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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Boring, November 12, 2008
While I have always enjoyed L E Modissitt's novels, the Cyador doulogy and the Spellsong Cycle, are my favorites. However, I have also enjoyed the Recluce and Corean Chronicles. I had hoped this would continue with what happened to Dainyl and Mykel from SOARER'S CHOICE. It did not.
This story is set 500 years after the end of SOARER'S CHOICE. I still looked forward to reading it.
Mykella is one of three daughters of the Lord Protector. All of the daughters have been raised to know they will be wedded to leaders selected by their father. Mykella is very smart, she helps with the tariff's and she feels that something is not right, so already she is searching the ledgers for discrepancies. She uncovers a plot by her Uncle to unseat her father. About this time she is contacted by the Soarers who are watching over the Ifrit table in Tempre.
The rest of the book tells of her trials to learn to use her Talent. Then she must confront the conspiracy by herself, as her father does not believe her when she tries to warn him about his brother. She must also face the Ifrit in the table. The sense of her helplessness pervades most of the novel. I got very tired of her inability to accomplish anything, she never even plans anything until the last few pages.
However, if you are expecting any action or adventure you can forget it. I finally reached the point of wishing the worst would go ahead and happen. This is a short novel, only 284 pages and this did not allow our author to add any action scenes except for the last few pages. I do not feel it is worth the money. I wanted abit of action and even abit of romance. I was very disappointed.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Still Stuck in a Rut, December 17, 2008
The impressively prolific Modesitt has added a short novel to this Corean Chronicles. This one is set about 500 years after the events of Soarer's Choice: The Sixth Book of the Corean Chronicles, and focuses on the heirs of Mykel, the Cadmian solider who was a co-protagonist in the "Choice" trilogy.
I believe this is the first time Modesitt has had a female protagonist since the Song Cycle. She is the oldest child and daughter of the Lord Protector of Lanchrona, the nation-state that is the focus of most of the Corean tales. In a deeply misogynist culture, where a woman's role is basically to be a spouse, Mykella struggles to find a place for herself.
While I applaud Modesitt for finally using a female protagonist, otherwise he seems to be stuck in a creative rut. At important levels, this is the same story as his first Recluce novel, The Magic of Recluce (Recluce series, Book 1). A young character must understand himself or herself and a situation well enough to act intelligently. Usually this involves killing someone. Don't expect any plot surprises here.
My other quarrel is that essentially each chapter starts with the family around the breakfast table. I personally intend to avoid egg toast and sausage for a while; I've shared enough in this novel. While a fantasy novel has to be grounded in reality, watching the protagonist wash her face, eat her breakfast and drink her tea every morning - and I mean every morning - doesn't do the trick. It's the mistake the late Robert Jordan made that made his last half dozen novels so tedious.
What I'd like is for Modesitt to bring his world-building skills to his plots, narrative and characterization. Recluce and Corea are vividly imagined worlds, with plausible magic systems. Modesitt has demonstrated impressive powers of creativity. But he seems stuck in the bildungroman rut, telling essentially the same story again, sometimes with adult protagonists and sometimes with adolescents, but pretty much the same plot. In stand-alone novels like The Hammer of Darkness, he develops other kinds of plots and other kinds of character development well. I'd like to see it in the Corean Chronicles and Recluce stories as well.
Workmanlike, but nothing more. Recommended only for those who want their Corean Chronicles to be complete.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some fresh air, July 30, 2009
Modesitt is an unbelievably prolific author, unfortunately this also means he tends to rely on what he knows he does well. This has plagued his Saga of Recluce. Modesitt plays to his strengths. He is skilled in describing the growth of a character from naivte to strength and power, politics and intrigue,military manuevering and the mechanics and philosphy of "magic." The Lord Protector's Daughter is no exception. However, besides the
Spell Song Cycle, this is one of his few female protagonists. This lends Modesitt's writing a fresh turn. His books have always dealts with issues of sex and power, themes which ulitmately become the primary antagonist of this novel.
The plot centers around a conspiracy, which Mykella gradually unveils as the story unfolds. She also discovers she posesses Talent, and spends much of the book learning how to master it and discover ways to use it to both prevent incursions by the Ifrits and bring a stop to the conspiracy.
At times this book was frustrating. Though enjoyable, especially in its further clarifications on the nature of Talent, Mykella is unable to do anything until the final moments of the novel. Modesitt really relies heavily on the nature and influence of women in society of Corus and their helplessness. While a good read, it often felt as if the story was about nothing, lots of problems, but never any solutions...until the very end. Not the best, but not the worst either; and if you enjoyed the Corean Chronicles and Modesitt's style you should enjoy this as well.
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