Imager

The First Book of the Imager Portfolio

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Although Rhennthyl is the son of a leading wool merchant in L'Excelsis, the capital of Solidar, the most powerful nation on Terahnar, he has spent years becoming a journeyman artist and is skilled and diligent enough to be considered for the status of master artisan - in another two years.

Then, in a single moment, his entire life is transformed when his master patron is killed in a flash fire and Rhenn discovers he is an imager - one of the few in the entire world of Terahnar who can visualize things and make them real.

Rhenn is forced to leave his family and join the Collegium of Imagisle. Because of their abilities (they can do accidental magic even while asleep), and because they are both feared and vulnerable, imagers must live separately from the rest of society.

In this new life, Rhenn discovers that all too many of the "truths" he knew were nothing of the sort. Every day brings a new threat to his life. He makes a powerful enemy while righting a wrong, and he begins to learn to do magic in secret.

Imager is the innovative and enchanting opening of an involving new fantasy story.

©2009 L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (P)2009 Tantor

Fantastic Opening

Great narration and story. Truly enjoy Modesitt's grappling with philosophical ideas such as the nature of good and evil and the problem of evil/pain and suffering. The characters grapple with these important questions; the author presents it in such a way that is not superficial or heavy handed. I look forward to reading more in the Imager series.

Sometimes interesting, sometimes tedious.

First of all, I am not a fan of the narrator's portrayal of the main character. The story is long and seems convoluted (it's not in the end, the author just takes a very long time to come to the climax of the story and thus reveal the point of the conflict in the book). I am an avid listener and consumer of audiobooks, but I could not keep track of many of the auxiliary characters, and therefore plot points, throughout this tale. I would recommend reading this book versus listening to it so that the names of the characters discussed are more clearly identified and separated from one another. I did enjoy the personal aspects to the main character's story, but the technical and political portions (where the conflict within the novel plays out) did not lend themselves to being easily consumed and digested as I was driving around running errands or back and forth to work or recreational activities. This is a book best served by print not audio.

Modesitt provides a fascinating read!

After introducing the characters in the book the story really picked up and I couldn't turn it off! Modesitt draws you in and you care about the characters and want the villains to suffer and Ren to triumph. I truly cannot wait for more from Modesitt!

Another Wonderful job by Modesitt!

Once again, Modesitt has me chasing all of his books in another series!

Imager is well thought out, and has an even pace to it. While all of Modesitt's books tend to be recognizable in many ways by his writing style, and his attention to details that most other authors frankly don't do, (because they can't. I mean this guy knows details to crafts that I never even began to think about!), his new Imager series is a whole new look at fantasy magic and life in another time or world. While I have seen comments regarding these books as being somewhat disheartening, I am glad that I decided to check it out myself, and believe that this series is as good as, if not better, then the Recluse series.
My only complaint is that Modesitt tends to drop characters after 3 stories (he proves me wrong with books 4-7), and I hope that he will go back and revisit these characters from the first 3 books.

Interesting idea but poorly done.

Any additional comments?

I liked the general idea of the book and the way the author depicts the main character. However I agree with several of the other reviews that he does a poor job on character building. It is hard to imagine any other characters exists except for when they are dealing with the main character. Also you get the general feeling that their only purpose is to help or hinder the protagonist.

Great book.

I ran into this book at a thrift store and had to check it out. In this book a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery and finds a love that can truly stand beside him. l found it to be a fascinating world with a different kind of magic. it's kinda like Sherlock Holmes meets the world of magic. l love that the main character is an artist it gives him a keen eye for observation and detail. I've never seen this approach used before and I found it to be very interesting and fun. Couldn't put the book down, I think I set a record for myself on how fast I when through the book. Thank you for a great read and I can't wait to read the next book. Oh, I read it first then got the Audiobook just to hear the sound of the character's voices. The narrator was very good. Again thank for a good time.

Unsure from the sample but really loved this book!

Imager was an intelligently written and warmly narrated experience.
I'm glad I didn't let the other reviews scare me away, as this is now one of my favorite books and I can't wait to listen to more!

Wordy Style

Hard to follow beginning story, slow and wordy with repeated info, could have put story/book aside in several places, nice characters, ok plot. Be a while before I will read another

one of my favorite books

this is the first book I ever read L.E. Modesitt Jr and ever since I have read as much as possible. Love it when I read and love it more now that I hear it

Delightful and Intriguing

This book is one that I've listened to many times, and I have yet to tire of it. I've always enjoyed the mystery and plots. The world building is very good, and extends into many aspects of life. The only aspect I find very lacking is that of inspection into the religions portrayed, but that can be attributed to the protagonist's personal disinterest and unsurety of their truth.