Legalist
A Novel in the Grand Illusion
Will be published approx. on 26. February 2026
Book
Hardback
576 pages
978-1-250-38575-8 (ISBN)
Description
L. E. Modesitt, Jr., bestselling author of Saga of Recluce and the Imager Portfolio, continues the Grand Illusion, a gaslamp political fantasy series the Grand Illusion (Isolate, Councilor, Contrarian).
Fifty years after the establishment of the Imperium, and 450 years before the events of Isolate, Dominic Mikail Ysella-ancestor of Arval 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 simple legal specialist in water rights could get himself killed.
The Grand Illusion
Isolate
Councilor
Contrarian
Legalist
Other Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Imager Portfolio
The Corean Chronicles
The Spellsong Cycle
The Ghost Books
The Ecolitan Matter
Fifty years after the establishment of the Imperium, and 450 years before the events of Isolate, Dominic Mikail Ysella-ancestor of Arval 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 simple legal specialist in water rights could get himself killed.
The Grand Illusion
Isolate
Councilor
Contrarian
Legalist
Other Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Imager Portfolio
The Corean Chronicles
The Spellsong Cycle
The Ghost Books
The Ecolitan Matter
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Tor Publishing Group
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
705 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-250-38575-8 (9781250385758)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2025
Tor Books
€23.99
Available for download
Person
L. E. MODESITT, JR. is the author of more than eighty books-primarily science fiction and fantasy-including the long-running, bestselling series the Saga of Recluce and the Imager Portfolio, as well as a number of short stories. Legalist is the fourth book in his Grand Illusion series (Isolate, Councilor, and Contrarian).