Magi'i of Cyador

Magi'i of Cyador (The Saga of Recluce) L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Date: 15 May, 2001   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Waaayyy back in the mists of time, before the fall of angels, there was a land called Cyador, where the remnants of a Rationalist society made their way on Candar. Lorn, the eldest son of a Magi'i, is sent off to become a lancer (and, potentially, to be killed, because he's too smart for certain people's taste.) Along the way, he schemes to survive while doing what he feels is best for his land.

Modesitt treats his chaos protagonists more kindly than his order protagonists; the wisest of them all end up gray anyway. Lorn is no different, and the somewhat misogynistic society he moves through allows him to show his better side in that he actually thinks of women as individuals, not accessories (as later Cyadorans, and many of his contemporaries, do.) It falls in line with the rest of his Recluce novels— if you like one, you'll probably like the rest, though it does seem overly familiar ground.