Alector's Choice

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/alectors-choice-2/

Despite believing what Bill said about the ???shampoo-rinse-repeat??? nature of Modesitt???s COREAN CHRONICLES, I gave Alector???s Choice, the fourth book in the series, a try since it has just been released in audiobook format by Tantor Audio and they sent me a review copy.

If you???re interested in reading Alector???s Choice, you should know that you don???t need to read books 1-3 first. Alector???s Choice begins a trilogy that???s a prequel to the rest of the series. In fact, if you haven???t read the other books in the series, you are likely to enjoy this book a lot more than I did since my main complaint is that it???s too similar to the previous novels.

The story follows two protagonists. The first is Mykel, a competent soldier who gets caught up in a war that he doesn???t understand. His superior is an idiot and Mykel has to figure out how to do his duty, which is to obey his superior, while still holding true to his moral code. The second is Dainyl, an alector who, like Mykel, is also rising in the ranks of his peers. Also like Mykel, he has reasons to hide his magical skills from others. Both men are confused about the changes that are occurring in Corus and what their roles in those changes might be. Are they being set up as tools? Or scapegoats?

Unfortunately, I have to say that I completely agree with Bill about the repetitiveness. Mykel is indistinguishable from Alucius, the hero of the previous three COREAN CHRONICLES novels. The way his power starts to develop, the way he wills arrows to their targets and makes things explode, the way he interacts with his superiors, the way he treats the soldiers under him, the way he mops his forehead, the way he knows where enemies are but doesn???t know how he knows ??? it???s all the same. Modesitt even uses the same story-telling techniques, such as the way he tells us what other characters think of Mykel by having Mykel overhear what they say to each other as he walks by a crowd??? everything was so familiar and, for that reason, disappointing.

On the positive side, the addition of the second protagonist was helpful to change things up a bit (but not enough) and to give a different perspective of Modesitt???s world. Also, I think readers who like this series will be happy to learn a little about the ancient history of Corus. It???s so secretive that even the alectors don???t know how they arrived on their world or how long they can continue to live there. I???m a little curious about where this is going.

The audiobook (Tantor Audio) is mostly well narrated by Kyle McCarley. I say ???mostly??? because his voices for women and young boys are unappealing. I don???t think listeners would imagine Mykel???s love interest to be a desirable woman because of McCarley???s sinister sounding voice for her. But he does a great job with the men. (Oh, and, as usual, there???s some atrocious cover art on the audio version.)