his innovations are welcome. Unlike many fantasy
writers, Modesitt does not automatically assume
that Order is good and Chaos is evil, suggesting
that conflict between opposing viewpoints is essen-
tial for progress. Generally, however, the reader is
nudged into siding with Order. For example, efforts
by Chaos wizards to master the world are rightly
defeated in The Order War(1995), a battle that
continues in The Death of Chaos(1995). Fall of An-
gels(1996) changes the scene to a new nation
founded by independent minded females on the
side of Order, but their effort to create a new soci-
ety is menaced from the outset. The engineer who
helped them leaves to follow his own destiny in
The Chaos Balance (1997) and has a series of
episodic adventures as he seeks a new home.
The White Order(1998) is another coming of
age story, but this time the young wizard is on the
side of Chaos rather than Order, although even he
learns at last that balance is important and that it
is preferable that neither side ever win a convinc-
ing and final victory. Open warfare erupts in Col-
ors of Chaos(1998), with the same young wizard
playing a pivotal role in its resolution. The protag-
onist of Magi’i of Cyador(2000) is an impetuous
young man who learns maturity during a war
while his lover struggles to remain solvent back
home. This was the first in a subset of stories set
in the distant past before Recluce was founded.
Scion of Cyador(2000) continues their story, as
the young man discovers that by distinguishing
himself in action against the enemy, he has given
rise to jealousy and secret enemies among his own
people. Although Modesitt has added two other
fantasy series in recent years, he continues to re-
turn periodically to Recluce, such as in Wellsprings
of Chaos(2004), the story of a personal rivalry
between two men that escalates into violence
and vengeance, and the forthcoming Ordermaster
(2005).
Modesitt’s second major fantasy effort was the
Spellsinger series, which has apparently ended with
the fifth volume. The series consists of The Soprano
Sorceress(1997), The Spellsong War(1998), Dark-
song Rising(1999), The Shadow Sorceress(2001),
and Shadowsinger(2002). A woman from our real-
ity is magically transported to Erde, a world where
magic exists and is inextricably tied up with music,
which provides the underlying structure for a new
magic system. She discovers that her musical tal-
ents make her a powerful sorceress here, and dur-
ing the course of the series she rises to power,
becomes head of a nation, and then uses her tal-
ents to defend her people from foreign invasion
and other threats. This is a more tightly connected
series than the Recluce novels and should be read
in the order in which they were published.
Modesitt’s most recent series, still ongoing, is
the Corean Chronicles. It opened with Legacies
(2002), yet another coming of age story about a
boy discovering his magical abilities, although this
is much more polished and tightly written than the
author’s previous similar novels. Escaped from
slavery, he becomes a prominent defender of his
nation in Darknesses(2003), helping to ward off a
powerful invasion force. Although he intends to
retire, he is forced to go to battle again in Scepters
(2004) when a fanatic religious cult threatens to
overwhelm his people.
Modesitt rarely strays from the familiar in his
plotting, and his characters are competently drawn
but generally unmemorable. His strength lies in the
way in which he creates his imaginary worlds and
particularly the structured forms of magic he uses,
adding color and a feeling that under these condi-
tions magic might actually work. He superimposes
exciting, adventurous plots over this setting, provid-
ing reliably entertaining if rather repetitive stories.Monaco, Richard(1940– )
Richard Monaco, who also writes for the stage and
the screen, opened his career in fantasy with a se-
ries of Arthurian adventures, starting with Parsifal,
or, A Knight’s Tale(1977), a history of Sir Percival
and his adventures after the dissolution of the
Round Table and the death of King Arthur. He is a
relatively innocent, idealistic, and good natured
man whose subsequent adventures fighting evil
sorcery and more mundane enemies gradually
change him, not entirely for the better. His adven-
tures are continued in The Grail War(1979). The
two novels are such a thoughtful and skillful re-
thinking of that portion of the Camelot story that
they were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Monaco returned to the same setting less success-242 Monaco, Richard