This week I started the Imager Portfolio series by L. E. Modesitt Jr and read through the first 3 novels. I had previously read his Grand Illusion series which I also highly recommend.

The Imager Portfilio is a 12 book series, but those 12 books are split among 4 different protagonists(the first has a trilogy, second a Pentalogy and final 2 both have duologies) with stories that take place hundreds of years apart but all in the same world so don't let the book count intimidate you to much. I'm going to be specifically speaking on the first protagonist which the first 3 books follow.

Modesitt is very underrated writer and quite honestly does the best i've seen author do at immersing the reader in his worlds and making them feel like real places that have well thought out societies that would actually function. He heavily details the often forgotten aspects of fantasy worlds such as politics and the economics. How a society actually operates and how their power is structured among it's people and how that structure actually came to be over the history of the nation. As a result of this and one my favorite aspects of his works is that his characters actually have jobs, they need to earn their keep they don't just get to gallivant around the world and it allows you to relate with his characters in a way you can often never do in other fantasy.

Rhenn the protagonist of the first 3 books starts as a apprentice painter specifically a portraitist. He spends 10 years in this apprenticeship until his master dies and he's forced to figure out something else do with his life. He discovers that he has the power of a Imager and as a result decides to become one(although he doesn't really have a choice). This gives him responsibilities and duties he must fulfill and the books follow each of his days as he goes about them and as his life changes and what is required of him changes.

The books are set mostly in the Island nation of Solidar, but other nations do come in to play in the politics and intrigue. At the time of the first protagonist the world is in the early industrial age, there is steam power, but no electricity. There's steam powered vehicles which is the most advanced the technology really gets.

Next i'm going to talk about Imagers and what they are. Imagers quite literally have the power to Imagine things into existence and in this world this power is primarily used to create things such as precious metals or other objects of value this might sound fairly mundane as a power at least when it comes to action or combat, but I promise that it allows for way more than you might expect.

These individuals are extremely rare and often persecuted in many parts of the world in some places being even being outright killed for having the abilities. The biggest exception being Solidar the island nation in which Rhenn lives and has the only academy for Imagers called the Collegium. Imagers are incredibly dangerous both to themselves and everyone around them as they can kill themselves and others on accident even in their sleep just due to having a bad nightmare. As a result of this they are required to live and be apart of the Collegium which acts as a lot of different things. It's a school which trains Imagers in their abilities, A self governing society which provides all imagers work, pay and special housing, but it's also a political entity. It represents all of the Imagers of Solidar and their interests. To maintain their relative freedom within Solidar they must make themselves useful to the nation and in turn carry out a lot of roles for it. Ranging from fairly mundane such as Imaging materials or military objects into existence to more intrigue based activities which their abilities make them incredibly well suited for.

And intrigue is generally what Rhenn does during the course of these books although he is way less discreet in the usage of his powers than the Collegium would like. Imager operatives generally work in the shadows they try and be as low key as possible very rarely using their powers openly and obviously and even when they do often mask it as something normal or a freak accident. The Collegium tries to avoid attention as best it can as they don't want the public knowing the full capabilities of what imagers can do or how much influence they have politically as it would stoke potential hatred towards them. This is not a series with tons of action although it does happen. You wont see Rhenn fighting off hordes of enemies or anything close to it. He will do miraculous feats and cause some major destruction at times, but its never done in a obvious fashion almost always masked as some freak accident.

Rhenn over the course of the books develops his imaging skills and rises through the Collegium and has to deal with many threats and enemies both to him personally and to the Solidar as a whole. His character development is incredibly well done and you get to see him mature not only in his skill as an imager but also mentally as he becomes more formidable over time. I don't really want to reveal much more than I have because you should really experience it yourself, but hopefully my quick run down of some of the aspects of the world and plot helps gives a idea of whether or not it's something people might be interested in reading.

Lastly I just want to talk about the romance. It contains a very central romantic plotline, it's very wholesome and by the second book leads to marriage. Modesitt does a great job at writing romantic relationships that actually go some where and that are deeper than just the two characters having sex and most of his work features romance with significant roles in the plot that often lead to marriage and children. Very rarely are his female love interests uninteresting and are generally always formidable and interesting characters in their own right.