Legalist

The Grand Illusion, Book 4

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Narrated by: Michael Bower

L. E. Modesitt, Jr., bestselling author of Saga of Recluce and the Imager Portfolio, continues the Grand Illusion, a gaslamp political fantasy series (Isolate, Councilor, Contrarian) with a prequel, Legalist.

Fifty years after the establishment of the Imperium, and 450 years before the events of Isolate, Dominic Mikail Ysella—ancestor of Avraal Ysella—is the grandson of the last king of Aloor. Stripped of most of their land, Dominic, as the third son, must support himself.

Dominic becomes a legalist and is elected to the Imperial Council quietly working as an isolate, someone unreadable by government telepaths.

Amid a time of a crumbling imperial line, Dominic must build a coalition within the Council and quietly draft a new constitution to save the Imperium from itself. Uncovering rampant corruption, graft, and potential to be arrested for treason, Ysella discovers any number of ways that a simple legal specialist in water rights could get himself killed.

©2025 Modesitt Family Revocable Living Trust (P)2025 Tantor Media

A classic world being built right in front of us

Intriguing and submersive story that's well thought out a presented. Very rewarding!

The story is solid on its own, and you will enjoy it even more as you get to know the world

Creator gives us a single perspective story line that teases us with possibilities and mercilessly teases us with aspects of the word that's not covered. The story lives in the logical patterns of human nature and politics, mixing in mental capabilities, all framed in the social ethics of this era in the Grand Illusion

As usual for Modesitt, the story makes you think and he's teaching us to ask the What If... questions. For example, the mental capabilities are all fictional. Or is it?

Quick paced without being rushed.

Great story and characters. Learned about the history of the great charter. Mai characters new and fresh but still felt familiar.