From the Forest (The Saga of Recluce #23) by L.E. Modesitt Jr. : Review

L. E. Modesitt, Jr. continues the Saga of Recluce, the long-running, best-selling epic fantasy series. In a new story arc, From the Forest follows the early life of a man known by many names depending on who you ask—hero, tyrant, emperor.

Alayiakal, who will one day be known by many names —not all of them flattering—has to climb the ranks of Cyador’s Mirror Lancers, fighting against unforeseen weapons and ancient technology.

Alayiakal, however, has secrets of his own to his ties to the Great Forest and his magus abilities. He must silently pretend to be a conventional soldier favored by fate—until that very same fate forces him to choose.

As a longtime fan of L.E. Modesitt’s Saga of Recluce books, I always worry that every new book I read will be the last in the series. So I’m always way too excited when a new book in the series gets announced and even more when it gets released. I requested a copy of this book the moment I saw it had an official publication date and I was completely sucked into the story the moment I started reading. I know I say this about pretty much every new Recluce book I read but I feel like Modesitt has managed to outdo himself here. From the Forest was a fun and exciting read that I was unable to put down and is easily one of the best books in the series.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of this series is how expansive its narrative is, spanning nearly 2000 years of history over 20+ books. One of the reasons I think I loved From the Forest so much was because it delved almost 400 years further back, offering an even deeper exploration of Cyador’s culture and history. Introducing intricate and compelling characters like Alayiakal adds even further depth to the tale, making it a must-read for any fan of the series. While the series is titled The Saga of Recluce, I find its narratives truly shine when they diverge from the story of Relue and immerse us in different times and locales.

While I enjoyed reading this book and will definitely bust it out to read it again, I would highly recommend people get the audiobook as well.  Kirby Heyborne is one of the best narrators working today and he does an amazing job with this book. I think he manages to bring the story to life in a way a lot of audiobook narrators fail to do. 

All in all, I found From the Forest to be an amazing read that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone looking for something new to read. I knew there was a follow-up book coming but I only just now learned that this is going to be a tetralogy and can’t even begin to say how excited I am knowing we have 3 more books coming in this story. I’ll be preordering them the first chance I get and probably be doing a full reread of the series in preparation for the next book. I would highly recommend everyone else does the same. You can never go wrong reading anything by L.E. Modesitt.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.