Age of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

3.5 Stars

Legends of the First Empire - Book Two

Let me begin by saying that I had no idea we were so far back in the history of this world when I read the first book.  Thinking it was just me, I asked my son who just read book one at Christmas what he thought the 'age' of the world was and turns out it's not just me.  *LOL*

Anyway, after the first quarter of the book being rather slow and um... explanatory?... the tale picked up and I adventured along with the familiar characters I had grown to enjoy from the first book.  And while there were adventures to be had and new locations to be explored, I felt as if this book was very much a setting of the stage for the next book.  Yes, the over-arcing plot lines advance and we get an answer or two or three to some things, but you can just feel that there's a lot more of this story to tell.

I very much enjoy the overall tone and flow of Sullivan's books and he creates characters that I fall in love with, so even though the plot and action of this book might have been a little slow, I still enjoyed it muchly and am looking forward to reading the next book!

Oh, and I have to shout out the cover artist, Marc Simonetti.  The whole series is terrific!

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

4.5 Stars

The Legends of the First Empire - Book 1

I was so excited to hear about this book - the first in a new series by one of my fave fantasy authors - and thank all the little gods, I LOVED IT!

Age of Myth tells tales from long, long ago in the world that we've come to know over the Riyria books and they aren't quite as they've been handed down over the millenia!  *LOL*

On some levels, it's your typical big fantasy book, there are elves and dwarves and humans and demons and magic and mystics, but that's just a framework.  The world-building is great - very consistent with what I have come to expect from the Riryia books, which is a good thing.  The plot works for me - others might find it similar to other things they've read before and maybe it is.  Hell, I've been reading epic fantasy for over 40 years, so yeah, many parts are familiar, but... BUT I love the author's voice and the way he creates his characters - I LOVE the characters!  They have flaws, they're not all gorgeous and capable, they have secrets and some of them have plans... BIG plans.  And as for that plot, well, I can honestly say that almost all the important twists I didn't see coming until I was expected to see them coming.

One thing that I love about Sullivan's writing is his sense of humour.  I love it!  I actually chuckle out loud while I'm reading at times.  And it's not that the book is supposed to be funny, okay, it's not Robert Asprin here.  People are funny and Sullivan knows this, so his characters are funny at times. Malcolm and Raithe especially.  Apropos of the humour, seldom am I moved to highlight passages from books, but I did this one:

"It was what the tree said to do.  And if you can't trust an ancient talking tree, what was the point of having one?" 

I loved that!!

In the end, I loved my read and I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out this summer!  (BTW, Sullivan writes his whole series before he publishes the first book, so there are no worries about not getting the end of the tale!)

Percepliquis by Michael J. Sullivan

5 STARS

Riyria Revelations - Book 6

This was a most satisfying end to a really good series. Some things I had suspected came to be true and others that I suspected did not, which is the way I like things. :)

Thinking back, it seems a long, winding journey from the first book to this one, but I loved the characters so much that it really didn't bother me one bit. I do like well-written epics with great characters.

And we really did come full circle more than many epics do. - I have to wonder if that's because Sullivan waited until all the books were written before publishing it? That might make it easier to tie up all the loose ends.

Royce remains my favorite character of all and boy, oh boy, does he run the gamut of emotions in this book and indeed, throughout the whole series. And Myron.. my goodness, he comes into his own in this book. In my mind's eye, he's Dr. Reid from Criminal Minds. *LOL*

I'm in one of those places where I couldn't give a good review of this book and the whole series if you paid me! *LOL* I can just say that I really, really enjoyed it. The ending was most satisfying and there is definitely a part of me that's sad to see it end. :)

The first book of the series was also the book that rekindled my Big Love for the fantasy genre which had been quiet for a few years.

Wintertide by Michael J. Sullivan

4 STARS

Riyria Revelations - Book 5

More questions, more answers. :) But never as many of the latter as there are of the former. In this, the 5th (or 1st half of the 3rd) of the Riyria Revelations, you can almost feel that things are working towards a climactic resolution.

We spend a lot of our time with Modina, the young empress and Hadrian, the warrior half of our core duo of Hadrian and Royce. Their characters grow and expand and even as we learn about some of the others... Nimbus, Arista, Royce, Amelia, Breckton etc... and how they all fit into this epic journey.

I enjoyed it so much that I dove right into the next book in the series right away, something I never do.

The Emerald Storm by Michael J. Sullivan

4.5 STARS

Riyria Revelations - Book 4

I loved this installment of the Riyria Revelations - book 4 if you're keeping count.

My favourite fantasy brothers-in-arms, Royce and Hadrian are back, this time, their travels taking them to sea on the ship, The Emerald Storm. We meet some new characters, Wyatt, Poe, Wesley who bring some surprises to the tale. :)

We also get to follow Arista as she takes on more of her mantle as a magic-wielder. And Modina and Amelia, empress and 'secretary', are back too.

While this book mainly centered on the high-seas adventure and some growth happening back at the empress' residence and the plots therein - it also felt like a big set-up for the next two books in the series (which I went and purchased as soon as I finished this one to make sure I had them in the ereader for when I wanted them. *LOL*). Oddly, this didn't bother me as much as it might have, I suppose because both plot lines were exciting and engrossing enough on their own.

This is classic epic fantasy done well and I'm enjoying the series immensely!

Nyphron Rising by Michael J. Sullivan

4 STARS

Riyria Revelations - Book 3

I'm loving this series. :)

I started this volume, #3 in the Riyria Revelations, back in December but had to put it aside so I could read my Christmas books. After finishing Traitor's Blade, my want for adventure fantasy was rekindled so I picked Nyphron Rising back up and zipped through the last 2/3rds of it.

Hadrian and Royce are so very Hadrian and Royce and I adore them. Many revelations came in this volume of their story and I've had my suspicions about The Big Mystery furthered. I'll have to read the next book, I think, to confirm them.

Arista has come into her own and I have fallen in love with the spirited princess. She's grown and matured due to her travails and gained a depth of empathy that to me, she was missing before.

A couple of secondary characters that were introduced bit the dust and I was very sad because I had grown to really like them and want to see more of them. Still, I read Game of Thrones and George RR Martin has cured me of any firm expectations of characters staying alive.

So, I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series (I have the omnibus of volumes #3 and #4) which will probably be sooner rather than later. More adventures! YAY!!

Avempartha by Michael J. Sullivan

3 STARS

The Riyria Revelations - Book 2

An editor! My kingdom for a content editor!

Seriously, there are so many infodumps in this book that it's close on a reference book at times! And also, included in these infodumps are little instances of 'deux ex machina' that really could have been brought out in a much more natural way earlier in the book. And fat... dear Lord, there is fat. I understand that the author wrote this series as an experiment that became books in a series, so that my be the reasoning for the lack. But damn, if this was just tighter, it'd be great instead of just good.

But that being said, I really enjoyed this second installment of the adventures of Hadrian and Royce. I think the main reason I enjoyed it as much as I did was because I love the main characters - and YAY!, we find out a little more of their backrounds. Just when I think Hadrian might be my favourite, Royce will say or do something that will make him my favourite until the moment that Hadrian does something depricatingly heroic and BAM! he's my fave again. *LOL*

The secondary characters are fun and flesh-out as well. Princess Arista, Thrace the farm girl, Esrahaddon the wizard, the Pickering brothers... all nicely well-rounded and interesting. The baddies are baddies and obviously so, at least in this installment, but that works for me. As often happens in fantasy novels, the baddies belong to the big church that wants to run everything and so many of their high-ranking officials are nowhere near the holy men they should be. So yes, it's a typical fantasy, but the tale it tells and the trails it takes to get there are very worth reading.

Will I read the others? There are 4 more books in the series from what I can tell and yes, I will. Good, fun, fantasy with a terrific bromance is always welcome in my ereader. :) Hopefully, the latter books are a little better edited for content.