L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s Influence on Sci-Fi Series – “Legalist” and “Premier”

The appeal of sequels, prequels and spin-offs in film and fiction publishing has not decreased these past two years, rather the opposite, with Reacher, Season 4, being released on August 12, 2026. This is something that I’m not entirely in favour of, mainly because it can go one of two ways: 1) cheaply, nastily and carelessly, 2) or the same as before or better.

Successful series of books are successful because they are well written, have interesting protagonists, are consistent in style and structure, and depict a believable and interesting created world. Some authors have excelled in writing series of books, and in doing so, created large fan bases of devoted readers. This excellence has an unfortunate consequence.

I’m one of those irritating but consistent fans who, once I decide that I like a particular book, will continue to read and reread a particular series, for instance, Terry Pratchett’s 41 Discworld novels, Ian Fleming’s 12 James Bond novels, Josiah Bancroft’s four novels in The Books of Babel, the 24 Tintin books by Hergé, the nine Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the first three (of eight) books in the Millennium series by Stieg Larsen, and the 31 novels in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and Andrew Child, and so on.

Book series by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

L.E. Modesitt Jr., in particular, is known for his Science Fiction and Fantasy series of novels: The Saga of Recluse; The Corean Chronicles; The Imager Portfolio; etc. You can see by the titles that these are large collections of novels set in a particular created world. The Saga of Recluse, the most famous one, contains 26 novels. My personal favourites are The Grand Illusion series, and his standalone novels.

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After having recently re-read the fascinating Quantum Shadows, I found myself longing for another of instalment featuring the enigmatic protagonist, “Corvyn”. But no, Quantum Shadows remains a stand-alone novel.

Why do readers get so addicted to their favourite novels? I think it’s because reading about something you already recognize – a character, setting, or idea – gives a kind of comfort, and the expectation that you will not be disturbed or distressed by something new. But for authors, this creates a conundrum: how to keep the readers tied in, while still providing freshness and excitement. I imagine it must be humdrum work to stick to the same genre, the same world, the same basic storylines, book after book. But, desperate for more, I turned to the author’s own words (verbatim from his website).

Yes, it’s long – but it’s significant.

“Stand-Alone Books
The Amazon “survey” that I conducted last week revealed the emphasis and market power of series or linked books, but I didn’t say much about one of the most negative aspects – the fact that books not linked to “series” don’t sell well (at least not in the fantasy genre). Out of the 500 fantasy novels I looked through, so far as I could determine, less than a score, possibly less than that, were stand-alone novels.

I’m well aware of that problem. My last two stand-alone novels were Solar Express (2015) and Quantum Shadows (2020), neither of which sold anywhere near what my “series” books do. Every once in a while, a “series” author does write a stand-alone novel that’s wildly successful (such as V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue), but that’s the rare exception and not the general rule.

Even modest-selling linked books are being pushed out of the marketplace. I was thinking about writing another novel in my Ghost world, but Tor had no interest in such a book, and I know several midlist authors who can no longer sell novels to commercial U.S. publishers because their work doesn’t sell enough against the impact and marketing of multi-volume mega series.

Series books written by a single author have been around from the beginning of science fiction as a genre, but became more prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, including E.C. Tubb’s Dumarest series, Doc Smith’s Lensman books, and Marian Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover books, but these were essentially science fiction (if with often dubious science). The first popular English fantasy series is likely that of L. Frank Baum, beginning with The Wizard of Oz in 1900 and continuing with other authors for roughly 30 years, but after that, there wasn’t that much interest in multiple fantasies in a continuing setting until after the U.S. publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings in 1965, although the first widely popular non-Tolkien-spinoff fantasy series was The Wheel of Time, after which all manner of fantasy series proliferated (including the Saga of Recluce).

This proliferation has turned into an unkempt jungle, in which very few stand-alone fantasies rise out of the canopy of intertwined series. One of the ironies of the Recluce Saga is that, unlike The Wheel of Time, which was planned as a series from the beginning, The Magic of Recluce was written as a stand-alone novel, and after its initial publication, David Hartwell, my long-time editor until his death, asked for a sequel.

So, in a way, I’m also part of the problem, but I still continue to worry about the over-emphasis on mega-selling series and the way in which the internet and the marketing strategies of Amazon and Barnes & Noble effectively force traditional publishers to minimize stand-alone novels and make it ever more difficult for unknown authors to self-market.

—: January 30th, 2025″

So there you have it. Straight from the horse’s mouth. Standalone novels do not sell even a fraction of series of books. This means that a debut author probably has to self-publish or approach a publisher with not one but a set of works. This makes me a bit sad. But, as he puts it, with my predilection for certain series, I am part of the problem. Every new standalone book by an author I know, or a new book by an author I don’t know, holds the risk that I might not like it.

Legalist – An excellent prequel

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Despite this, I bought Modesitt’s Legalist, book four in The Grand Illusion series, without even thinking. Starting to read it, I realized it is not a sequel, it’s a prequel, set 450 years before the events in the first book in the series, Isolate. Thus, think of the steam-engine driven, socially-stratified world of “Guldor” and “Machtarn” – and go back to how it all began. The sky may be the same green, the names may be the same inversions of what you’d expect, but it is not yet the world of “isolates” and “empaths”. It is long, long before the births of that most appealing couple, “Steffan Dekkard” and “Avraal Ysella”.

“Some revolutions are quiet” – tagline

The tagline on the cover encapsulates what it is about. It is 561 pages long, without the title page, dedication, and characters list. Almost every chapter consists of the protagonist, the water legalist and Council member, “Dominic Mikail Ysella”, getting up, having breakfast (with a small sip of “café”), scanning the news-sheet, taking the carriage or his horse to the Council chambers, debating or voting on some legal point, discussing policies, politics, and regime changes, meeting with the Premier – the Council head, and going home. In most chapters there are mentions of Ysella writing documents by hand, and scores of clerks and copyists writing out and duplicating the documents by hand. Now and again, someone comes to a very nasty end.

As with the other novels, Modesitt keeps the truly dramatic moments, such as when Ysella’s life is threatened, to a brief few lines, which, because they are rare, have a strong impact. And, as in previous novels, there is nothing salacious or overt. There is a bit of romance, of the courtly variety. It takes our noble hero a while to find his soul-mate but when he does, oh my, it was so satisfying.

I read this novel for a couple of pages each day, over months. The attention to detail and the fascinating arguments about how regime changes take place, and the impact of a legal system (or rule of law) is oddly captivating. I also learned some interesting things about using the law to change how a country is ruled. It’s not quite “lawfare”, but is nevertheless a process not for the faint-of-heart or faint-of-mind.

Modesitt dedicates the book as follows:
“In Memoriam
To my father, the consummate legalist”

That is sweet but also a bit sad. But it does explain why he is able to describe legal processes with so much insight and drama.

Another reason that I found the story appealing is the character, Dominic Ysella, who is smart, rather good with weapons, and a kind of “Thinking Woman’s Crumpet”. Despite being able to use a blade with stunning expertise, he avoids violence and is sensitive and rational. He is also an “isolate”. Throughout, if you read it with care, Modesitt gives foreshadowings of the events in the first book in the series. Here he introduces the concept of an “isolate” for the first time:

“Your bride has traces of that,” said Ysella.
“More than that,” said Detruro. “Just like you’re more than merely empath-resistant. Both Kaechar and Delehya told me.”
“I’ve tried to be discreet.”
“I doubt anyone in the Council knows, but there’s no restriction on isolates.”
“Isolates?”
I’ve been told that’s the term for those who can’t be sensed by empaths.”
Isolate…that fits, in a way.”

– Legalist, by L.E. Modesitt Jr., p. 451

How does it end? I’m not going to tell, though I was so taken in that I cheated a bit and paged forward to the last pages. It was a wonderful conclusion and I was going “Yayyy!” to myself. I really enjoyed Legalist. I am by now used to Modesitt’s slow-paced, detailed, and subtle storytelling.

Now for “Premier”

Now I am looking forward even more to Premier, which will be released on Nov. 3, 2026. Well, looking forward to it and anticipating a bad case of “Liberfinisphobia“. There won’t be another one in the series, and this final, fifth novel will probably reveal why it is called The Grand Illusion. On p. 359 he gives this clue about what is to come in the world of Guldor:

“Respect is often the last illusion to collapse before failure,” said Detruro dryly.

– Legalist, by L.E. Modesitt Jr., p. 359

I will be telling myself to stop being so caught up in my reading habits and take a risk on reading new books, hoping that, if many readers purchase stand-alone novels, it will help both new and established authors and create natural growth in the market. I would encourage you to do the same.

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PS

L.E. (Leland Exton) Modesitt Jr. is now 82 or 83 years old. He was born in 1943. He has been prolific in his writing, as well as the ultimate professional. He must have a prodigious imagination. But no-one can keep pumping out books like he has. We all die, sooner or later. After some internet snooping I found a 2024 photo of him, where, surprisingly, he looks pretty much like on the one PR photo of him that’s used everywhere. Good-looking for a man of more than 80 years. Very natty in his Cerulean Blue outfit.

I wonder how he makes up the names of the characters, and how he keeps the details of his created worlds so consistent. Does he have a database? Does he have semantic rules that he’s made up for the way that his characters are named and how they speak? How do his editors at Tor ensure that there are no conflicts or deviations in the books as they add on to the series? The actual processes and techniques that Sci-Fi authors use are quite interesting to me.

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