Age of Legend

Audio Book

Guys. This series. I am in love with Michael Sullivan at this point. Like, these books just get better and better. This review will be a little brief because a lot of what I said in the last reviews still hold true. These characters are masterpieces. I love all of them so much. The plot keeps taking turns that I never would have expected. The magic is so cool. The plot twists are wild. Like, everyone should be reading Sullivan's books. I'm so excited to read his whole backlog honestly.

So good!!

This book was amazing (once again). I love this series!!!

I don't know why but I keep imagining the Gilarabryn as Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon

All Filler, No Thriller

The whole book is pretty much setting up the next part of the series. Very little actually happens in this one, which I find very upsetting.
I have always liked not loved this series, mostly because it is light on concept and originality, but heavy on cool characters and excitement. This one had little character development and practically no excitement, so it was a huge let down.

I don't think I'm going to keep reading this series because what seemed like a fresh pre-civilization concept is falling into an old trope about elves, men, dwarves, with some people who can do magic and they have wars. Been there done that, and if you're going to just stretch the crap out of the story so you can keep putting out books every year, I'm out.

I was so shocked when this book ended because I thought we were just about to get to the interesting part, but my audiobook just stopped and ran the credits, and I was left thinking “Seriously? That's it?!” This book could have been written in three chapters, so if you're more committed to this story than I am, maybe wait for the next book and read a summary of this one.

To start off, I love this series. I love forward to reading about these characters every year with Michael's wonderful release schedule. [b:Age of War 18052169 Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire, #3) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516720471l/18052169.SX50.jpg 25336191], the previous book in the series, was brilliant in tying up the first arc of this series in a dramatic, yet heartbreaking fashion.[b:Age of Legend 22819354 Age of Legend (The Legends of the First Empire, #4) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562549139l/22819354.SX50.jpg 42370596] serves as the beginning of the second arc of this six-book series. We get to jump in right after the events of the last book, fast forward a bit for some character progression and realistic time gap, then dive headfirst into the two events that will be resolved through the second arc. While I really liked this book, it definitely feels unresolved at the end with the cliffhanger ending. As someone who is going to read this whole series, it doesn't bother me too much, especially since I know the next book is not far off.Can't wait for [b:Age of Death 30613608 Age of Death (The Legends of the First Empire, #5) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559735560l/30613608.SX50.jpg 51146016]!

Executive Summary: This series seems to alternate between great books and just good ones. This was a good one. I felt like too much time was spent setting things up and just as it was set, it ended. 3.5 stars.Audiobook: Tim Gerard Reynolds does his usual fantastic job. I've enjoyed every book he's narrated, and none more than those written by Mr. Sullivan. The narration helped me through some of the slower parts at the start of this book.Full ReviewSo far I've rated both [b:Age of Myth 26863057 Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507307691l/26863057.SY75.jpg 24657657] and [b:Age of War 18052169 Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire, #3) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516720471l/18052169.SX50.jpg 25336191] as 5 stars but [b:Age of Swords 32337902 Age of Swords (The Legends of the First Empire, #2) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481987017l/32337902.SY75.jpg 25336186] was a 4 and this one 3.5. I found both started slow but ended strong.It's almost as though he needs a book in between to set things up. With the way this one ended he's certainly set up for the next book to be another fantastic one. I just wish it didn't spend so much time meandering at the start.Things certainly took an unexpected turn for me, but I wanted to see what was going to happen next immediately. Because the book took so long to get there if left me a bit disappointed. That said this was still a good book, just not at the level of some of the others.Given how it ended I'm eagerly awaiting the next one, especially because I know it's already been written. I'm hoping the release will be either later this year or earlier next year when hopefully all the setup of this book is finally paid off.

“Time had sneaked in and stolen her recklessness.” Michael J. Sullivan has done it again: He has written a book that doesn't need to hide behind any other work in contemporary fantasy. His latest masterpiece, Age of Legend, the Kickstarter of which I had the honour to participate in, begins after the Battle of Grandford at the end of the previous book, [b: Age of War 18052169 Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire, #3) Michael J. Sullivan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516720471s/18052169.jpg 25336191]. This makes “Age of Legend” the fourth book in Michael's “The Legends of the First Empire” series which I whole-heartedly recommend to, well, actually anyone who reads. (In fact, my wife isn't really into fantasy but thoroughly enjoyed Michael's Riyria books.) I already wrote it in the review for the previous book but this latest instalment solidifies this feeling: More and more, “Legends” turns into Michael's magnum opus. The Riyria books, which are fairly different from Legends, are undoubtedly great but the narrative depth of Legends is absolutely remarkable. Michael gets pretty much everything right and this starts even before the actual book with his “Author's Note”: “Now, there are a few things in this second half that I've done differently than my other books, and I want to warn you about them in advance.” This is expectation management done right – before we even get started Michael informs us about what he has done differently. I love his transparency. The main part of the book again takes us to the war of the Rhunes against the Fhrey and lets us accompany our heroes Persephone, Suri, Brin, Gifford and the others in their global as well as their personal struggles. True, some of them take a backseat compared to the earlier books but to me at least this feels completely natural – there's so much story to tell that the narration has to concentrate on slightly fewer characters. Some of them grow far beyond what I expected (and they themselves!) and some fall short of their own expectations. Michael is a master of characterisation, though, and consequently, those characters he focusses on truly come to life and “feel” real, alive. Literally nobody here is perfect, none of them are spotless white-vested heroes. As do we all, our heroes struggle – against their own fallibility, their doubts and, of course, an enemy who considers them animals. Among all the considerable developments in this book, Michael never loses his touch for careful world building, e. g. a very simple question... “I noticed a number of carts being lashed to horses outside. What's that all about?” ... leads us to the invention of chariots. Just as in the earlier books this is executed brilliantly. And while all this plays out about 3000 years before Riyria and, thus, long before our time, Michael carefully makes us think of contemporary challenges but never preaches or lectures us: “The dwarf?” Malcolm paused and thought a moment. “Well, I wasn't referring to him specifically. But now that you bring it up, I should point out that you run the risk of painting a whole race with the same ugly brush, which could have unexpected consequences in the future.” I think Michael's greatest gift and the key to understanding his work but especially “The Legends of the First Empire” is his empathy. The downtrodden, the despised – however deserved that may be – are not beyond redemption. This deeply human attitude is part of what makes me love his books: “Empathy—the ability to understand and appreciate the feelings of others—is the cornerstone of civilization and the foundation of our relationships. Lack of it . . . well, lack of empathy is as close to a definition of evil that I can come up with.” In the beginning, I already referred to Michael doing Kickstarter projects for his latest works (and even this he does pretty much perfectly). Kickstarter projects are great for this kind of stuff – the author finally gets more than just a meagre share of the proceedings and we, the readers, get to read the book earlier at the very least and, if committing by pledging higher amounts, lots of other goodies. I certainly wish more authors would make such good use of Kickstarter. So, if you're into fantasy go ahead and read Michael J. Sullivan's fantastic books!