• Scholar

  • The Fourth Book of the Imager Portfolio
  • By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.
  • Narrated by: William Dufris
  • Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (672 ratings)

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Scholar  By  cover art

Scholar

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Narrated by: William Dufris
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Publisher's summary

Hundreds of years before the time of Imager, the continent of Lydar is fragmented. Years of war have consolidated five nations into three-Bovaria, Telaryn, and Antiago. Quaeryt is a scholar and friend of Bhayar, the young ruler of Telaryn. Worried about his future and the escalating intrigues in Solis, the capital city, Quaeryt persuades Bhayar to send him to Tilbor, conquered ten years earlier by Bhayar's father, in order to see if the number and extent of occupying troops can be reduced so that they can be re-deployed to the border with warlike Bovaria.

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.

©2011 L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Perhaps the best so far in this consistently fascinating series." ( Kirkus)

What listeners say about Scholar

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Better as an Audio book than as hard copy

I have tried reading L. E. Modesitt's Imager books in hard copy (well, on a Kindle), but found them interminable and boring. They just don't work for me there. BUT, with the excellent reading by William Dufris, they work quite well as audio books. The action still isn't fast and furious, and there are still way too many longish passages about the "Nameless", but somehow one can simply gloss over those in this format. I find all the Imager books to be excellent for reading while exercising.

Scholar is the start of a new story arch in the Imager series, not a continuation from the earlier books. As such, it's a good standalone, and is a pre-cursor to the previously released trilogy. An excellent place to start, and well worth the listen.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

This is actually the true beginning of the series

If you???ve listened to books by L. E. Modesitt before, how does this one compare?

This book is not like the first 3 books. It is slower, and not as dynamic or exciting. That stated, it is still very interesting. When I first started reading this book, I was very upset - I expected the story to be at least the equal of the first 3 books. When I finally understood that this book went back some three hundred years or so to tell the beginning of integrating Imagers into the society we see in the first 3 books.If you read this book, expect to see a different world from the one in the first 3 books, different characters, and the knowledge Imagers have in the first 3 books doesn't exist yet - it is being built gradually; this means things aren't as spectacular as the first 3 books. Also, keep in mind that this book is actually the true beginning. So, there is a lot of ground work being laid for the next books to come.I truly didn't enjoy it as much as the first 3 books, but as a starting book that lays the ground work for the next books in the series, it was actually pretty good.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Boring addition to a fine series

I enjoyed the first 3 books of the Imager Portfolio so I eagerly picked up the 4th. Unfortunately, this is a weak story with way too many long sequences of boring material. I never grew attached to the main character and never became invested in the outcome. I stuck it out to the end and it did pick up a little, but not enough to give it more than 2 stars.

William Dufris narrates again and he does as well as could be expected with the material he had to work with. If a 5th book in the series is ever released I will certainly pause before picking it up.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

very disappointed

Although I enjoyed all the other previous books in this series I was disappointed by the lack of content for this one. It was very repeditive, constantly describing the food he was eating over and over and in great detail, and capitalizing on other boring details. It did not really get my attention and although I finished the book I cannot say it was one of Modesitt's best.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Don't waste your time or money on this!

Just to be clear, this isn't a review on the book itself. I wasn't able to actually experience the book. In fact, Modesitt ranks among my most favorite authors.

My gripe is with the narrator. I've never heard a more droning, monotone, run on sentence, speaking too fast, not pausing between sentences thus making it impossible to tell what character is talking, completely lacking enthusiasm narrator. And if you think that sentence I just mashed together was bad, it's nothing compared to the terrible performance by William Dufris. The droning of his voice is so monotone that, despite the fact that he does speak clearly, it's impossible to follow what's going on. I had to rewind 5 times just to be able to determine where the introduction "Scholar, written by L.E. Modesitt Jr., published by...etc." broke off and the book began. Honestly, it would have been easier to pay attention if it were Ben Stein narrating.

I will never, NEVER, buy an audio book that's narrated by William Dufris again.!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another exeptional read

Quaeryt, secretly an imager of questionable skill and a professed scholar persuades Bhayar, a school friend, and ruler to send him to Tilbor. Quaeryt has never received formal imager training as there is just trial an error if you want to keep it secret. This is in itself is a challenge, throw in the challenges of the journey a number of competing and powerful land owners with different perspectives on the future of Tilbor and a Governor of questionable character we have the makings for a great story. I absolutely enjoyed this book. The flow of the book is very much as a dialogue that makes one feel like we are there and listening first hand. The narration is excellent and bring out the characters personalities.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

This is actually the true beginning of the series

If you’ve listened to books by L. E. Modesitt before, how does this one compare?

This book is not like the first 3 books. It is slower, and not as dynamic or exciting. That stated, it is still very interesting. When I first started reading this book, I was very upset - I expected the story to be at least the equal of the first 3 books. When I finally understood that this book went back some three hundred years or so to tell the beginning of integrating Imagers into the society we see in the first 3 books.If you read this book, expect to see a different world from the one in the first 3 books, different characters, and the knowledge Imagers have in the first 3 books doesn't exist yet - it is being built gradually; this means things aren't as spectacular as the first 3 books. Also, keep in mind that this book is actually the true beginning. So, there is a lot of ground work being laid for the next books to come.I truly didn't enjoy it as much as the first 3 books, but as a starting book that lays the ground work for the next books in the series, it was actually pretty good.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Typical Modesitt

You either like him or you don't. Yes Modesitt always describes what the main character was eating in great detail, but that's just typical Modesitt. Every time I read a Modesitt I want to go grab some bread and cheese and lamb stew and mutton steak and more bread and cheese and wash it all down with cold lager......

As to Dufris....well I didn't have any complaints in the previous Imager series. This one is not as good. Maybe he had a cold.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book very well read

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I usually listen on my way to and from work. I found myself listening in the parking lot because I did not want to interrupt the story.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I name this book….

3 stars! Now the true fanboys at this point might be saying blasphemy but here is why anyway..

When I first read this novel I was expecting a follow up with the same characters from the first three Imager Portfolio books. This wasn't the case. Modesitt decided to continue with a new character named Quaeryt, a 30 year old scholar imager from Solis, from what I am assuming starts a new trilogy of books. Unfortunately, with my expectations Quaeyt failed to keep me interested going into the first few chapters of the book and I ended up giving up on this one for a time. Finally coming back to this series and giving it a fair chance I came to appreciate the Quaeyt's character more for being an intelligent, fair minded, talented, and humble person. Like the start of the first trilogy Quaeyt is still coming into his imaging powers so its like taking a step back from what we expected from our hero in book 3. Too bad for Quaeyt there is no school or teachers here and he must be self taught. So, I felt off and on about this book. At times the story dragged on and some of it seemed unnecessary. Like before I think Modesitt executes a fair cloak and dagger sort of character. My main issue, if you haven't guessed from the title, is this religion that Modesitt has created. If you are like me and had enough of it in the last book, well, get ready for an earful of sermons in this one. Perhaps Modesitt thinks much of this is clever but a lot comes off as agonizingly contrived to the point where the constant references of the namer loses a star for me. The narrator also loses a star because he didn't really move me into believing in the nameless. Personally I think a different narrator should have been picked for this new trilogy with this different set of characters. His voices are hard to tell apart and like before its quite obvious when our hero is injured (which occurs quite a lot in the story) by the distinct pausing and groaning tone the author puts to his voice. It just gets old.

Overall, I loved the characters. The story does get better as it goes on and the scholar comes into his new powers and talents. I think some events could have been edited out and less read about the religion. There is no doubt I will get the next book in this series but like before It may be some time until I get around to it.

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