Scepters

by L. E. Modesitt

Corean Chronicles (03)

On This Page

Description

Alucius is happy to be back on his night sheep stead with his beloved wife, Wendra, who is expecting their first child. But the country is beset by enemies on all sides. Although the Lord Protector of Lanachrona keeps his promise not to order Alucius back to active duty, Alucius finds his request for help no easier to ignore. Newly promoted to a higher rank and given command of a combined force of the Northern and Southern Guards, Alucius must first quell a strange, religiously inspired show more rebellion and then find a way to destroy the powerful weapons of ancient design again being used by the forces of Madrien. Unlike the Lord Protector, Alucius can see that a third, covert, threat must be behind the other two. Only the timely assistance of the mysterious ancient Soarers and the addition of Wendra's Talent to his own give him any hope of success. show less

Tags

Recommendations

Member Reviews

5 reviews
This was a very good ending for the trilogy. It neatly wrapped up the story & answered most of the important questions, although it leaves enough hanging that a sense of mystery lingers & the trilogy could be extended. The precarious ecological theme runs through this trilogy, as in most of his books. It's presented in a slightly different manner, though. On the downside, Alucius is a little too good & the story is a little too neatly wrapped up. As a romantic, I liked it. If you want gritty reality in your fantasy books, this probably isn't for you. His relationship with his wife is too perfect & she's not a well developed character. Modesitt can't write a sexually charged scene, either. His characters are the same few. Alucius is the show more same as Lerris or any other of his heroes, but with fewer faults than most. Heinlein only had a few characters & I've liked all his early books, so it doesn't bother me, but might some.All in all, if you like Modesitt, I think you'll like this. If you read the first part of the trilogy, this is a must read. show less
Like some other reviews have said, this book needs editorial examination. Some words are used much too often.But I still liked the book. Modesitt didn't just create bland, totally evil bad guys who wanted to make total chaos or kill everyone. The "bad guys" were people (Efrans/ifrits) from another world. These people live off the lifeforce of worlds, and then travel to another one when it is all "used up." These Efrans are trying to take over Alucius's world, and he must stop them.
the end of the first trilogy of the Corean Chronicles. Wendra and Alucius both get some additional training by the Soarers. They push back an assault by the ifrits. Then they recover some sort of life sapper" device [the scepters] which links to the one on Efran, the ifrits home world. They travel to Efran via the Tables and destroy the Master Scepter. Without that, Efran collapses on itself and Corus is safe evermore from them. Modesitt uses to many predictable simple things to stretch out the story. Why does he insist on telling us everytime Alucius is thirsty and takes a drink? After the first book, that type of thing should have been dropped. Oh well, probably a holdover from his writings on Recluce. Formulaic. I will take a break show more from Modesitt for awhile and visit him again next year." show less

Members

Recently Added By

Author Information

Picture of author.
183+ Works 41,903 Members
Leland Exton Modesitt, Jr., was born on October 19, 1943 in Denver to Leland Exton and Nancy Lila Modesitt. He was educated at Williams College and earned a graduate degree from the University of Denver. Modesitt's career has included stints as a navy lieutenant, a market research analyst, and a real estate sales associate. He has also held show more various positions within the U.S. government as a legislative assistant and as director of several agencies. In the early 1980s, he was a lecturer in science fiction writing at Georgetown University. After graduation, Modesitt began to write, but he did not have a novel published until he was 39 years old. He believes that a writer must "simultaneously entertain, educate and inspire... [failing any one of these goals], the book will fall flat." A part-time writer, he produces an average of one book per year, but he would eventually like to write full-time. The underlying themes of many of his science fiction novels are drawn from his work in government work and involve the various aspects of power and how it changes the people and the structure of government. Usually, his protagonist is an average individual with hero potential. Much of his "Forever Hero Trilogy"--Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, and In Endless Twilight--is based on his experiences working with the Environmental Protection Agency. He made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2012 with his title Princeps. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Some Editions

Horne, Daniel (Cover artist)
Russo, Carol (Cover designer)

Series

Work Relationships

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Scepters
Original publication date
2004-07
People/Characters
Alucius
Dedication
In memoriam:
For my father, both hero and preceptor

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, Fantasy
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3563 .O264 .S377Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
606
Popularity
48,424
Reviews
5
Rating
½ (3.74)
Languages
English, Italian
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
9
ASINs
4