A herder needs a certain amount of the 'talent,' the psychic ability that puts him apart from other men. Young herder Alucius has more talent than most--and he fully expects to put it to use on his family's ranch. When war breaks out, he is drafted into the local militia. His talent, together with his grandfather's training, serves him well there, but the Matrites are too numerous and too strong for even his psychic powers. Alucius finds himself enslaved into the very army he had attempted to defeat.

Author L. E. Modesitt Jr. creates a compelling future world--devastated by ancient magic battles and still struggling to recover. Each of the nations that are now clawing themselves into existence believe that they have learned the reason for the ancient destruction and that their path is the only way to prevent its recurrence. Unfortunately, each solution stands in opposition to one another. Modesitt delivers a highly sympathetic character in Alucius, but also lets the reader sympathise with other nations' goals and fears.

Modesitt delivers plenty of action, with an emphasis on the personal rather than large scale troop movements. Alucius's battles with himself, his personal discoveries and his gradual coming of age, form the basis for this compelling novel.

Fans of Modesitt's fine Recluse series will add LEGACIES to their must-read list.

Legacies is the first of Modesitt's novels that I have gotten around to reading. His Recluce series has been suggested to me in the past, but there was so much out there to read that it went to the back of my mind. However, I saw this book at a used book store, and, since it was the only book of his avaliable that was the first of a series, I decided to try it out.

It took the book a little while to get going, especially because it would jump multiple years and leave it up to the reader to figure out how old Alucius is at the time. His grandfather's training sessions were the point where it became an interesting book for me, and stayed interesting throughout. There was a good deal of everything, and though I've seen better explanations of tactics in fiction, Modesitts' were adequate for moving the story along.

The greatest boon of the book was probably the inclusion of rifles into the standard swords and sorcery arsenal. I had never heard of anything like it in a fantasy novel, and Modesitt made good use of the rifle in emphasizing Alucius' broad range of skills in everything from herding to warfare to saving western Corus on his day off.

Unfortunately, there were a few things that irked me as I read through the story, which made the book undeserving of a fifth star in my mind. The most prominent was his conversion of miles (I think) into vingts and hours into glasses. Almost every fantasy writer does something of the like, for seemingly no reason other than to make their world unique, but just because it is excruciatingly common does not make it excusable. Secondly was the properness of everybody who Alucius comes across. There was a distinct lack of vernacular dialogue between anybody, which diminished the realism of the book for me. The third was the naming issue. It is obvious that Modesitt was not a linguist on any level, and instead put random consenants together to create alien-sounding names, and then gave animals names like sanders, soarers, and Wildebeast. Again, this is very common among fantasy writers, but it doesn't help his case that it is.

Overall it was a pretty good start to a fantasy epic, definitely enough to warrant a purchase of Darknesses.

I'm fairly new to fantasy books, but I found this book wonderfully paced and read the book in 5 days -- it kept me hooked. I started the Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time series and got 4 books into and gave up as people told me the books after that were really hit and miss and nothing was really happening with the plot anyway (several books could be skipped without losing the plot line). I don't mean to harp on Robert Jordan, but being new to fantasy, I was quite disillusioned by the fact that it never really ended and the characters went flat. This book doesn't suffer from those problems.

I originally started with Modesitt's sci-fi book Archform: Beauty. It was a good book that I enjoyed, but this was a book I really got into and am now eager to read Darkness.

Modesitt seems to have certain themes he returns to in his books. Chief among these themes is a society where women are the strong rulers, and men are the barbaric, but simulataneously competent and unjustly discriminated against, sex. His other important theme is that magic is like engineering is like magic.

These themes seem to take prevelance in this new series, albeit not so strongly as they did in the Saga of Recluse. Still, I felt like I was simply reading another Recluse novel -- one simply 10,000 years in the future (which, perhaps this is). In any case, as usual, Modesitt is a gifted writer who interests readers in a story that never really gets going and ends too quickly. Perhaps we will be treated in the next novel to a more thorough development of the world and how "Talent" works. In any case, I've learned how to shear mystical sheep. As I learned woodworking and steam engine creation in Recluse, I'm looking forward to something more substantial in the next book of this series.

This is a an excellent book in the best Modesitt tradition. I had to force myself to put it down or I would have read it in one sitting.

I'd rank it as his best since The Magic of Recluce and The Magic Engineer. He does a great job of creating a character that you can easily empathize with. I haven't been able to do this since his characters in those two books, and that is not just because I'm male. As always his setting is well developed without any internal or external contradictions.

The one thing that has annoyed me about several of his books is the constant male bashing. All of his books are very good, but it does get wearisome continually reading about how evil men are and how we can only resort to violence. This seems to be the central theme in several of his Recluce books and the Spellsong Cycle. I've often wondered if Modesitt is a woman writing under a pseudonym.

However, putting aside this one fault, anyone can enjoy his works. He is one of the few authors who can effectively go back and forth between fantasy and scifi. Lois McMaster Bujold and David Weber are also in that select few.