I enjoyed reading Last of the First, but I did have some problems understanding Verinaar’s POV or why he was the last mage standing or why he was seen as the Mage who would do a deal for the greater good.

Unlike his predecessor, and the magi’ii who plotted against Alyiakal, Verinaar is comparatively reasonable… and a realist. First, he knows that Alyiakal could destroy him, but that Alyiakal would prefer to deal with him so long as Verinaar remains reasonable. Second, by retaining Verinaar, Alyiakal is effectively stating that he’s not out to remove mages without cause.

I loved Solar Express. In that novel, Alayna’s work centers on multifractal mini-granulation and turbulent processes in the photosphere. Kuridze et al. have now reported ubiquitous Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and plasma mixing at granular boundaries at scales of tens of kilometers. What do you make of the new observations, and is there a young Alayna out there now that will pull this off in this century?

I have to say that the results of the new observations don’t surprise me. I’ve always felt that there’s more going on at all levels of the sun than we’ve been able to observe and/or measure. In time, I hope we’ll be able to discover even more. But I don’t have any plans for a follow-up novel.

The scene where Alyiakal became emperor was a ton of fun to read, especially since it subverted my expectations on how it would happen. I was picturing something more akin to Lorn, with a big battle preceding it. Can you talk through how you developed it? Did you have other iterations of that sequence in your mind when you started the series? Can you share the basics of what they looked like and why you discarded them? Thanks!

There was no way there could have been a big battle. By the time Alyiakal confronts the Emperor and Empress, he’s effectively subdued all the barbarians, and the Mirror Lancers are totally behind Alyiakal. The merchanters have the golds, but not enough armsmen to stop Alyiakal — and merchanters’ armsmen are essentially mercenaries who have little interest in being martyrs. As for alternatives, at that stage, there weren’t any realistic alternatives except if the Emperor and Empress are stronger than Alyiakal.

I’ve been rereading both Heritage and the Kharl books, along with watching shows on Pompeii, and got me thinking; What condition is the Palace of Light in? Is it in relatively preserved shape like Pompeii is or is it barely recognizable ruins? When the folks of Southwind eventually excavate, what do they find in your mind? Will they find Kiedral’s poetry books?

Kiedral’s poetry books accompanied the Empress Mairena to Cigoerne. Whatever is left of Cyad is offshore and buried deeply. There are traces of Cyador here and there, such as the house that Nylan encounters.

I loved the new book and, while disappointed, find it completely reasonable the thread with Adayal wasn’t resolved, I was hoping you would share any of the character development you created for her. What was her life like and how did she come to live in the forest? What were the causes of the twinned order threads? Thanks for all the enjoyment you’ve provided over the years!

At times, I wish I could write more about many of the “supporting characters” in my books. Sometimes, it’s proved possible, as with Justen and Cerryl, but often not. Again, I appreciate the support.

Like many (judging from the recent questions), I too enjoyed Last of the First a great deal. There are a variety of reasons for that, but two of them are the delightful humour (I was snickering along with our new Empress at “positively ashen”) and what, to me, seemed a completely appropriate reaction from various people to Alyiakal’s revealed power. One thing that has on occasion confused or frustrated me in previous books of yours is when vastly powerful characters, capable of feats that put numerous gods in traditional pantheons of our world to shame, are treated as annoyances or frustrations rather than awe-inspiring semi-deities. My question, then, is why you felt that in this instance, the people in power (particularly the new First Magus) immediately recognized this, acclaimed the new Emperor, and aside from a (very) small number of the most blind fools, assented and were properly frightened and wary of his revealed power? His abilities do not seem, for instance, to be greater than Lerial’s demonstrated abilities to destroy vast numbers of troops, and I’m curious why you felt the reaction would be so different?

First, Lerial’s powers don’t show up for another roughly seven hundred years. Second, most of those who recognize Alyiakal’s powers are magi’i and have more understanding, and those who don’t tend to get destroyed. Those outside the magi’i really have never seen those powers. Most merchanters certainly haven’t,not until the very end of the book, and Alyiakal has been careful to cloak his capabilities from his Mirror Lancer peers and superiors. Verinaar is a stronger mage than almost anyone except Alyiakal, and wise enough to know that he can never hope to be Emperor and that he’s effectively the second-most powerful magus in Cyador.

I’m in the middle of the Last of the First, and realized something. Why does nobody in Cyador eat lunch? Does anybody in Recluse at any time eat lunch (I was thinking back through the books and nothing jumped out, but obviously I haven’t looked into this in detail)? At first I thought maybe this was something particular to your writing, but them I remembered in the Grand Illusion series there was a lot of lunch (including the much maligned Burgher’s delight, if my memory serves).

Your memory is accurate. Lunch effectively doesn’t exist in most of the countries in the world of Recluce. The culture tends to be large breakfasts and dinners, with bread and lager/ale for pick-me-ups in between.

I too just finished Last of the First, and loved it as well. But I wanted to mention something I noticed here that I haven’t seen anyone else comment on, and that’s how, when Alyiakal sits down with his boss, the boss makes him wait, and afterwards, the boss doesn’t ask how he’s doing or feeling or anything. In other words, even though he’s the protagonist and viewpoint character, his superiors don’t make him the center of attention – even if we readers do! Thanks for that little touch of reality. Definitely adds something.

I was in Alyiakal’s situation many times when I was younger. It goes with the territory, and, for better or worse, I write from what I know. And I very much appreciate your noticing and commenting on it.

Mr. Modesitt, I very much enjoyed Last of the First. Seeing early Cyador is always interesting! It made me think of a few questions: what happened to the parks of the First by Lorn or Nylan’s eras? Do you think that there are any surviving descendants of Alyiakal or Lorn by the time of Lerris? On a different note, I was curious whether you plan on donating your writing works/drafts to a university when you decide you have finished writing, as some authors have done (hopefully not for a long while!) I’m very much looking forward to Premiere later this year, and hope you return to Recluse again soon, whether we visit Cyador, Hamor, Fairhaven or somewhere else! Best wishes!

As with all cities, especially capitol cities, over time monuments tend to get removed or simply buried by later emperors. Consider Nero’s “Domus Aurea,” which was buried. As for descendants of Alyiakal and Lorn, there are certainly some, most likely through the matrilineal line, though.

As for donation of my draft/notes/and associated writings, two universities have expressed interest, but that decision will be made by my heirs.

Sorry, I know this is a bit super trivial so it’s not an official question for the public, just curiousity. In Last of the First when Coeryn is giving an update about 171 pages in on the digital version he mentiones “… but an overcaptain of armsmen in the north holds Lornth and the lands halfway south to Clynya.” I had always thought Lornth was named after Lorn, who wasn’t born yet, but I’d be tickled pink if you purposely wrote it that it had been Lornth all the time, and after Lorn they just assumed it was named after him. Or was it just a tiny continuity typo? Either way I’m loving it, I’d be done but RL is kicking my butt his week, and I can’t WAIT to find out how much post-Al becoming emporer we get, since we know he changed so much of how the triad works. I hope it doesn’t just end at him being emporer (and in case it does, I’ll be fine with it, but I’ll hope for a post-emporer short story if you have it in you someday 🙂

Let’s just say that in every world there are names that sometimes repeat or are similar, and that happens with authors as well.