The Mongrel Mage (Saga of Recluce)

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. returns to the world of Recluce for the tale of Beltur, a young, weak chaos mage working for his more powerful chaos mage uncle Kaerylt After an expedition to investigate nomadic tribes for the Prefect of Gallos, Beltur and Kaerylt are ambushed in the palace and Beltur only escapes because his uncle protects him. Fleeing to Elparta he is another mage provides lodging while he finds work. He turns out to be far better as an Black Wizard and works with a smith to create a metal that hadn’t been made in centuries. Then Gallos sends troops and a number of chaos mages up the river on the pretext of a trade dispute. Beltur, like all Elparta mages is drafted. Other mages call him The Mongrel Mage (hard from Tor) because he had started off as a white wizard but he is able to help defeat the Gallosians. L. E. Modesitt Jr spends more time than he used to on the little details. Beltur is a weaker mage than many of his previous protagonists. This is the first of three tales about the wizard and he probably will grow in strength in future tales. Review printed by Philadelphia Free Press

While this book scratches the "I want more Saga of Recluce" itch quite nicely (and fills in a previously overlooked period of the history of the world), it isn't Modesitt's best effort. Beltur as a hero is a little one-dimensional and seems to illustrate more the tendency of the series in the more recent books to use the "every mage is just a little different" as a crutch to allow for discrepancies in the way order and chaos work. The most interesting aspects for me were found in the exploration of the social and political connections between Gallos and its neighbors in the wider world. This is not a book I would recommend for those just starting out in the series. I would either start with "Magi'i of Cyador" and read chronologically through the world or with "The Saga of Recluce" and read in the order the books were written. It is, however, one of the easier books to read as its not heavy on either philosophy or character.

The main character spends the book saying "yes sir" and "thank you" to various authority figures who order him to walk around under a cloak of invisibility and eavesdrop on extremely boring and mundane conversations between minor characters. He endlessly provides his commanding officer with so many dry, dull and boring updates about the movement and location of enemy troops that your eyes quickly glaze over, and you begin to fantasize about watching some paint dry.

All of the characters in this book appear to be autistic; no one can ever just make a casual comment about anything; any statement made by anyone, however innocuous or trivial, must be analyzed or qualified or catalogued.

A couple of homosexual wizards provide the main character (who has powers and abilities
that are greater than anyone has ever seen) with room and board, and he spends the book trying to give them ever-increasing amounts of rent money, which they continually turn down. One of the gay wizards is a baker, and he sends a lot of pies and loaves of bread over to the family of the girl the main character is romantically interested in.

The main character is essentially Superman, but gets little besides empty praise and the assignment of mostly menial tasks from the other characters in the book. And he says "yes sir" and "thank you" a lot. And I do mean a lot..

The Mongrel Mage is a typical Modesitt title. Beltur is a young man raised by his uncle as a White Mage in Fernard in Gallos. An encounter with a young female healer begins his journey to the Black side of the Mage continuum. As in a normal Modesitt novel, the young person learns about the world thorough hard experience, travel and exposure to new folks leading to more insights in how the world works. The fun in reading a Modesitt novel lies in the details of the journey and Beltur's tale is no exception.

Read the other books, many times. This one lacks any direction. Belter wanders cluelessly around and not much happens for many chapters. He takes his girlfriend bread in probably the slowest courtship I have ever read. No over arching vision of the story seem to make an appearance. It looked good until he escapes to Elparta and then the vision comes to an end. I almost stopped reading a few times. I have a couple of chapters left and I'll probably read to end just out of habit. It seems Modesitt is tired of the series and wants up to be too.

$15 for an ebook, crazy. I've enjoyed this author for years. I also agree his later works were somewhat stale, when compared to earlier. With that said, some of the earlier are some lifelong favorites. Again, $15 for ebook, too much!