The Saga of Recluce
The Saga of Recluce is a series of fantasy novels written by L. E. Modesitt Jr. The initial novel in the series, The Magic of Recluce, was published in 1991. The series is still in publication with the latest novel published in June 2026. In 2015 Modesitt stated that the (then) 20 novels in the Recluce series had sold nearly three million copies.
The novels were not published in the order in which events occurred in-universe. This table provides both the publication order and the in-universe chronological order (Recluce Year). The author has stated that publication order is the appropriate reading order.
Setting
All of the novels take place in the same fantasy universe, spanning a time period of over two thousand years. The chronology starts in Year 1, which is the founding of Cyad.* Within this universe, all matter is aligned with two competing forces: order and chaos. In their natural state, these forces are equally matched, in a condition called Balance. These two forces can be seen as fantasy representations of the natural entropy (chaos) that occurs in matter, balanced by the various molecular forces (order) that bind matter into structured forms. These forces are understood, at a basic level, by all inhabitants of the world. The colour white is identified with chaos; black with order. The first published novel explains it this way: white is the chaotic combination of all wavelengths of visible light, while black is the absence of this light. The extreme of either is undesirable...for a human, perfect chaos is destruction, perfect order is death.
Chronology
Chronologically, the series spans 2,255 years.[c] The story actually begins well before even the earliest novel, with the arrival of the "demons of light" from another universe. Using their manifest chaos powers as well as their advanced technology, these people create an empire called Cyador, on the continent of Candar. While the series is named after Recluce, that island is uninhabited for the first millennium of the story. The first two books as of 2024, chronologically, are From the Forest and Overcaptain, which describe the operation of the Cyador army and its battles against the natives of Candar. These novels, together with Magi'i of Cyador and Scion of Cyador, primarily serve to flesh out a formerly unknown part of the history of the universe. The story does establish one key element in the history of Cyador: the ultimate decline of the advanced technology of the Rationalists. Initially, upon landing on a mostly-uninhabited part of one of the world's continents, the Rationalists (later known as Demons) managed to create a number of advanced mechanical devices, powered by chaos. They also erected a number of collection towers that were used to focus chaos into these devices. By the time of the first novel, these towers are failing, and the empire is losing the ability to maintain its advanced technology. The opening of Magi'i of Cyador was once considered "Year 1" in the history of Recluce, as no years are given in the text of the book, but was later made year 410 by the author, with the founding of Cyad given as the start of the calendar. Per the table above, the first stories in the latest series date from year 92-104. Modesitt has stated in an interview that he does not intend to add any earlier stories.
