Ever find yourself in a mood? You know, not a book slump per se, but at least a reading lull? As the pandemic drags on, I find myself balanced on this boundary quite often. Counterintuitive as it may sound, I find one of my best weapons is to pick up a book that I am sure that I won't love. That way I know it won't get tainted by my bad mood. Modesitt's books are perfect for this task for me. I like them well enough to read to the end, but I will never reread them and have zero desire to own them.
This novel is the second half of Lorn's story, begun in Magi'i of Cyador. And it confirmed my suspicions which started to develop when Lorn married Ryalth. Lorn shows himself once again to be very utilitarian, willing to do what must be done for Cyador's survival and good. He continues to be ruthless in pursuit of the good of his nation and the military personnel serving under him. Those above him are wary of him, those lower in rank reluctantly admire him.
Modesitt will never be my favourite writer, with his plodding style. At least in this book he refrains from giving measurements for every damn thing. But he still refers to horses as ‘mounts' and holds to the awkward ‘consortship' as opposed to saying marriage. The dialog was less repetitive in this book (fewer ‘yes, ser’s per page) and there was much less patrolling. Just a lot of meetings and report writing! Is that an improvement? Strangely, for me, it was. I also appreciated that Lorn's spouse, Ryalth, got a lot more page time here. The depiction of their son, Kerial, made me wonder if Modesitt had ever spent time with a baby unsupervised by a woman. He doesn't seem too well versed on realistic baby behaviour.
All of Lorn's life experience combines here to his advantage: his Magi'i parentage, his many years of service in the Mirror Lancers, and his marriage to a very successful merchanter. I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't read these two books, but my brain began to fit the pieces together back in the first book of this dyad, when he married his lady merchanter. So although I found the plot somewhat predictable, I was interested in the details of how the author was going to deliver the goods.
I'm wavering on how much longer I intend to keep reading this series. Obviously I wanted to see how this adventure resolved. If I stick to my tentative reading plan for 2022, there are two more volumes coming up. I guess it will depend on what my reading mood is when the time comes.
Book Number 432 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
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