Monday, December 18, 2006

The Magic Engineer

The Magic Engineer (Recluce series, Book 3)

L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Date: 15 July, 1995   —   $7.19   —   Book

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Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Dorrin is obsessed. He wants to build machines, and machines are a disruption that Recluce will not tolerate, since machines use chaos. Dorrin is stubborn enough to insist on the use of order in machines, and eventually, he is sent off to train for exile. His exile will take him to Candar, where his charge is to not return to Recluce until he knows who he is— something that he can't lie about, seeing as he is a focus for order.

Dorrin's obsession gets a little tiresome, honestly, and his inability to see the obvious is a Modesitt trait. (One suspects that Modesitt himself has had someone point out "the obvious" to him more than once.) Some of the other characters are more appealing, and his plight is true enough, but his tunnel-vision is a bit much to take.

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