Arms-Commander is a solid fantasy book, and rather enjoyable. I haven't read much by L.E. Modesitt, but this book has certainly made me decide to check out the other books in the series. Some accuse Modesitt of being repetitive, though I wouldn't have noticed it much, if at all, had I not read about that from other reviews.

It's certainly an odd-duck in the fantasy world, exploring the idea of what would happen if egalitarian people from a star-faring culture were flung into a universe where magic worked, and for the most part, only women survived the crash landing. It meanders between exploratory fantasy and feminism in a rather readable way, rather than being a screed against patriarchy or what have you. It's definitely interesting, and well done enough that you enjoy the entire book, and in my case, find interesting enough to want to read the other books in the series.

"What if?" is perhaps the ultimate driving question behind science-fiction and fantasy, and this is a "What if?" I've yet to encounter in any but a handful of books in nearly ten thousand or more. And this is the best I've seen it handled. Definitely a book worth reading. ( )

This book definitely lives up to the previous work in Modesitt's Recluce series. It's been years since I've read any of the other books, but when I picked this one up, I was able to jump right in and couldn't put it down.

Great book, and a great continuation in the saga. I recommend the book to any fan of fantasy, especially epic fantasy and fans of the previous books in the Saga of Recluce. ( )

Can't put this book down. I have resisted the Pre-History of Recluse in the past (Fall of Angels). I did not really want that much Sci-Fy, however this book as been a compelling read.

I am about half way through and the lead up to the chuncky meeaty good parts has been thrilling.

I am now going to have to go get Fall of Angels and read it.

Enjoy

Thanks ER List, hope the review helps some speed up their decision process. ( )

I received this copy of Arms Commander via the early reviewers program. I wasn't very impressed. Modesitt is the sort of writer who tends to explore the same themes in his writing over and over again. He focuses on a hero (actually a heroine in this case) who is trying to effect some sort of social change within a society but is meeting resistance from the establishment. Eventually this hero realizes that the only way to create a lasting change is to remove those in power, often via some epic form of violence.

While I have no objection to this idea (it has made for enjoyable reading over the years) I have recently begun to tire of it due to the sheer repetitiveness of Modesitt's work as a whole. I can honestly say that every book I've read by the author focuses on this idea to one extent or another. The only difference from novel to novel is in the details of the overall conflict.

Therefore, I can only recommend this book for the die-hard Modesitt fan. ( )