In a pattern that’s by now familiar for L.E. Modesitt Jr., Scholar marks a new beginning in the IMAGER PORTFOLIO series. The book is set several hundred years before the events portrayed in the three “Rhentyll” novels Imager, Imager’s Challenge, and Imager’s Intrigue. Because of this, Scholar shares no characters with the earlier novels in the series and can be read separately. However, if you haven’t read the Rhentyll novels yet and are in the mood for some good, thoughtful fantasy, I still rec More...

Scholar was a great read. I was a fan of the first three books in the Imager Portfolio, and while I would have loved for the fourth book to be a continuation of the same character' story, I have to admit that his story had come to a fairly natural close, at least as far as potential future books are concerned. Scholar is the start of what is thus far a new tale in the world of Imagers, different enough that I found it rather intriguing to the very end.
The book does have its flaws, though. Or per More...

This type of book is for a particular type of person. Do you like first person narrative? A hero who questions himself incessantlly? Can you take that your poor hero is chroniclaly misunderstood though he is doing the right thing? Are you interested in catalouge of architectural details and military strategems? Do you like history? If not, throw this book down.

These books are much like the Foreigner series by CJ in the minute details and descriptions of life ina foreign land/environment. The str More...

I really loved this book, but I think that a big part of it is that I love Modesitt's writing. If I analyze the book too far, I can find problems with it, especially in regards to the relatively slow pacing and all of the crazy things that happen to the main character. I didn't read the previous Imager novels (I'm mainly a fan of the Recluse novels), so I thought that this prequel would be a good starting point. I love the main character of this book (even though his name is very odd) and how he More...

What I enjoy most about L.E. Modesitt Jr. is his blend of fantasy, physics, sociology, psychology, and religion. His characters become partners in adventure for the reader, and the social dynamics are every bit as engaging and complex as what most people encounter.

The only detractor, if it can really be called that given the various narrative preferences of Modesitt Jr.'s readership, is the slower pace of action as compared to Imager and Imager's Challenge. Those who favor a more sophisticated e More...

C2011: FWFTB: Intrigues, Tilbor, redeployed, imager, voyage. I enjoyed the Imager series so when I found out that a new series had been published, I was all for getting hold of a copy. My impression was that the whole plot was based on some actual Roman history just transposed, fiddled around a bit, a bit of magic thrown in etc et. I finished the book but instead of eagerly turning the pages found myself kind of in the doldrums, so to speak. By P108, the protagonist had already killed 5 people w More...

If you like his Imager series, or his Corean Chronicles series for that matter - because they're not the same but they are
similar - then you'll like this one. As with all his fantasy, it leans a bit more towards sci-fi, and it's full of deep ethical
questions and discussions. His main character is a GOOD guy without being perfect, which I always enjoy.

This series jumps backwards in time, a few hundred years or so, before the original Imager series. It's a nice way to
refresh a setting that has More...

Scholar by L.E. Modesitt, jr

In the spirit of the terrific Recluse series, the Imager series debuts a new world of similar interest. Imagers, must like mages in the Recluse series seem both powerful and powerless. This book deals with an Imager who, in self defense, has masked his skills and lives his life as a simple scholar, who really is not that simple.

Modesitt has a distinct style that permeates his books. I enjoy the self depreciating nature of his protagonists and their normalcy in dealin More...

Quaeryt supplements his income by imaging coins from whatever copper or silver is lying around. He tried to make gold coins once, but the effort nearly killed him. ;)

He is ship-wrecked, attacked, half-drowned and spends the second half of the book in a war zone. He is shot with a crossbow and pokes at people with a staff.

Despite all that Scholar contains very few fights, chases, slashing at the bad guys and things like that. That isn’t surprising; Quaeryt has a bad leg and doesn’t have any wea More...

This is the fourth book in the Imager series, pushed back in time 500 years. Our hero this time is Quaeryt, a politically astute scholar who is amazingly skilled at everything to which he puts his hands or his mind. He questions Lord Bhayar, the ruler of the country (essentially the king), a little too much about the military structure used by one of the governors, and ends up in the north end of nowhere trying to find out the answers.

As is usual with Modesitt's Imager series, there are plenty More...

I quite enjoyed the book. “Scholar” is set in the same world as the excellent Imager trilogy [“Imager”, “Imager's Challenge”, and “Imager's Intrigue”] but it is not “Imager 4” as it is set several centuries before the original series, before Solidar was a unified country. It doesn’t share any characters with the first series. I would say that it can be read without having read first trilogy and, as usual for L.E. Modesitt, Jr., the world-building is superb; but I also think having read the first More...

Once again L.E. Modesitt Jr. has given us a compelling story. Set several hundreds of years before his first two Imager novels "Scholar" shows us a world before imagers became organized into a cohesive force. As in most Modesitt novels the main character Quaeryt is a modest and moral man with no aspirations of power. And yet he finds himself in a position to create great changes while defending his kings realm. The writing is as always excellent and the story interesting. My only complaint is th More...

In practice, there are two solutions to mental stagnation. The first is to innovate; take the established scenario or problem and approach it with new ideas or a different perspective. The second is to do something else. If Modesitt successfully innovated in Imager’s Intrigue, the third book in the Imager Portfolio, he is now using the second tactic, abandoning everything but the setting from book three. Scholar upends the progression of the series by taking us back to the formation of Solidar a More...

Modesitt tells a fairly decent tale of political intrigue, ambition, and conflict in this book. There is also a hint of romance between the protagonist and the ruler’s daughter, although it made little sense to me. The problem I had with the book is that the prose is almost distractingly bad. It probably could have been shortened by one-hundred pages by simply rephrasing and removing unneeded words. It does make it all the way to page twenty-five before anyone ‘inclines’ their head, a phrase I f More...

3.5 rounds up to 4. :)

Good solid book by Modesitt - not really a good starting point for the world; however, in context of being book 4 in the world, and the first book of what I can only presume is the start of another series it works well.

As it seems I keep saying, the book starts slow, it is a political intrigue type novel, and there is a wide cast of characters; though, honestly, unless some of the folks who are introduced in the first third show up in future books, Chekov's gun never fires. More...

The fourth book in The Imager Portfolio takes place hundreds of years before the events of Imager. Quaeryt is a young scholar who is the friend of the ruler of Telaryn, Bhayar. He is also an imager, a power that he has been concealing for years. Not liking the idea of being in the middle of a great deal of court intrigue and perhaps outstaying his welcome, Quaeryt manipulates his friend into sending him to Tilbor, a country that had been conquered by Bhayar’s father ten years previously.

Tilbor More...

Somehow i just don't find the plot as suspenseful and convoluted as before. Maybe I've gotten used to his writing and can kinda predict where he wants to go. Nonetheless, I still love his writing, if just a little bland at times, as i've mentioned more than once apparently, looking at my previous reviews. But i think in this book it's a little milder, that faithfully recounting every event of the day thing. Or maybe it's just that I havent read his books for too long. As for the issues raised, h More...

A background novel for the world of the Imager Portfolio. SCHOLAR sends Quaeryt forth on a mission for his ruler, to learn to understand and improve Tilbor, a land conquered a decade ago and still not reconciled. Quaeryt has special tools for this mission. He can draw deep conclusions from his observations, and he is a hidden imager. While learning to use his own skills, Quaeryt develops a position in which he can build respect for scholars and imagers.

While Modesitt was interested in building Q More...

This is a book that starts a prequel series to Imager but it is a standalone as storyline goes with a definite ending to its main thread though of course more is to come.

It has some similarity with the 3rd Imager book as it being more of a fantasy thriller than anything though it has quite a lot of battles and fights too, so it moves toward clear adventure in the last third

It is also a very clear example of the classical approach to sff - the super competent but not destined hero that was favore More...

Modesitt continues in top form with a new character and time period in his Imager series. Unlike most heroes who must grow into their roles, the protagonist here springs fully formed and on his way from the first page. Everything from from that point on is intrigue, action, philosophy, and world details. I love Modesitt's writing, but he's not for everyone. In fact, in this book I think he's raised his personal expectations of just how intelligent his readers should be. If you're the sort who ge More...

All of the imager books by Modesitt are very good. This was a wonderful tale of the time 100s of years before the time of Imager, when the skills of the imagers were not yet developed, and everything was trial and error.the hero is sent to Tilbor to find out what is causing all the problems in that province. Attempts are continuously made on his life, without proof of who or why.He makes some friends but there is more than one group who are endangering him and the country. Narrow escapes, romanc More...

I took a chance and purchased the first book in the Imager Portfolio series at a Book Warehouse and was pleasantly surprised. I followed it up with the next two books and was very satisfied by the end of the book 3.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that there was a 4th book already out and a 5th one on the way. I bought the 4th book and stared reading it about a week ago but so far I have to say I'm not a big fan of "Scholar". At about 1/3 of the way into the book to say that I'm a bit confu More...

Modesitt uses a very strange POV in his Imager series, and Scholar is no exception. If you like the previous Imager novels, you'll enjoy this one as well -- the same almost third-person-limited POV is here, as are the same gently philosophical questions about the Nameless, the risks of prestige, and the appropriate uses of power. The end brings a somewhat out-of-nowhere surprise/decision, but it's not hugely jarring and (presumably) sets up the next novel. All in all, a solid read, though one I More...

This novel starts a new story (trilogy?) as part of the Imager world, set several centuries before Rhennthyl's adventures. Not only is the world different - late medieval rather than industrial revolution - the book also uses a third person narrative rather then the first person. Combined with a main character who is at least as ruthless but not as morally (and humorously) grounded as the previous one, I find this book a lot less interesting. While there's decent world building there is very lit More...

Scholar starts off another sequence within the Imager series. While it's typical Modesitt fare (a hero with some sort of power, tries to be quiet but often called by others as 'a dangerous man', conversation recounting things with details normal people don't usually go into) I found it far drier than the first three books in the series. The ending was also weird - I mean, seriously? Wtf?

It was OK and will read the sequel, but only because it's LEMJr and he's surprised me before.

p.20
"Good night." Quaeryt nodded to Voltyr as they stepped out of Amphora.
"Where are you going? You said you had work to do."
"I do. I don't want to keep her waiting."
"That's not work," protested Voltyr.
"With all that's expected of me ... it's work."

Quaeryt's mistress is debris beneath harbor piers and old smelters; he is a counterfeiter. He is also a survivor, as depicted on the cover. He is many names to others and a poor orphaned scholar and quartermaster to himself, as befits his obfuscation More...

The start of a sub-series prequel to the Imager books, although in some ways I thought it "felt" more like the author's Corus and Recluce series. Perhaps it's because it takes place in a more unsettled environment like the other two, rather than the more citified, stable setting in the previous Imager novels. Definitely a pleasure for Modesitt fans for sure.

I've enjoyed the Saga of Recluce series for years, enjoy the continuing Corean Chronicles and was happy to try the Imager Portfolio when it first came out. Scholar definitely does not disappoint- the writing is smooth, intrigue interesting and it looks like we're going to see the beginnings of formal training and recognition of imagers somewhere in the series. An excellent read, as all of his work is, definitely looking forward to the release of Princeps in a few months.

I've been a long time fan of Modesitt. In Scholar he outdid himself. The plot and world are as intricately detailed as his other works. Where Scholar stands out is the character of Quaeryt.He's much more interesting then most of Modesitt's hero's. I'm already begging my husband to read Scholar so we can talk about it:)

Well done. The hero grows on you as he develops. He keeps his plans close to his chest so others won't figure out what he has in mind, and in many cases that includes the reader. The last two pages bring about resolution to some issues in a pleasant but unexpected way. It is L.E. Modesitt, Jr. at his typical best.