The Chaos Balance

by L. E. Modesitt Jr. Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

Overview

In Fall of Angels, the sixth installment of the Saga of Recluce series, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., introduced the engineer/smith Nylan, the only man among the leadership of the company of "angels" marooned on a high plateau in the west of Candar, and perhaps the one person most responsible for their survival. But the angels are a matriarchal band, and so Nylan must leave his companions and seek a life elsewhere. He travels down from the plateau into the world of warring kingdoms and strange magics with his companion, Ayrlyn, the healer, and his infant son. They are in search of a place to lead a peaceful life, but they look different from the locals, and their talents are most valued in battle-and so the war between chaos and order begins again.

Editorial Reviews

Romantic Times

A writer of exceptional fantasy, Mr. Modesitt leaves the reader in no doubt about the price of power and the bittersweet triumph of the human spirit in this splendid new Recluce adventure.

Kirkus Reviews

Addition to Modesitt's independently intelligible fantasy series about planet Recluce and its warring Order and Chaos magic. Chronologically, the events here follow those of Fall of Angels (1996). Surrounded by aggressive macho cultures, the "angels" under Ryba have developed a clean and orderly but oppressive feminist dictatorship. Engineer, smith, and Order mage Nylan can no longer tolerate being used by Ryba as a stud and source of new weapons, so he departs with his son Weryl and his lover, the healer and singer Ayrlyn. But the male-dominated, expansionist empire of Cyador, with its unmatchable Chaos magic, must somehow be restrained; and so Nylan agrees—reluctantly—to help the primitive, unwashed macho swaggerers of Lornth.

A sturdy addition to a superior series, this time presented without narrative foibles.

From the Publisher

A writer of exceptional fantasy, Mr. Modesitt leaves the reader in no doubt about the price of power and the bittersweet triumph of the human spirit in this splendid new Recluce adventure.” —Romantic Times

“Modesitt's many fans will enjoy this, as will any reader who relished intricate plotting, sympathetic characters, and action galore.” —Publishers Weekly

“A sturdy addition to a superior series.” —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170631278
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Series:	Recluce Series , #7
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

I

The Angels of darkness made the Roof of the World their home, and after deceiving the followers of light who had eagerly welcomed them, they wielded the ancient and dreadful weapons of Heaven and vanquished those who rejoiced in the light.
In those first dark years, there were none at first among the dark ones who could descend to the lower lands and bear the heat, and the lords of mankind, their true daughters, and their consorts rejoiced that this was so.
For the angels of temptation bore blades that slashed through armor and loosed arrowheads that treated iron bucklers as if they were rotten wood, and they raised a mighty stronghold called Westwind, anchored on Tower Black, that rivaled Freyja in power. And the followers of light, who had ages earlier forsaken the powers of the heavens, relinquished the barren heights to the dark angels and their evil powers.
The dark angels were women who made a mockery out of hearth and home, who reviled men and laughed as they destroyed all the armies of the Westhorns sent against them, as they forced the great lords to heap dust and ashes upon their own heads and to bend their knees and pay tribute, and to stand helplessly as their daughters were tempted from their hearths and consorts.
Yet an even more deadly evil was to flow from the Roof of the World, and none knew it, from the mighty Nylan, smith of the angels, he who builded the Tower Black, he who forged the blades of night and the arrows of the storms.…

Colors of White
(Manual of the Guild at Fairhaven)
Preface

Copyright © 1997 by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the bestselling author of thefantasy series The Saga of Recluce. His science fiction includes Adiamante, the Ecolitan novels, and Archform: Beauty. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.

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