Book completed
Sep. 27th, 2024 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeImager, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Imager Portfolio #1, internal order #10. Finally I've made it back to the first book written in the series, the book that sold me on it. I had forgotten that it was written with first-person narration, unlike the others - maybe the first Recluce book was done likewise? Most likely? Also, he starts with a variety of episodes over several years before settling into the day-by-day storytelling he uses the rest of the time.
Rhenn is an accomplished young portrait painter living in the capital city of Solidar, but he realizes over the course of his work that he has the very rare talent of "imaging" - imagining something is a certain way in the physical world and thereby making it so. When his annoyance over the attitude of a colleague apparently results in an explosion that kills both the colleague and his father, the master artist under whom Rhenn works, he realizes his skills may be more than trivial and, when he cannot find another artist to take him in (as the guild requires), he reports to the imager's Collegium for training. However, many young imagers have been targeted for assassination, and Rhenn is among them. Will he learn what he needs to know in time to save himself - and his country?
I enjoyed reading the story in its internal order and this time seeing all the bits and ideas that Modesitt later fleshed out in his prequels. There were a few anomalies, but they could be put down to historical misunderstanding, which is something the characters have explicitly allowed for in their world. The setting of the story is quite interesting and fun - something like 19th century France - and it's good that there's a prominent minority group that experiences prejudice but has its own strengths.
There's a famous essay by Ursula Le Guin that I always think about in connection with this book. She criticizes a fantasy series for being written as if it happens in the real world but with magic- the language isn't poetic and evocative enough for her, as she wants fantasy to seem otherworldly. This series is even more aligned with the practice she's complaining about than the series she was criticizing - I always think of the moment when Rhenn, a new student at the Collegium, is shown where his mailbox is located. Why shouldn't fantasy fiction explore the implications that real magic could have in politics and civic administration? I definitely enjoy these thought experiments.
Rhenn is an accomplished young portrait painter living in the capital city of Solidar, but he realizes over the course of his work that he has the very rare talent of "imaging" - imagining something is a certain way in the physical world and thereby making it so. When his annoyance over the attitude of a colleague apparently results in an explosion that kills both the colleague and his father, the master artist under whom Rhenn works, he realizes his skills may be more than trivial and, when he cannot find another artist to take him in (as the guild requires), he reports to the imager's Collegium for training. However, many young imagers have been targeted for assassination, and Rhenn is among them. Will he learn what he needs to know in time to save himself - and his country?
I enjoyed reading the story in its internal order and this time seeing all the bits and ideas that Modesitt later fleshed out in his prequels. There were a few anomalies, but they could be put down to historical misunderstanding, which is something the characters have explicitly allowed for in their world. The setting of the story is quite interesting and fun - something like 19th century France - and it's good that there's a prominent minority group that experiences prejudice but has its own strengths.
There's a famous essay by Ursula Le Guin that I always think about in connection with this book. She criticizes a fantasy series for being written as if it happens in the real world but with magic- the language isn't poetic and evocative enough for her, as she wants fantasy to seem otherworldly. This series is even more aligned with the practice she's complaining about than the series she was criticizing - I always think of the moment when Rhenn, a new student at the Collegium, is shown where his mailbox is located. Why shouldn't fantasy fiction explore the implications that real magic could have in politics and civic administration? I definitely enjoy these thought experiments.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-28 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 09:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-30 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-30 08:01 pm (UTC)