The Mongrel Mage by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Beltur is quite a lot like all the other MCs in the series. Stolid, balanced, hard-working, kind, and heroic. He might just be cut out of the same old cloth as all the other MCs in the rest of the books, with the exception of time and place.

This MIGHT be a problem for anyone who is wanting a different kind of book from L.E. Modesitt Jr., but frankly, it's L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s style and handling of these precise characters that is so GOOD. Why would I say this? Because most heroes in fiction are not all that balanced or even likable. They're correcting for something that is overwhelmingly evil rather than just being a steady force for change, reacting where one needs to react from a sense of rightness.

These books DO. So while a lot of this series seems to be a lot of the same thing, repeating themes and characters, it's still CATHARTIC and different from the rest of the fantasy genre. It began uniquely, it played to its strengths and kept to its strengths. I have no complaints because I still enjoy it.

For those of you who have joined me on this little trip through the series, you understand. We're not reading it for originality anymore. We're reading it for stability.

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