Natural Ordermage

Continuing with my at-random rereading of the Recluse books, Natural Ordermage is an interesting counterpoint to The Magic of Recluse. There are definite similarities - both feature somewhat self-obsessed young men who can't grasp the nature and responsibilities of their power, and get sent into exile to grow as people. But as novels, they're vastly different.

Natural Ordermage is a mature examination of some of the assumptions that underly the original social setup, using a new time period to explore some of the ways a society that values order above all else can go wrong - or right. Hamor, thus far the perpetual terrifying alien enemy, is now the sensibly-run, if far from democratic, society in contrast to the deeply corrupt show more Recluse.

Rahl (and no, I have no idea if that's a nod to Terry Goodkind's work or not) starts off as a smug, whiny juvenile, and goes through some real transformation. I particularly enjoyed the idea that not everyone approached the system of magic from a highly intellectual place, and that people require pretty different pedagogical strategies in order to learn. (The contrast reminded me of the way people learn karate - some people scour the manual and keep a journal and think everything to death, and some people close their eyes and wave their arms around and eventually it just goes. And both strategies lead to the same place.)

I'm not rating it any more highly than Magic, although the writing is tremendously tighter and the plot of the novel is clearer and much more engaging. It lacks some of the wonder of the first book in a new world, and so they're fairly balanced. But I do like this one better. show less

It's been a long while since I read the other Recluce books, so it was nice to step back into the world. I really enjoyed the story, and liked the look at Hanor.

However, I have to admit that the main character, Rahl, drove me a bit crazy. His constant, "but no one told me exactly what to do!" reminded me of some of the more obnoxious undergraduates I've dealt with -- unwilling to take any personal initiative and horribly rules-bound for no reason. But even though he irritated me, I kept reading and was happy to see Rahl finally finding his place and learning to control his abilities. It's unusual to see a heavily flawed and stubborn-to-the-point-of-stupid (they call him arrogant, but I'm not sure that's the best adjective) main show more character who adapts the odd way Rahl does, and though I regularly wanted to slap him, I have to admit his more twisty life path made for a break from usual fantasy "young hero becomes obscenely powerful and conquers the world" model. I'm not even sure he *will* be a hero in the next book, but no matter how frustrating he is, I'm curious to see what happens next! show less

Kharl's self-involvement was refreshing. As soon as I started turning the pages of his obnoxious egocentric attitude, I knew that at some point in the book he was going to knock it off. Sure enough, he's banned to Hamor, fussing the whole way. Then in Hamor he is fussing. Yet it is engaging, he was an interesting character. After he's been a slave, it was quite a good read to have his new boss knock the snot out of him in the dark and tell him to quit whining.
In the beginning in Recluse, I did catch the author speaking directly to the reader, which was entertaining. There was a passage of ultra detailed moment to moment involvement at a dinner. Then the author commented about level of detail and how it relates. It is interesting to show more catch authors slipping in remarks about writing style. I like the books. I like the Modesitt style.

The description of Hamorian society made me think, and it seemed that in a way the author was describing American culture. show less

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I usually enjoy the Recluce novels. This one features a young man, who while living in Recluce gets into trouble with the order powers he really didn't know he had and is forced into exile in Hamor. There he gets in the middle of a conspiracy and ends up losing his memory and sent to the iron foundries as a slave.
The plot is a bit railroad-ish and that gave it a bit of a slow, uninteresting feeling. I still enjoy his character and world building and this one is no exception, but there's a bit less character building in this one. This one also seems to start a trend of having each character's story take 2 books and this is book 1.

It's another book by Modesitt, with another coming of age of a strong magic user in an unsympathetic society, sent into exile and forced to make his way in the world. As per usual. Modesitt is seemingly trying to fill in the blanks in his world, so the action in this book takes place in Hamor, a different continent from the other Recluce books, but this can only do so much in adding new sights to what is by now a well trodden path.

It's entertaining enough, and an easy read, although at 600 pages more than a little bloated. There are some interesting bits, but new readers would be advised to start with one of his earlier books. Experienced readers should save their money and re-read their favorite - they'll get more out of it.

5/10
Another dissatisfied, whiny main character with lessons to learn about order, mages, and himself. Rahl really grated on me. The explanation of why he had so much trouble learning to use order on Recluce and needed to be exiled--that he is a natural ordermage--made sense but came too late to rescue my opinion of the character and the book.

The best section was when he was at Luba without his memories and then his training with Taryl as those memories started to return.

A young punk is exiled from Recluce to Hamor. He turns out to be a natural ordermage", basically someone who can't learn, just can or can't, do things with his power. Interesting and better writing than the early Recluce books."