Imager

core novel 2009 The Imager Portfolio

Record

First published	2009
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	4.01 (8,497 ratings, collected 2026-08-31)
Page count	432
First-edition ISBN	9781429962315
Internal chronology	1

Synopsis

Rhennthyl is the son of a wool merchant in the city of L'Excelsis, working toward becoming a master artisan painter, when his patron is killed in a sudden fire and Rhenn discovers he possesses the rare and dangerous power of imaging, the ability to visualize things and make them real. Forced to leave his old life behind, he must join the Collegium of Imagisle, where imagers live apart from society, both feared and vulnerable because of their uncontrollable abilities. As the first book of the Imager Portfolio, the novel follows Rhenn's difficult transition from an established craft he loved into an institution whose members are regarded with a mixture of dependence and suspicion by the wider city of L'Excelsis, in the land of Solidar.

Where it sits

• Universe: The Imager Portfolio
• Series: The Imager Portfolio core; position 1 of 12 in the series' recorded order
• Author: L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Notes

• From the series record (The Imager Portfolio): Twelve novels across three story arcs (Rhennthyl's, then Quaeryt's, then Alastar and Prince Charyn's) set in one continuous world and timeline, treated as a single series rather than a multi-series world.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.

• Reading order, within the series The Imager Portfolio: position 1 of 12: next Imager's Challenge (2009)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imager_Portfolio
• https://www.lemodesittjr.com/the-books/imager-portfolio/imager/

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