Where I Mostly Praise but with Faint Damning

Imager by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not really sure how other people rate the books they read, whether they try to predict how other readers will find it, or base it on character development, or world-building, or some other criterion, but I just want people to know how much fun I had reading it. Or not. That means that I will give lower scores to well-crafted, highly-acclaimed books that are a drag than to a flawed book that was fun to read.

That was this book. Some flaws, perhaps, but it was fun. So, 5 stars. (I've seen reviews for this books that said it was the opposite of fun. I guess that just means I'm the right audience, then.)

Yeah, sure, I feel like the conversations about government got long. And it felt like we sneaked up on a main conflict somewhere in the middle, maybe kinda toward the end, after wandering a bit, looking for one. The mentor withholding information à la Dumbledore is annoying. And maybe the characters aren't as round as they might be. Fair enough. All cons.

However, in the "pro" pile: I enjoyed reading it. I was entertained. I liked the characters, and I wanted to see what was going to happen to them. I was rooting for the main character and his cool girlfriend. I liked seeing Rhenn grow in strength and knowledge and skill. Slight spoiler: I liked seeing him win over Seliora's family over time, and I enjoyed seeing her win over his. I liked seeing him figure out his enemies. I liked the commentary on the fight for women's rights in a sort-of 18th or 19th Century Europe. I liked the danger, and I liked the failures followed by successes. It worked.

Those are pretty much the reasons I want to open a book in the first place.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr., has a pleasant, easy writing style. Natural is not perhaps the precise word, but fluent, flowing, maybe even glib--in a good way--would describe it. Easy to read. Easy to keep going. He's written tons of big fat fantasies, so he knows how to bang out a draft, but there's no sign of the roughness that you often find with prolific authors. (I feel the same about Dumas, but I've often wondered if that was a quality he had or one that his translators had.) The action moves along, the prose moves along with it, and I enjoyed following the current.

I received this book from the hand of the author after he signed it for me, so maybe that gives it something extra. It also helps that he comes across as a pleasant person in a convention setting, because I'm rooting for him, too. That's not cheating or anything.

I'm glad to say he sold me the right book.

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