The Magic of Recluce

by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

1. People

   • Lerris - protagonist
   • Gunnar - Lerris's father, "high temple master," householder
   • Donara - Lerris's mother, potter
   • Elisabet - Lerris's aunt, householder
   • Sardit - Lerris's uncle, master woodcrafter
   • Tamra - dangergelder, associate of Lerris, blackstaffer, red-hair
   • Krystal - dangergelder, blade
   • Justen - gray wizard, Lerris's uncle
   • Destin - woodcrafter in Fenard
   • Deirdre - daughter of Destrin
   • Bostric - Lerris's (really Destrin's) apprentice
   • Perlot - master woodcrafter of Fenard
   • Jirrle - another woodcrafter

    

2. Why is Lerris told nothing of his heritage? (why is he left in the "dark"?)

   • (Gunnar and Martel)

3. Why doesn't Lerris believe in magic?

4. What is "magic"?

5. In the beginning, there is a direct connection of order=good, chaos=evil (told by Gunnar to Lerris.)

   • Is this an accurate representation?
   • for this part of the book?

   • totally?

6. Dangergeld

   • etymology of word?
   • how are dangergelders identified?

   • how and why are dangergelders trained?

7. Social/Political Structure of Recluce

   • Brotherhood
   • Institute
   • apprenticeship
   • feudal society?
   • black vs. white wizard
   • Reculce vs. Candar?
   • relations with Hamor?
   • relations with Nordla?
   • familial structure?
     • nuclear family
     • apprenticeship
   • Legend?
   • Which is more important in this society - group (i.e. society) or the individual?
     
     

8. Technology levels

   • equivalent to middle ages?
   • sword vs. pistol
   • machinery (complexity and chaos)
   • doomed to midtech?
   • Ryba and the Angels --tech level explained
     
     

9. Is this the story of Lerris's rite of passage?

10. Religion

    • Missionaries (pg. 73, Sammel)
    • 1 god believers (pg. 433, Father Dorna
    • god-daughter? (Brettel and Deirdre)
    • is chaos/order a religion?
    • druids
    • Legend?
      
      

11. How do we explain away Cassius? (truly a *black* magister)

12. Order

    • is it fair?
    • is it just?
    • is it "good"?
    • is it "compasssionate"?
    • color representation? --why? (pg. 209, Justen to Lerris)
    • other representations? (life? pg. 222, quote from The Basis of Order)
    • wizards who use this

      • how does order affect "black" wizards?

13. Chaos

    • is it fair?
    • is it just?
    • is it "evil"? (Honest chaos vs. pure evil, also the street of harlots in fenard...)
    • color representation? --why? (pg. 209, Justen to Lerris)
    • other representations? (death? pg.222, quote from The Basis of Order)
    • chaos vs. disorder. Which is more properly correct?

      pg.326 "...flowers in her pot were already wilting within from the chaos containted in her blood. No evil there, just honest disorder"

    • wizards who use this

      • how does chaos affect "white" wizards?

14. Balance

    • Does it exist?
    • does it have a "moral" value equivalent?
      
      

15. What is the "Temple" tongue?

16. What is Frven and why is it important?

17. Antonin as chaos focus?

18. Is the excrutiating detail of the book necessary? Does this help our empathy for Lerris?

19. What is Krystal's story and is it important?

20. Importance of choice? (Deirdre re: marrying Bostric, Lerris and Recluce, Tamra and Lerris, Krystal, etc.)

21. huge screaming plot holes

    • How does Lerris know about Justen and Gunnar and the destruction of Fairhaven?
    • when was the pistol invented?
    • Justen and his lack of knowledge about the Balance (pg. 496)
    • How does Lerris pick up on how to do magic?
    • Blackstaffers --how come Tamra had a staff, and Antonin didn't kill her for it?
    • Antonin is in his fifth body? In two centuries? Why wasn't he destroyed with Fairhaven then...? (same for Septhya and Gerlis)

A L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Bibliography (not in Chronological Order)

The Magic of Recluce Series

The Magic of Recluce (Lerris)
The Towers of the Sunset (Creslin)
The Magic Engineer (Dorrin)
The Order War (Justen)
The Death of Chaos (Lerris --directline sequel to MoR)
The Fall of Angels (Nylan)
The Chaos Balance (Nylan -- directline sequel to The Fall of Angels)
The White Order
Colors of Chaos
Magi'i of Sciador
Scion of Cyador

Ghosts

Of Tangible Ghosts
The Ghost of the Revelator
Ghost of the White Nights

The Ecolitan Institute
The Ecologic Envoy
The Ecolitan Operation
The Ecologic Secession
The Ecolitan Enigma
Empire & Ecolitan

The Forever Hero

The Forever Hero
Dawn for a Distant Earth
In Endless Twilight
The Silent Warrior

The Timegod Series

The Fires of Paratime (rewritten as The Timegod)
Timediver's Dawn
Timegods' World

The Spellsong Cycle

The Soprano Sorceress
The Spellsong War
Darksong Rising
The Shadow Sorceress

Non-Series
The Green Progression (with Bruce Scott Levinson)
The Hammer of Darkness
The Parafaith War
Adiamante
Gravity Dreams

These notes were written by Arin Komins.

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