Colors of Chaos: Amazon.ca: L. E. Modesitt: Books

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From Library Journal

When the tension between the lands governed by the mages of chaos and the order-ruled Isle of Recluce escalates into full-fledged war, Cerryl?newly ordained as full mage of the White Order?discovers his true calling as reconciler. A direct sequel to The White Order (LJ 5/15/98), set at the same time as the events portrayed in The Magic Engineer (LJ 3/15/94), Modesitt's latest novel in his "Recluce" series views the conflict from the other side, as Chaos struggles to prevent the forces of Order from gaining ultimate victory. The author's skill in portraying the humanity of characters who possess the power to destroy others with a thought adds a level of verisimilitude and immediacy rarely found in grand-scale fantasy. A strong addition to fantasy collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Doorstopper addition to Modesitt's already huge fantasy series exploring the struggle between White Chaos magic and Black Order magic on a planet colonized by survivors of a spaceship crash. This entry's a direct sequel to the saga's most recent a ddition, The White Order (p. 539), which followed the boyhood of the future wizard Cerryl, and detailed his early adventures, revelations about his heritage, and his destiny to join the great and powerful magicians in the city Fairhaven. Readers will lear n all about Cerryl's subsequent career as a White Order wizard, although, chronologically, the actions take place at the same time as a much earlier volume, The Magic Engineer (1994). Should please the fans. Its a pity, though, that the talented and versa tile Modesitt didn't choose to write something new. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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First Sentence
CERRYL SHIFTED HIS weight. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best of the series so far., Jun 17 2004

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C. T. Hunter "chips_books" (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Colors of Chaos (Hardcover)

This book along with the previous book, The White Order, make up a really great story about the white mage Cerryl. While every other book in the series is written from the perspective of the Blacks and portrays all chaos wizards to be totally evil (which most of them seem to be), these books provide a look into the workings of the Whites. It turns out that not all whites are truly evil and in fact many have very honorable ambitions to help the world rather than take it over. The Colors of Chaos was especially interesting because it told the same story as The Magic Engineer (with Dorrin the smith) exept from the perspective of Cerryl. It shows how there are two sides to every coin and that peole from both sides (except a few such as Jeslek & Anya) actually believe that they are on the side of good. In this story, told from the perspective of the Whites, Dorrin the smith and Recluce seem to be the bad guys because of their support of rulers who refuse to pay the road tariffs (to the detriment of all of Candar).

Also, Modesitt's writing style has come a long way from his earlier novels and this book was much more interesting and gripping than its predecessors... I strongly reccomend this book for any Modesitt fans or fans of fantasy in general (although I believe that you'll have a much better appreciation of this one if you read the others in the series first). This book does much to patch up the complex story of the Recluce Saga.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Read from Modesitt, Nov 26 2003

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a student (Versailles, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colors of Chaos (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is absolutely thrilling. It has great political and economical intrigue. It is made great by the qualities and the diversity of the main character, Cerryl. He is a young white mage in the city of Fairhaven. He was a Patrol Mage, an assassin, and a temporary governor of a recently captured city.

The strengths and weaknesses of Cerryl made the book good but how money and economics influenced the course of action made this very realistic. The political backstabbing made the book very interesting.
Also another book written by the same author blended into this story but was told by the good side. This book was written from the evil side.
Coming to a conclusion this book is a great read. It is not very easy to follow but is still great.

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2.0 out of 5 stars How many times must he beat the same dead horse?, May 24 2002

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J.L Atwood "khymaera" (Carrollton, TX, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colors of Chaos (Mass Market Paperback)

This series has gotten really tired; over and over and over the characters mourn the reality of having to use force to get things done instead of everyone being 'reasonable' and 'listening'. It's become less a story of people and places so much as a political view. The characters, history, and dynamics of the world are slowly getting bogged down in Modesitt's ever-repetitive mantra of the stupidity of people, thus requiring armies to rise, fireballs to fly, etc.

I lost count of the times Cerryl anguished over having to turn someone to ash because they were just not following the rules... the necessity of 'using force' over reason. It wouldn't be so bad, if Modesitt didn't feel the urge to blatantly say this. It's not as if it's an innuendo or a theme. The characters blatantly say this and do long mental diatribes over it... and it's the same diatribe! It's been the same theme for the last four books! People are stupid/stuck in their destructive ways so force has to be used. Great message, but I feel like I've had it beaten into my skull. Subtle, this book is not and they've become less and less so.

The only redeeming quality of this book is that Cerryl is actually an interesting character, and somewhere in the blunt message Modesitt is delivering there is actually something akin to a story.

My opinion? Eh, don't get the hardcover, don't get it new. Borrow it from the library or get it used.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Rerun
It seems like very little was new in this book. We knew Dorrin was going to win and the relationship between Cerryl and Leyladin never was resolved. I am hoping for a follow up.

Published on Aug 19 2001 by D. Ames

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best !
2 part series consisting of White Order and "Colors of Chaos". These "Recluse series" books are sheer joy to read and Colors maybe Modesitts best work to date... Read more