Customer Reviews

Wellspring of Chaos (Saga of Recluce)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Wellspring of Chaos is probably the best Recluce novel Modesitt has penned since the Chaos Balance, a solid if not spectacular addition to a series that had badly run out of gas the last few books. What makes it better? The good books in the series share the common thread of exploring the intriguing cultures and magic of Recluce; the bad ones use it as a backdrop for what has become a bit of a repeating boy-overcomes-obstacles-to-be-world-changing-mage/Emperor/etc. The good news is this has a lot more in common with the former.

The story is one we've heard before and unfortunately elements remain formulaic enough to knock it down a star. Without ruining plot, Kharl the Cooper is a good-deeds type who does a good deed for the wrong person, gets forced from his home, sails around the globe (literally), finds himself in exile, and helps out the land and people of his exile. Substitute sail for wander and Recluce has seen this tale told before - Magic of Recluce, Towers of the Sunset, Magic Engineer, Order War, Fall of Angels, among others. It's familiar territory, for better or for worse.

Now the good news. First, Kharl is Modesitt's first middle-aged Recluce protagonist since Nylan in the Chaos Balance, meaning Modesitt ratchets Kharl's observation level of life's travails up a few notches from his typical kid. This doesn't mean Kharl is any quicker off the bat than some others - his awakening as an Order Mage resembles that of Lerris - but we don't have to watch him do truly dumb things. Second, the wanderjahr is better done than any book since Chaos Balance. Kharl visits almost every major city on the planet in his sailing, and its the exploration of the different cultures in this well articulated world that make this worth reading. Nordla and Austra finally get explored, as well as side trips into Hamor, Recluce and Candar, the last of which features some neat cameos by previous series characters. As it turns out, Austra and Nordla don't feel much different from various Candar provinces, but its still interesting reading. Finally, Kharl does interesting things with Order magic - there's new tricks in that old dog.

The formulaic aspect to the plot clearly subtracts a bit, meaning this is good but doesn't rank with the very best of the series (such as Towers or Death of Chaos). Still, its the best of Recluce in several years, and the various plot threads Modesitt leaves undone means we'll get a sequel of hopefully similar quality.

It's also not a bad entry point for the series given that Kharl has to have the history of Candar explained to him by his shipmates, meaning you get a pretty solid background even if you don't know the series. Those of us who have a bookshelf full of Modesitt first editions and would buy the next just to keep the series complete have a worthwhile read ahead.

Set some sixty years after the events of "The Order War", "Wellspring of Chaos" is the new entry in the world of Recluse. Rather than setting the events on Candar or Recluse, we are brought to a new location: the island of Nordla. Kharl is a cooper (he makes barrels) in the city of Brysta. Kharl is a man of honor and he is compelled to do the right thing. He does not consider the cost of doing the right thing; he just acts because it is the right thing to do. Kharl first stops the assault of his neighbor's daughter. He next rescues a young blackstaffer (an exile from Recluse, they are generally unpopular) and takes her into his home to give her time to rest and heal. This is over the objections of his wife. She insists that this will bring them to ruin. She is right. These two good deeds set in motion that which will change Kharl's life.

When the blackstaffer is found murdered, Kharl is blamed by the authorities. They know quite well that he had nothing to do with it, but Kharl's earlier good deeds puts him at odds with them. He is falsely imprisoned and he loses his wife and his children (how he loses his wife and children I will up to the reader to discover). Kharl must escape Brysta before he loses his life. He ends up taking a berth on a ship owned by one of his former customers and works as a carpenter for a time. Kharl also begins learning about his inclination towards Order (which will make sense if you have read other Recluse novels), and who he may really be.

"Wellspring of Chaos" was a good Recluse novel. For one of the few times (or maybe first) in the series, the main character is a middle aged man rather than a kid going out on his quest. This changes how Kharl reacts to things and how he thinks, though he still is a bit naïve at times. As always, "Wellspring of Chaos" is not substantially different from the other Recluse novels. They have a similar feel and if I wasn't told that Brysta is in Nordla rather than Candar, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. The good thing is that if you do not try to read the whole series one right after another, this is a good story with a fairly likeable protagonist and is a nice addition to the series. Similar series of events happen to Kharl that might have happened to any number of protagonists in Recluse, but Modesitt is a solid enough writer that it is easy to get engaged in the story and it doesn't matter what other novels have come before (even if there are 11 previous novels).

Modesitt Jr's `Wellspring of Chaos' takes us to Nordla, thence to the town of Brysta to the home of a middle aged cooper named Kharl whose aptitude for woodcraft is quietly pushed along in his cooperage. He suffers from all the usual problems of a well settled man, teenage sons with issues, a wife pushing him along to improve the business, the daily struggle of providing for his family. As a periodical so aptly indicates on the jacket, there are no youthful "callow youngsters who grow into heroes" just a hard-working man who suffers the cruelest of fates when he decides to help a young female Recluce blackstaffer who is beaten and left for dead on his workstep.

The social consequences of his individual kindness means his charge is murdered under cover of an arson, his sons leave him, his wife is arbitrarily executed by the actions of a prideful and callous young nobleman, his cooperage is attacked and then he is taxed out of his home and his place in society is irrevocably destroyed. Force to flee and hide in the town's gutters, he befriends another runaway, Jeka, and his patient, logical approach begins to reveal a hidden talent for order. With Jelendra's staff (the dead mage from Recluce) and her `The Basis for Order' book he kills a white mage who is preying on the youth of Brysta to gain new life and finds himself fleeing to the sea and taking a position as second carpenter on the Seastag under captain Hagen. After proving himself a capable fighter and using the tentative beginnings of his order power to assist the ship he finds himself involved in a political and real battle to save Lord Ghrant's lands. His single handed destruction of a powerful mage and the opposing lord elevates his status far beyond that of a cooper and hands him a minor landholding.

Clearly the beginning of at least a two novel story about Kharl, Modesitt again effortlessly proves that he can create a fantasy tale of true magic around a very ordinary character in much the same way he has done with the Corean Chronicles. It is the mark of an excellent storyteller that you can get eighty odd pages into a novel, pause and realise all you've really done is learn about making barrels and the trade of said barrels, but be throughly entertained. A clear case of superb characterisation removing the need for quick fix plots that lurch from one big explosion to another to keep reader attention because the characters themselves engender no empathy at all. For any fan of the fantasy genre Modesitt is in a very different league to many others simply because of his style. Character is more important than plot, narrative is tightly drawn and captivating and the novels are strangely gripping.

Luckily, Modesitt is a prolific author so there's never any lack of material to read.

The book itself is fine. I would give the book a good review. But, the Kindle version of the book stinks. The type font is filled with mistakes, extra marks on the page and broken text. Add to it that the fond is alternatively normal in font type then suddenly you have a word or two that are displayed in BOLD font.

Finally, when I turn my Kindle off with this book, then start the Kindle again, the book starts from the beginning again. NOT a good sign.

So, the only reason this review is so poor is NOT the author's fault. It is the specific version for the Kindle. If the font type was consistent and easier to read the review would be much more positive.

Three years after the somewhat formulaic "Cyador" books, Modesitt has returned to the world of Recluce, this time to the tale of Kharl, a cooper - a barrel maker - in Nordla, a northern island-continent across the Eastern Sea from Recluce and Candar, the sites of the 11 earlier books. And for the first time, the protagonist is a grown man, with a consort and two teenage children.

While the overall plot remains much the same as the earlier books, there are at least a few important changes from those earlier books. Kharl suffers losses and wrongs not experienced by any of the earlier Recluce protagonists. He is a mature man, not the callow youths we have seen earlier. And his experiences take place in Nordla and in other parts of the world that we've not seen before. But along the way, fans of the Recluce series will encounter familiar characters: Talryn from "The Magic of Recluce," Justen from "The Order War," and several others. "Wellspring of Chaos" occurs some years after the destruction of Fairhaven at the end of "The Order War" and not too long before the events of "The Magic of Recluce."

It's good to see Modesitt stretching a little bit. It would be better to see him stretch a little more. But the story is fun, and the ties into the earlier stories - the destroyed tower of the Duke of Lydiar, for example - is seamless. You don't have to know a thing about the Recluce series to enjoy this book, but if you are familiar with the series you will be delighted at the sly references.

There will plainly be a sequel; Modesitt gets suitable mileage out of a good character. I look forward to it.

I have read every book in the Recluce "saga" (as well as Spellsinger and Corean Chronicles) and, by now, know full well the formula that Modesitt uses. Hero/Heroine commences life with no understanding of their potential, but enters the world to find out, and then slowly grows until they save whatever they feel is important to them. In spite of that, I continue to love reading his books. "Wellspring of Chaos" is an excellent addition to the Recluce novels. Kharl is an engaging hero, and the locale has changed to a totally different part of the world. We see very little of Recluce or Candar, and it's highly likely that future novels after "Ordermaster" (the follow-up to this one) will focus on this part of the world (i.e. the workings of the Empire of Hamor). If this is your first Recluce novel, then I would suggest 5 stars, as it's on a par with "The Magic of Recluce". For me.. 4 stars.

This may be the best book Modesitt's released in the last five years or so, but I wouldn't call it the best of the Recluce series. Being fairly predictable and sometimes a bit too plodding, this book didn't live up to its real potential. Most of the book was really great and I am still tempted to give a 5-star ranking. Mainly, Kharl is a truly great character that the reader really feels like he understands. More mature than your normal fantasy hero, and more set in his ways, Kharl is a simple man who believes in what is right but feels lost in a world that doesn't seem to hold the same values and is full of gross coruption. When Kharl tries to do what little he can to uphold his values, the backlash is such that he feels his life is over. It's all he can do to survive and this book takes you from Kharl's most desperate time through his inevitable great triumph and beautiful reward. Also, Modesitt finally got around to giving us a tour of the other lands of his world. Austra, Nordla, and Hamor were visited by Kharl during his time as a sailor and they all have much potential for future books. I'd especially like to read more of Hamor. I hope that Modesitt will continue with his story of Kharl in future books.

Wow! This is by far my favorite book, not only in the Saga of Recluce, but my favorite by this writer. I have read every book in the Saga of Recluce, the three books from the Chorean Chronicles, and four of the books from the Spell Song series. From all, Kharl is by far my favorite.

The first and (I find) most interesting point in this character, is that he is totally different from all of the other leading men (or women) in Modesitt's stories. For one, he is tall, broad, and even has a slight paunch, where as all of his other characters are shorter and slight of figure. I think this is what made me like this character in the first place, his solidness. He is also a very honest man (der, a must for an Order Master), and he goes above and beyond constantly, and never expects a reward.

Please, please, Mr. Modesitt, write a sequel to this!

Awesome book but very poor text when viewed on my Kindle, looks like most of the type is dark bold with random words in a lighter font.

I would not order another book from this publisher unless I knew the Kindle edition would not display in bold text.

Very hard to read, not easy on the eyes at all.

As I find all of the books in this series, a true delight to read. Modesitt writes a tale of a cooper (barrel-maker) coming into his order senses/powers after a series of tragic events. He finds that being order sensitive is a hinderance to living in the world as it is. As he matures in his knowledge of order, he creates a path that lets him be true to himself... with new powers explored not seen before in the series. Unlike the other books, the main characters events aren't grandiose in nature and by themselves won't play a large role in the overall history of Recluse.

This book has a lot of references to the other events in the series, so it begs you to go back and read them again. If I had one disappointment it would be that the ending was not really an ending, but as many books are, an opening to a second novel.