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Fall of Angels by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. β€” book cover

Fall of Angels

by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
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Overview

L. E. Modesitt's bestselling fantasy novels set in the magical world of Recluce have established a standard of entertainment in contemporary fantasy. "In Modesitt's universe, where good and evil, chaos and order, are in perpetual conflict, a young wizard finds that his destiny is to strike a balance, but at considerable personal cost. Modesitt creates a deeper and more intricate world with each volume," says Publishers Weekly. "Modesitt's elaborate and intelligent working out of a systemof magic and a system of technology parallel to it is becoming more the lifeblood of the Recluce books with every new volume. . . . His saga continues to gain in popularity," says Booklist. Each Recluce novel tells an independent story that nevertheless reverberates though all the other Recluce novels to deepen and enrich the reading experience.

Now in Fall of Angels, Modesitt moves deep into Recluce's past to chronicle the founding of the Empire of the Legend, the almost mythological domain ruled by woman warriors on the highland plateau of the continent of Candar. He tells the story from the point of view of Nylan, the engineer and builder whose job it is to raise a great tower on the plateau known as the Roof of the World. Here the exiled women warriors will live and survive to fulfill their destiny. Here a revolutionary new society will be born . . . if Nylan can get the tower built and defenses in place before the rulers of the lowland nations come with their armies to obliterate them all. And if Nylan can learn to control the magical powers that are growing within him.

Thus Modesitt relates the story of how magic comes into the world of Recluce, in a fantasy novel destined to please the growing Recluce audience and win new readers to the series.

Fall of Angels is the sixth book of the saga of Recluce.

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Editorials

Roland Green

The latest novel in Modesitt's Recluce series is one of the best and most accessible for readers new to the saga. It casts back in time to the founding of one of the well-established cultures of Recluce, the women warriors of Westwind. The Westwind women sprang from the mostly female crew of a crashed starship who then faced a classic situation, that of exiles from a technological culture on a pretechnological planet that holds more than a few surprises for them. Modesitt manages this version of that predicament quite well, infusing it with more action than is in most of the other Recluce yarns, as well as with a certain amount of preaching on the utility of violence. The resulting tale will hold existing series fans and probably recruit some new ones.

Kirkus Reviews

A prequel to Modesitt's fantasy series about planet Recluce with its war between Order (black magic) and Chaos (white magic) (The Death of Chaos, 1995, etc.). Here, a spaceship full of human "angels" (they're involved in a dreadful war in space against "demons") falls into another universe and is forced to land on a high plateau, the remainder of the planet being far too hot for the angels. As they struggle to survive against hostile locals wielding baffling Chaos magic, engineer Nylan must learn to control his own growing Order magic powers. The two groups are easily distinguished. The newcomers' story is recounted in the past tense, while the locals rejoice in a present-tense narrative: just one of the eccentricities in an often intriguing if fairly predictable installment.

From Barnes & Noble

The exiled women warriors of the legendary Recluse Empire enlist the help of a male engineer with magical powers to build a great protective tower on the highland plateau of Candar where the female society can live and defend their culture. But the engineer must act quickly; the male-dominated nations of the lowlands have formed vast armies and are ready to march up the plateau--determined to obliterate the women warriors and maintain control over the continent.

Book Details

Published
July 1, 1997
Publisher
Tor Books
Pages
608
Format
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN
9780812538953

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