The Chaos Balance

When their spaceship crashed in the chill reaches of the Roof of the World on the planet Candor, the wizardly weaponsmith Nylan saved his fellow ""angels"" by building the Tower Black, a refuge and fortress. Now Ryba, the angel leader and self-proclaimed ""Marshal of Westwind,"" orders Nylan to make swords for her growing band of women warriors. Nylan has no stomach for the coming violence, however. With his lover, the healer Ayrlyn, and their infant son, Weryl, he sets out for more peaceful climes, only to be recruited by the regents of Lornth, who are threatened by the powerful rival kingdom of Cyador. Although the novel's opening tension arises from concern over the crude treatment of women in Candorian society, the book winds up focusing on Nylan's reluctant assumption of command as skirmishes between Lornth and Cyador escalate. In the end, a patch of wild land, the Accursed Forest, proves key as Nylan and Ayrlyn struggle to balance the forces of order and chaos that threaten to tear the world apart. Modesitt's many fans will enjoy this seventh entry (after Fall of Angels) in his Recluce series, as will any reader who relishes intricate plotting, sympathetic characters and action galore. (Sept.)