L. E. Modesitt, Jr. 's Recluce series spreads over thousands of years from the time humans first came to a planet where some people can manipulate order and chaos. He started this trilogy set in the early empire of Cyador where Alyiakal, an order mage whose was trained to hide his abilities, slowly rises in the ranks of the Mirror Lancers after coming From the Forest (paper). He is now an Overcaptain (hard from Tor) assigned as deputy commander at Lhaarat, where he has to prove himself to the Major in charge, as well as deal with raiders. I really enjoyed this addition to one of my favorite series despite not a lot happening.

As someone who has been a longtime fan of L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s Recluce series, I was excited to spend my day off reading yet another one of his books. Though, it’s kind of crazy to me that there are now over 20 books in this series and each new installment always seems to surprise me with fresh perspectives and compelling characters. I don’t know how he does it but somehow Modesitt keeps finding ways to make each story feel new and interesting without losing the familiar elements that make the Recluce world so captivating. I spent my entire day off reading this book and that’s one of the many reasons I keep coming back to this series year after year.

There is always a lot I enjoy about this series and what sucks me into the story always seems to be different with each book. For Overcaptain I found the plot to be both engaging and intricate and it drew me in from the start. Alyiakal, an overcaptain of the Mirror Lancers is a fantastic character who makes for a compelling protagonist with his mix of duty, honor, and the personal challenges he faces. I also really enjoy that with Alyiakal’s story Modesitt explores an era of the series that’s frequently referenced in the other Recluce books. Watching this story unfold in a period of the world’s history that has always felt important helps add even more depth to the world, making it feel more expansive and alive.

Another highlight of the book for me is how Modesitt handles themes of duty, loyalty, and integrity. Watching Alyiakal do his best to protect himself, his men, and even his country while having mixed feelings about all of them was fascinating. It’s also always really interesting seeing the use of Order through the eye of someone whose people use Chaos more and who looks upon those of Order with distrust. My only real complaint about this book is I now have to wait who knows how long for the next book in the series to find out how Alyiakal’s story finishes or continues.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t normally love military fantasy as a sub-genre but this book and the one before it From the Forest have been top notch. They’re very much character driven stories. Alayiakal is very much an officer and a gentleman and you want his success! While I had read the first books in this series years ago as a kid I hadn’t read any in a long time by the time I read these two and it didn’t matter in the least. Anyone with a passing knowledge of fantasy worlds would absolutely be able to pick the series up with these two books. Despite their length I plowed through both this book and the one before it in 2 days each because they are very much page turners. The thing I can think of to complain about is the character names suffer from ye old random string of letters fantasy character names…. But really, the writing more than makes up for that petty complaint.

Dear Overcaptain!

I applaud the carefulness of Overcaptain Alyiakal’alt as he does what’s he’s commanded to, but looks for different ways to obey to the letter of the law. This becomes a key personality trait of the Overcaptain.
Alyiakal, leading his Mirror Lances is sent to Oldroad Post. A post near the border with Kyphros. At Oldroad Post he learns quite a bit about tarrif enumerators, bribes, and trade costs, and the rules for traders coming through a Cyador frontier post.
After Oldroad Post he's ordered to Luuval to close the Post there. It’s surrounded by lands sinking into the marsh. They’ve already lost houses, land and people.
At Luuval the Imperial Tariff Enumerator doesn’t want the Post closed and strongly encourages Alyiakal to delay the closing it. Of course that’s not about to happen. Alyiakal needs all his cunning and illicit mage craft (healing abilities) to survive.
In the background are hints of the enumerators charging higher tariffs and pocketing the difference, of Merchant Houses running deals, of Merchanters providing weapons to Kyphros. Politics are everywhere.
Alyiakal is still carefully corresponding with his lady Merchanter, Saelora of Loraan House. His mail is always opened and checked.
The letters between Alyiakal and Saelora are wonderful. Carefully constructed, warm and underneath conveying situations and discrepancies they’ve both noticed. Lovely warnings!
Later Alyiakal is posted to Fryad. This will become a major honing ground of many of his skills.
Everything Alyiakal does he has copies of letters witnessed and sent to the Mirror Lance headquarters. He’s being canny about having his actions transparent and above reproach. No prizes for understanding how careful Alyiakal has to be. He’s dodging the M’agi as much as he’s able.
I love that Modesitt’s male leads are always so careful and respectful of their leading lady. No means No!
Alyiakal and Saelora’s relationship develops despite various actions to take Alyiakal out altogether and the long times (sometimes years) between them seeing each other.
Another great tale about the early days of Recluse with characters I’ve become totally engaged with—as always!

A Tor ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

L.E. Modesitt continues the Saga of Recluce by a story from Cyador, Overcaptain. Overcaptain Alyiakal in the Mirror Lancers, the soldiers of Cyador. transitions from command of a small post to close down command of a fort that is sinking into a bog and then subcommander of a frontier post. His investigation of corruption in the merchanter clans places him in line for elimination. How does he complete his orders, maintain integrity and secrecy of his psionic skills? Modesitt is one of the great fantasy writers of all time. Enjoy this example of excellent storytellling.

So, here's the thing. L.E. Modesitt has written, at this point, twenty-four books set in his world of Recluce. Twenty-five if you include the short story collection I reviewed a couple of years ago. It's a sprawling universe that covers a sweeping amount of geography, but also a vast amount of time. Different stories have happened earlier or later in the history of Recluce, and we can see yesterdays's heroes reflected as villains in the past of today's protagonist. Or, in the case of Overcaptain, the latest story, the reverse. Because the protagonist of this story, Aliyakal, is as early in Recluce's history as we've ever gone, all the way back to near the founding of Cyador, who have largely been antagonists in other books. Seeing the beginnings of an Empire that we've often seen as enemies, seeing the way the systems that maintain it are constructed and maintained out of necessity and by good people trying to do the right thing, we can get a different perspective on a system that we've also seen very determined to incinerate a few of our protagonists "later" in the timeline.

Cyador, you see, is something a little different. At first glance, it's a fantasy empire. Everyone's riding around on horses, with swords. Everyone is very interested in politics, and Emperors. There's a whole caste system between soldiers, traders, and people who can do magic. But, but they also have hints and asides and historical notes that say they used to be something else. They're an Empire founded by "The First". They have "firelances", which spit raw chaos energy at the aforementioned barbarians. They have "firewagons" and "fireships" which sound suspiciously modern, not quite battleships and APC's, but certainly with enough heft in them to flatten ports, and make fighting with the Cyadorans an unpleasant prospect. They have a history that says, in fragments, that they come from elsewhere. They have "chaos towers" that contain the enormous forest that used to be where their Empire now sits. And they have, increasingly, no idea how any of it works. Cyador is an empire built on technology that is slowly failing, while those in charge try to keep everything together under tremendous pressure - both internal and external. Because all sorts if people want what they have (running water, regular meals), or are more than happy to rule an Empire from behind the throne for personal gain, regardless of what's best for everyone else - because, after all, when you're a mage, and you can turn someone into dust with a word, why would you take crap from any of those little people? I've always enjoyed Cyador, a place which seems to have become increasingly sclerotic and unpleasant as it ages, and its fantastic to delve into the near origins of the place here. Looking at it through Aliyakal's eyes, we're inside of a system which seems to promise a better world for, if not everyone, at least everyone inside the system, but he's not blind to its flaws, to the abuses that are hobbling progress, the way that the military, the magi and the merchanters are always at odds, and what happens when they're not. Anyway. It's a fun place, a civilisation coming off the back of some science-fiction beginnigs, trying to build something self-sustaining. Interestingly, Modesitt does this again later with Fallen Angels, when survivors of the other side of a war in which Cyadors forebears were involved find themselves stranded on Relcuce, watching their tech also slowly fail. Its a solid beginning, and here it gives a flavour and a texture to the world,makes it a little different to your standard fantasy setting.

As an aside, I maintain that both sides in the conflict that drove Cyador's ancestors and their eventual antagonists to Recluce is the one from Modesitt's sci-fi standalone The Parafaith War, and one day I'd love to know if that's true.

Aliyakal is, well, this is going to sound weird, he's a Modesitt Recluce protagonist. He's smart, and also thoughtful. Having a military background makes him stand out a bit, but he fits into the mould of a lot of the others - someone who is practiced and focused on his craft, even where that craft is helping defend an empire by occasionally fighting a lot of people. He also has (ooooh) some magical power, which as a military officer, he has decided not to mention to anyone, just in case they decide he's a threat, and incinerate him. Probably a wise move, under the circumstances, because he does have a penchant for annoying important people. In fairness, that's due mostly to his actually being competent at his job, fighting off border incursions and encroachments from other local powers with minimal casualties. He's a smart person, trying to build a career and a relationship in a space where having a relationship is tantamount to stalling out your career. There's a conflict there, between two parts of his world, which we have yet to see play out - perhaps in the upcoming sequel - but the tensions are woven through his interactions, and add a nice complexity, even while we enjoy his emotionally uncomplicated burgeoning love for a long-time correspondent, and his no-nonsense approach to holding together military outposts in various degrees of collapse. Aliyakal is a decent person, and it's fun to ride around in his head for a while - and where the book allows, he's able to see the complexities of his own world, both in the strangeness of some of the things he's ordered to do, and in the web of politics clearly happening offscreen that's making his life difficult. Like all Modesitt's protagonists in Recluce though, he's a decent guy, trying his best - and if the story beats and characterisation are in a way familiar, they're also as comforting as a warm bath, and there's enough strangeness in here to make you sit up occasionally and go "Wait, what now?"

I won't spoil the story, as usual. But Aliyakal gets to visit a whole new and exciting section of the Empire of Cyador, where even more people try to get him killed than they did in From the Forest. You'll get some sharply observed, incisive military action here, and a lot of discussion of patrols, logistics, and how and why things should be done the way they are. But there's also wonder, in magic, yes, but also in the relationships Aliyakal is building, and fear and politics out there in the background, and an exploration of love and duty and honour. It is, in short, a Modesitt book, and a fine addition to the Recluce corpus. I look forward to seeing where Aliyakal goes next!

3.5 This was fun! I really liked Modesitt's writing style. Whilst this wasn't my favourite it was solid.

One of the longest running fantasy series of all time has another solid installment. Are they the cracking reads of 10-20 years ago, maybe not. But it's still worth reading the Recluse series and continuing on with this entry. Modesitt is a true master and will always be one of the greats to ever do it in the genre.

Overcaptain is the second book in a four novel mini series set within the Recluce universe. The first was From the Forest and I believe the second two will come out in 2025.

The joke was on me. I assumed (I don't know why) that this was to be a two book mini series and I held of reading From the Forest until I had Overcaptain. I can't be sorry I read them early. Waiting two years between "Modesitt's" is not to be borne.

I have never read a novel of his I have not liked. Four starts because not everything can be five stars and I have read others of his I like more. But that is only weighing this against his other work. From a different writer this would earn a five star rating.

This mini series is set earlier in the Recluce universe than any of his other stories. Hundreds of years before the founding of Recluce itself. Very near the founding of Cyador. You will "see" places you know from previous (but far in the future) novels and I think be impressed by the author's craft in making things dovetail with previously written words.

Enjoy!

Alyiakal has just spent the past few years creating and leading Oldroad Post when he gets transferred to Luuval Post. Alyiakal has only a few weeks to close the post before a morass takes over the post location. He barely manages that despite opposition from the local Imperial Tax enumerator. Then he has some accrued leave that he spends visiting Saelora, a female Merchanter he knows before traveling to Lhaaarat as deputy post commander. At Lhaarat, he extends the reach of the Mirror Lancers patrols while trying to learn who and what is raiding the settlements in their post area. If you have been following the Recluce saga, you know what you are likely to find - competent characters learning how to influence their surroundings with plenty of descriptions of food and character interactions. It will be interesting to see what hoops Modesitt has Alyiakal jump through in the next volume. A satisfying entry in the Recluce series!

Thanks Netgalley and Tor for the chance to read this volume!