Scholar
Written by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Narrated by William Dufris
4/5
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About this audiobook
Quaeryt has managed to conceal the fact that he is an imager, since the life expectancies of imagers in Lydar is short. Just before Quaeryt departs, Bhayar's youngest sister passes a letter to the scholar-imager, a letter that could well embroil Quaeryt in the welter of court politics he had hoped to leave behind. On top of that, on his voyage and journey to Tilbor he must face pirates, storms, poisonings, attempted murder, as well as discovering the fact that he is not quite who he thought he was. To make it all worse, the order of scholars to which he belongs is jeopardized in more ways than one.
L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the bestselling author of the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce, Corean Chronicles, and the Imager Portfolio. His science fiction includes Adiamante, the Ecolitan novels, the Forever Hero Trilogy, and Archform: Beauty. Besides a writer, Modesitt has been a U.S. Navy pilot, a director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant and staff director for a U.S. Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.
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Reviews for Scholar
94 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this. Modesitt at his best
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5‘Scholar’, the fourth book in ‘The Imager Portfolio’, opens with the furniture of fantasy: a cast list and a map. The other genre that needs this at times is the historical novel, with which indeed Modesitt’s work has much in common. The best historical novels, for my money, deal with the doings of leaders and states, war and generals. Fantasy can do this, too, but they are made up states and made-up characters. That gives you a lot more leeway for fun.
The key made-up states here are the three which fill the continent of Lydar: Bovaria, Telaryn and Antiago. Our hero, Quaeryt the scholar, is a friend of Bhayar, the ruler of Teralyn. Both are young men but Bhayar is the lord so Quaeryt treats him with due discretion and care. Ten years before the book begins, Bhayar’s father had conquered Tilbor to the north and made it part of his domain, but it takes too many soldiers to hold it which leaves the rest of Teralyn vulnerable to rival state, Bovaria. Quaeryt has noticed that his lord soon tires of people who are not useful so he volunteers to go to Tilbor to see how the situation might be improved. He sets sail on a merchant vessel, comfortable with this mode of travel because he spent six years at sea before settling down to be a scholar.
Quaeryt is an Imager, which is worth explaining for those who have not read the other books. An Imager can use the power of his mind to create objects, apparently from nothing. In fact, the atoms and molecules are drawn from the surroundings so, for example, Quaeryt can ’image’ a copper coin if the stones around contain enough copper. He can also image things at a distance and effectively move things by imaging. So if he has a piece of wood, he can image it into an attacker’s brain, killing him instantly. He can also image shields out of the air and image concealment shields to make himself invisible. It’s a slightly far-fetched stretch of the ability but as this is fantasy, can be forgiven, especially as it gets the hero out of several tight corners. This book is a prequel to the first three books in ‘The Imager Portfolio’ and takes place at a time in which Imagers, when spotted, are usually lynched. Quaeryt keeps his super-powers secret but hopes, somehow, to improve the position of those with the talent in his society.
It would be unfair to give away more of the plot. Suffice to say that after some adventures on land and sea, Quaeryt makes it to Tilbor and starts his mission for Lord Bhayar. The governor of the province is a very capable man who runs a formidable, well-disciplined army but there are several worrying anomalies in the local situation, not least the position of the local scholars. Quaeryt has to use all his talents and intelligence to survive in the face of several trials.
There is a lot of political intrigue, along with several meditations on how societies work and the duties and faults of those who hold power. There is also the religion of the Nameless, a monotheist fantasy substitute for those monotheist religions which are, perhaps, a civilising influence on our own society. In fact, the Nameless doesn’t quite fit as a parallel for God because the concept of ‘naming’ as a bad thing is quite abstract. Our hero – and by extension the author, presumably – are by no means anti-religious but find it hard to believe in a Supreme Being. However, Quaeryt does accept that the tenets of the Nameless are good and adheres to them, mostly.
This is a typical Modesitt fantasy and if you like them – I do – it will no doubt suit. Like some others, it holds your interest at the start, flags a bit in the middle and then gallops to a satisfying conclusion. Like the others, it runs about 500 pages long. The slump in the middle seems to indicate that this is perhaps 100 pages too long and if I were Modesitt’s editor, I might suggest a bit of cutting to make it all go faster. On the other hand, his whole technique is based on slow, precise world-building. His publisher is presumably content with his sales and must surely be content with his vast output so who am I to quibble? To be fair, the satisfactory conclusion makes you glad enough of the reading experience that you can forgive the slow middle bit. I look forward to reading ‘Princeps’, the next book in the sequence. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The writing in this book just draws you and makes you want to keep reading the words and enjoying the world he is painting for you to enter. Modesitt has a keen understanding of how human relationships work and his characters don't just waltz through the book and come out the other end a hero. Instead, they slowly journey along, run into challenges, get to know people and through them, you begin to understand the world they live in.
I really enjoyed reading about Quaeryt's adventure, and in particular, the intrigue he found himself dumped in. He was not afraid to take action to right things he saw as wrong, but he was perceptive enough to wonder whether he should have done them and in some case, to regret the impact of them. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scholar, though listed as the fourth book in the Imager Portfolio series, seems actually to be the first in the series. Quaeryt begins life as an orphan adopted and educated by the local scholars collegium. Educated with the future ruler of Telaryn, Quaeryt becomes Bhayar's scholar advisor.One of his goals will be to create a safe haven for Imagers, like himself, trained to serve and protect Bhayar and his successors.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Modesitt tells a fairly decent tale of political intrigue, ambition, and conflict in this book. There is also a hint of romance between the protagonist and the ruler’s daughter, although it made little sense to me. The problem I had with the book is that the prose is almost distractingly bad. It probably could have been shortened by one-hundred pages by simply rephrasing and removing unneeded words. It does make it all the way to page twenty-five before anyone ‘inclines’ their head, a phrase I first encountered in another of Modesitt’s books and which he repeated to distraction throughout. This one is not so bad in that regard. It’s still a good story if you can overlook his choice of words to tell it, and anyone who has enjoyed his previous books should like this one as well.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Modesitt is a master craftsman when it comes to weaving tales, as one knows if you follow the Recluce Saga. Here, after a successful completion of the Imager Trilogy, he adds to the mystique of this fantasy world by starting a new series set several hundred years before the first trilogy.Modesitt is generally a slow start but as some point around the first third of the book the speed picks up and you get engaged in the story, structure and plot of his stories. This is no different. Though one can see that a formula may be created here for the remainder of the series. Still, when one wants to look at the theme of how a hero is created and a legend forms about one, this is an excellent choice.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first trilogy describes a well established school for imagers. Due to their powers, they're feared & have a precarious position in society. They also often die young even with the all the help they get through the school.
Much that Rhen took for granted hasn't even been thought of 700 years previous, before there was a school & imagers tried to hide their powers. Each figured it all out on their own. Worse, this is a Medieval world in many respects. No scientific method or even much in the way of schools. Again, Modesitt has created a wonderfully realistic & detailed world where the magic has a lot of restrictions. Politics & economics play a huge role as do science & logic.
All through this series, Modesitt has made the world similar to a Medieval version of ours in many ways; horses & people are the same. The same physical laws apply. Units are a bit different. Currency is in coppers, silvers, & golds & they're always in short supply. Instead of miles, they walk milles, which seem about the same. Time is in glasses & quints, easy enough that it's no problem to deal with, but different enough to add a sense of strangeness. Very cool.
--- Dates & Times ---
There are five two-month seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Harvest, and Fall.
There are ten months, each thirty-five days long: Ianus, Fevier, Maris, Avryl, Mayas, Juyn, Agostas, Erntyn, Feuillyt, and Finitas
The week is seven days long and based on the French equivalents: Lundi, Mardi, Meredi, Jeudi, Vendrei, Samedi, Solayi.
A glass is roughly 100 minutes of our time. Each day has twenty glasses, with the tenth glass of the day being noon, and the tenth glass of night being midnight. A quint is a fifth of a glass. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5NaNoLoMo #44 Nov 2012Scholar (The Imager Portfolio) by L. E. ModesittTor Fantasy (2012), Edition: Reprint, Mass Market Paperback, 672 pagesAnother fine volume in The Imager Portfolio, 'Scholar' is set generations before the first previous books in this Universe. As with all Modesitt books it is lushly descriptive and has a series of credible and practical (but not entirely predicable) sub-plots. Quaeryt is a scholar with a secret – he is also an Imager. As an adviser to the Lord of Telaryn he is sent to investigate why a large cohort of troops are still needed to occupy Tilbor, ten years after his sire conquered the area. Just getting there turns out to be an ordeal, with storms, pirates, a ship-wreck, reavers and poisoning. Once he arrives he discovers things are both better and worse than expected, and has to find his way to the bottom of plots and deceptions without revealing his imaging ability, and before any of several plotters do away with him.The story does hold some surprises, most of which are neatly wound up by the end, but enough loose threads are left dangling that I'm anxiously looking forward to getting the next book in this sequence.(*****) Five stars
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Scholar is the fourth book in the Imager Portfolio by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. However, the events of this volume take place hundreds of years before the events of the main trilogy.In this book, Queryt, a scholar, who is also secretly an imager (somebody who can apparently redistribute the atoms of inanimate objects; for example, using scrap copper in the harbor to generate copper coins), is sent on a study mission to the north to see why so many soldiers are needed up there just to keep the peace. On his way, he almost gets killed several times: from belligerent police, from pirates, from wayward scholars, as well as from brigands. All the while he keeps his cool and does his duly appointed task.While the events of this book do take place before the others, I felt, having read none before this, that the reader may wish to read these books first, as I found myself wondering many, many times throughout my reading of this book: “what’s the point.” I strongly suspect that Queryt, or his actions, play a somewhat important role in the later world of the Imager Portfolio, which may have been the point all along.To someone starting here, though, it seems that Queryt is simply a person to whom things happen. He spends more time in his head than he does in the world around him, and his all-too-common internal dialogues even banter with the narrative (which got annoying for this reader). It seemed that this story was more driven by the plot than the character, with the character being a victim of circumstances who uses either his wit or his weird to get himself out of sticky situations.If you enjoyed the past Imager books, or the other books by Modesitt, you may enjoy this one. However, don’t start thumbing through this Portfolio here; start from the beginning. For everybody else, this is passable fantasy. That is to say, it passes as fantasy, but you could safely pass it up as well.