Customer Reviews

Mage-Guard of Hamor (Saga of Recluce)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mage-Guard of Hamor is one of Modesitt's best works to date. He continues Rahl's story in a believable and enthralling fashion & his supporting characters have great depth and their own enticing backstories and intriguing motivations. The exact nature of the final conflict and its resolution were reasonably difficult to predict until just before the events. Even then, the resolution had a few interesting surprises and the epilogue offers its own little twist.

The main character Rahl is believably flawed and slowly matures over the course of the book. Rahl's maturation is done in a great variety of ways that are gradual enough to feel realistic yet quick enough to keep pacing steady and lend urgency to the plot. While there are certainly surface similarities between Rahl and Lorn from Modesitt's Cyador duology, I found that the vastly different political structure, Rahl's status as an immigrant, the nature of the campaign and the presence of a guiding mentor lead to a completely different story.

Rahl's mentor Taryl is one of my favorite supporting characters in any Recluse book. I found his backstory to be fascinating and the way he keeps Rahl (and the reader) somewhat in the dark will make you want to keep turning pages very late into the night! Partially because of the greater attention and detail on a mentor than other Recluce books, Mage-Guard is longer than typical of Modesitt, but I found that the pages were well filled.

Modesitt also reveals much about Hamorian customs, food, and general life in the book. He depicts a variety of cities and rural areas within Hamor as well as the seat of government itself. He blends this quite well with the military campaign, never stopping the flow of things to gush Hamorian history but doling out enough to give a lush backdrop to the events of Mage-Guard.

Natural Ordermage and Mage-Guard of Hamor form the best sub-series of the already great Recluse series. The depth of the characters is richer than ever and the continued mix of chaos and order mages as well as characters from different lands and cultures is amazing. The growth of the main character is so real as he struggles through teen angst and on into adulthood is very well developed and often touching while remaining interesting. Friendship, love, betrayal, magic, and martial combat are all here.

Well; I've read every single book in the Recluce saga (And yes, it's Recluce with a C not with an S like some people keep placing in their reviews, making me question exactly how closely they paid attention to the details in the book at all...) and I have to say that this was neither disappointing nor was it spectacular.

"Mage-Guard of Hamor" is, to be honest, exactly the same as every other story in the Saga itself. It fits well with what you've come to enjoy from the Recluce Saga, but it will not make any large impact either way on whether or not you enjoy the Author and this Saga.

I dare not call it a "series" since he never includes more than 2 stories with the same characters (which is unusual in Fantasy.) But what he does is write about different unique and important times in the development of the World of Recluce.

Mage-Guard of Hamor is no exception to his standard writing formula, in which there is a book full of build up, and a rather quick resolution. This book did, to me, seem overly similar to the Scion of Cyador novel from earlier in the Saga...

I do not write this to dissuade anybody from purchasing or reading this novel... If you enjoy the Saga, you will enjoy this novel as well, and if you enjoy this you'll enjoy the other books in the Saga as well. And of course, since it's the last Recluce book the Author will work on for a short time (according to his website) you may as well get caught up.

Yet, as someone else wrote before, I would suggest -STARTING- the Saga elsewhere. The Colors "duo" and Cyador "duo" are great. If you wish to start from "the beginning" of the Saga, you would have to start reading as follows:

Magi'i of Cyador, Scion of Cyador, Fall of Angels, The Chaos Balance, The Towers of the Sunset... etc.

I believe that these stories (including Colors of Chaos, Wellspring of Chaos and Magic Engineer) are the only real "meat" to the Saga, and the rest seems to exploit the same formula without much real change...

But all things considered, it is a snug fit for "Mage-Guard..." in the rest of the Saga, which it should be!

What can I say, I am a HUGE Recluse Saga fan. I think the books in the series are excellent and I love the flowing writing style. These are those books that you read and can't put down. I have often come to the end of a chapter and needed to go to bed or go do something else, and been so "into" the story that I had to start the next chapter. This Saga will capture you.

The books can be read out of order but some books in the series are sequential - the first book starts a story about a given character, the next book in the sequence finishes off that story. Be sure to read the first of these to start. Other books in the series are stand alone and can be read solo. But trust me, it would be VERY tough to read only one book in this series.

Some series have great "re-read" value and I hold this Recluse Saga as one of my most "re-read" ever. Some of these I have read 4 or 5 times and still enjoy them and have trouble putting them down. From Karl the cooper to Rahl and his issues, the characters in these books come alive and we get real buy-in to what happens to them.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a couple of the Recluse Saga books. You won't be disappointed.

Modesitt gets it right in so many ways with this book
mentor/father figure, efforts time and attention needed to grow a youth into his potential, dealing with difficult leaders/boss and good strategy. a Longer work that was sad to let go.

I only wish the follow up book, Lord-protector's daughter, was half as good.

I buy everything Modesitt publishes. This latest, another in a series, is good, although not his very best.

Mage-Guard of Hamor is ok as a sequel to Natural Ordermage, but Modesitt falls into the habit of revisiting plot from pre-exisiting novels. If you haven't read any Recluce novels, it would be best to start with the Colors series and Cyador series. Mage-Guard is an ok read but a little too recycled for my taste.

For those that have enjoyed the Saga of Recluce series of books, this will be another welcome addition. For those that have not, let me urge you to give these books a shot. The characters are developed in a believable way. The plots are interesting and well thought out. All in all, they are a good read.

Specific to this book and the previous entry which dealt with the same characters (Natural Ordermage (Saga of Recluce)), I do have to say that I did not like the protagonist at the beginning. But he grew on me in a big way before Natural Ordermage had ended and I was very much looking forward to Mage-Guard of Hamor. Modesitt delivered.

As usual for this series, the specific magical abilities of the main character are unique. I believe that is one of the reasons that the Recluce series stays fresh and brings us back. We also get a deeper immersion into Hamor's culture and see a different piece of this world's history (another reason the series stays fresh). The story is very entertaining and the writing quality is high. I would recommend this book.

Did you ever want to know what it is like to be packed off and sent to a far off land to fight? Will this book will give you a flavor of that.

It covers a whole range of issues that are commonly found in such a situation:

- The loneliness of being in a strange culture
- The sepration from a loved one and the difficulty of communication
- Corrupt officialdom
- Uncaring superior officers who are more concerned about CYA than anything else.
- The sacrifice and heroics that are never praised, never rewarded
- Always being found lacking your in performace no matter how good you are
- Local villagers who never know anythiong about the enemy or where they are located
- The constant casualties of minor ambushes and traps by an elusive enemy
- Constant political machinations by the executive branch of government who may have other motives than winning the war
- Facing an uber draft board that will make a life changing decision for you regardless of what you have to say about it

Does any of this sound familiar? Well it should because the author flew a a US Navy H2 helicopter during the Vietnam war.
http://wapedia.mobi/en/SH-2_Seasprite

What makes it good is the fantasy setting where you can suspend your disbelief and go with the flow for the entertainment of a good story instead of having to deal with politically correct (or incorrect per your viewpoint as the case may be) views of Vietnam, Iraq or even Afghanistan.

I also appreciate the author's outlook on craftsmanship, something I find sadly lacking in the real word. Anyway, it's fantasy, enjoy!

After his exile from Recluce, Rahl had some tough times--before being enlisted into the ranks of Hamor's Mage-Guards. A combination of white and black mages, the Mage-Guards preserve the laws of Hamor with ruthless fairness. But a civil war has broken out in Hamor and the Mage-Guards, as well as others at the highest levels of government and military, are involved. Powerful Hamor's neighbors scheme for ways to take advantage of Hamor's weakness--with Fairhaven even sending white wizards to help the revolt.

Rahl's mentor, Taryl, is tasked to assist in the war against the rebels. Using Rahl like a weapon, Taryl sets out to end the rebellion--no matter what the cost. Rahl soon finds himself in a mounted infantry company sent out to scout enemy-held territory. Although the mages of Recluce believed Rahl untrainable, Taryl believes differently. What Rahl learns, however, is that real-life lessons sometimes come at a fearsome price--a price often paid not by Rahl himself, but by those around him.

Author L. E. Modesitt, Jr. continues his Recluce series with a solid adventure story. Rahl continues to grow as a character, transforming from the sulky young man of NATURAL ORDERMAGE to a more mature warrior. While he's still inclined to want answers handed to him, Rahl has learned that this often won't happen. He's also learned that he must get along with others--even those he doesn't like and doesn't trust. He'd better--because sometimes supposed allies are more deadly than avowed enemies.

Modesitt's Recluce series features a dual magic form--with order and chaos represented by black and white, respectively. As a mage of order, Rahl's powers don't contain the same shock value as do those of chaos, but he's gradually able to bring the lessons he's learned to bear, turning mistakes into weapons. Hard lessons turn out to be lessons he needed to take.

Rahl's story gives us another look at what Recluce has become--narrow-minded as it's caught up in its supposed virtues--and at another side of a nation that is often at odds with Recluce. The story lacks some of the twists and turns I look for in a Modesitt novel, but it definitely caught my attention and held my interest.