The Towers of the Sunset (Recluce series, Book 2)

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Paperback, 1993

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

Tor Fantasy (1993), 544 pages

Description

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s latest novel in the Saga of Recluce series tells the story of Creslin, son of a powerful military matriarch, who chooses exile rather than an arranged marriage. Creslin sets out on a search for his true identity as a man, developing his magical talents through constant conflict with the enigmatic white wizards of Candar.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Karlstar

An interesting look back into the past to the founding of Recluse. As is usual with his books, this is all about strong characters and the law vs. chaos trials they go through.

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LibraryThing member clong

I've generally liked the Recluce series, amd while other readers obviously disagreed, I thought this was the best of the series. It is set in a jarringly different world than that of the first book, and it takes quite some time to figure out that this second book is a prequel set in the very

distant past (although later books in the series will go back even earlier in history, again in a surprising direction).

The use of present tense is unusual, but didn't really bother me. In Modesitt's world characters make difficult choices and have to live with the consequences. Much of the this author's work seems to have an underlying sense of sadness, and I thought it rang true for the two main characters in The Towers of the Sunset.

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LibraryThing member willowcove

Good, but the first volume is the best.

LibraryThing member raistlinsshadow

Both this and The Magic of Recluce read very much like first novels—there's potential, but they're not polished. I enjoyed Magic of Recluce, but I wasn't ready to get out of that part of the chronology... though I was grateful for having fewer sound effects.

This book seemed like there was a story

that Modesitt wanted to get out, but it didn't happen very well. I didn't feel like the world had been fleshed out enough for a backstory (yet), and I spent most of the book wanting to sock the main characters.

I did not enjoy the florid song lyrics (also, no reliable meter? sigh), nor did I enjoy the sound effects. Both are very distracting. Calling women "bitches" more often than not? C'mon, Modesitt, you're an author. Surely you have better words... or you can at least mix it up once in a while. To be fair, all of these complaints hold for the first book as well.

The story overall I ended up liking more as time went on. Still not as interesting as Magic, but it was a nice mental break. I'm glad to see that the third book draws more on the background provided in this book, so we'll see how the rest of the series plays out.

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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher

This is the book that made me almost give up on Recluce before I started. It's written in present tense, which is true of many of the books in the series, but is particularly jarring here. Creslin's a bit of a cipher, when he's not whining, and Megaera only stops whining to throw a tantrum. The

worldbuilding is scanty, and Creslin is so powerful he sucks all of the drama out of the action scenes. There are a couple of nice moments, but on the whole this is my least favorite of all the Recluce novels.

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