I had read another book in the Recluce saga and was not too impressed, and finding this one on my shelf, I thought I would read it before swapping it. Having read it, I'm not sure yet whether I will swap it or not. It's much better than book 10, which I read before. The plot and main character is okay, but it is the magic system and world that interested me most. On the whole I enjoyed the book.

Lerris is a bored young man, rather fed up with the dull, conformist, law-abiding, somewhat condescending, orderly society of Recluce. He is sent off to apprentice with his uncle as a carpenter/woodcrafter, and finds the perfectionism, the slow learning required too much. He is sent off on dangergeld, having had some training and being given some provisions. The idea is to tour the world outside Recluce, find oneself and ones place in the world, and then either actively choose to live in Recluce and abide by its rules, or stay exiled permanently. Lots of people do not return because they are killed in the course of their journey.

Just as I was beginning to lose patience with Lerris (the main character), things started to get interesting - in the form of the lessons at the training centre run by the Brotherhood, and more importantly, what happens when the trainees are shipped out to Freetown to start their journeys. It becomes apparent that what the trainees have been told is not quite correct in a number of respects, and there is actually a larger political struggle going on...which needless to say everyone gets caught up in. On Lerris's journey after Freetown we only get to hear about a few of the other dangergelders.

Recluce has people who wield order (particularly adept people being Order masters or black wizards); the rest of the world seems to have people wielding chaos (Chaos wizards). There seems to be just one gray wizard, Justen, who tries to balance both. Order masters are supposed to strengthen the innate qualities of people and things; order strengthened woodwork, for example, lines up joins perfectly, finds the grain of the wood, makes it work better. Chaos wizards generally destroy things, and encourage disorderly actions and discontent. Order burns chaos, and chaos threatens the mind and soul of an ordered person, and can imprison them by temptation. Lerris at first believes he needs to defeat Antonin, but eventually he realises that actually there is a balance, and the amount of order Recluce wields, and he himself wields, allows the chaos wizards more power and strength to sow more chaos, so the order master works harder to stop this...and so things can spiral.

There are several interesting features to this magic system: order and chaos do not correspond to good and evil; both can be used in the service of either. Lerris is able to choose whether to use order, chaos, or both, with some steering by Justen. Chaos really threatens to destroy Lerris as a person; using both just causes him to feel torn and confused; using order seems to work for him. Lerris's nature as a trainee order master means that he suffers ill effects if he goes against this personality trait; outright lying, for instance, causes him anything from indigestion to sickness, headaches, pain. Order and chaos magic are really creations of the mind - by thought and by sensing the way things are, and then adjusting them - by working with them, or destroying and moulding them, respectively. No special words or arm waving is required - chaos wizards do that for theatrical effect only. I particularly liked the description of the invisibility shield - the way that the light can be woven so that it isn't reflected back off the person or object, and so others do not see that person or object. However, that person can still be heard, and their footmarks seen, so it's not a foolproof way to avoid detection.

On the subject of good and evil, there is a lot of grey here, and Lerris finds that his well-intentioned work in a particular woodcrafter's workshop, though at first is beneficial, there are some unintended consequences that are really quite dangerous, and the household has to be smuggled out of town. The incident that caused this really showed how subtle, yet, insidious, the effects of chaos and/or order could be. The key thing to remember is that chaos and order repel each other.

The book has a lot of threads tied up at the end; enough so I was not left with any major cliffhangers, but with enough untied threads that could be taken up in subsequent books. The story starts out very slowly, and then gathers pace and interest. The characters grow, and even Gairloch the pony, and the wood order staff start to seem like characters not props.

Some of the characters get neglected in the story. We don't really get to hear much about Tamra - a feisty, feminist, independent sort - or rather, she becomes trapped in an unusual way for much of the book, and only really emerges again at the end. I would be mildly curious to find out if this character appears in any of the other books. At the beginning she criticises Recluce for a lot of things, but we don't get to hear what she thinks about the outside world.

A bit of a different take on fantasy adventure quests/coming of age stories that involve magic. Worth a read. ( )

It's the first one he wrote, but is currently next to the last or so in the chronology. He recommends his books be read in the order he wrote them & I have to agree for the first read, at least. After reading them once, a second round in chronological order is better, though. I've read it several times, at least. Very enjoyable.He posits an interesting world where Order (Black) & Chaos (White) are separate forces that can be manipulated by humans. Those who wield each, don't generally play well with those who use the opposing force. There is a balance, so both forces gain more play in the world as the other side becomes stronger. Some people are focuses of one or the other, too. It leads to interesting situations.In this book, he tells the story from the Order side. He continues this for the next 6 books, until book 8, "The White Order" finally gives us the Chaos side of the story. ( )

At times this book can be a little slow. However, the philisophical underpinnings of the book are actually pretty interesting. This book looks at the world in a different way. In the recluse series Modesitt asks his readers to immerse themselves in a world that is not balanced between good and evil, but rather chaos and order. Although this might seem to be only slightly different from the more common good vs evil struggle, it is not the same at all. The chaos/order struggle infuses everything every character does. Simple acts, like the carving of wood, that have no impact upon the good/evil struggle can dramatically alter a world based upon this new balance. A skilled craftsman can help to order the world in way that enables a greater building of chaos. In this world characters must come to accept that almost every good (and usually orderly) act will be countered by creating the potential for greater chaos (which is usually evil).

I would warn readers that although the first book is worth reading, the later books are somewhat redundant. Every following tale follows pretty much the same format of a lone orderly individual establishing an orderly society only to be threatened by a chaotic one (this is an oversimplification but it is essentially accurate). There are some minor deviations and a slight twist upon the philopsophy about midway through the series, but in the end this is the basic format.

Summation: This first book could potentially change the way you look at the world, but don't buy the whole series at once. ( )

The first of a long series of books about the world of recluce. Weirdly enough, recluce is a tiny part (an island) of the world this takes place in.
Modesitt has a very interesting look at the whole good vs. evil business. In his world everything needs to balance. Modesitt doesn't define good or evil but rather "order" and "chaos" . Neither is necessarily bad and neither can exist without the other. This really reminded me of Zelazny's Amber series.
It is nice though, has the author went to lengths to define a very strict way to practice magic, unlike other fantasy works where magic is very vague and anything can happen if it helps with plot.
As far as the narrative goes Modesitt exploits the boy that becomes hero template. The Boy is expelled from Recluce for questioning the principles of order. Recluce has a policy where if you don't fit the frame exactly you're being trained and shipped off. In this book's case, the hero is shipped off to Candar which is the home of White Magic. We quickly learn that the candarian are not "evil" and the hero does in fact settle down in Candar.
The book is in first person, which I loved, and unlike the rest of the series which is third person. ( )

This is an interesting novel about law vs. chaos, and how they both can be good and evil, but in Modesitt's world, law is generally good. A young wizard of law must learn about law and himself while forced to confront chaos. Not quite your usual 'boy meets self while wandering the world', but close. A good, interesting novel. ( )