Age of Swords

Executive Summary: This book finished stronger for me than it started. Another solid effort by Mr. Sullivan.Audiobook: I first discovered [a:Michael J. Sullivan 2063919 Michael J. Sullivan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1433443335p2/2063919.jpg] thanks to an audible daily deal for [b:Theft of Swords 10790290 Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2) Michael J. Sullivan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1307959785s/10790290.jpg 15702572]. [a:Tim Gerard Reynolds 4132657 Tim Gerard Reynolds https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1370714999p2/4132657.jpg] was excellent for that book. Ever since audio has been the only way to go for me. I'll never read a book when I could listen to him read it to me instead. Another great job here as expected.Full ReviewI've always enjoyed Mr. Sullivan's writing and this one was no different. I did find the start of this one a bit slow. If anything I'd expect to have had that happen with the first book in a series and not the second. I'm not entirely sure why I felt that way.This one picks up right where the last book left of, but it just felt like there was a bunch of stage setting for what turned out to be the main plot of this book. Once that got going however, it was quite enjoyable.The female characters continue to steal the show for me. Not just the “main” characters like Persephone and Suri, but the “minor” ones like Brin and especially Roan. On the men's side, I find most of them pretty unlikable, especially the elves. Raithe, who I found to be a pretty great character in the first book, annoyed me for much of this book. Thankfully that got better by the end of the book. The best male character continues to be Gifford, though he had a fairly small part for much of the book. I do like the addition of Tesh in this book, and hope he features more in future books.The most intriguing parts for me continue to be wondering what Malcolm's motivations are, and just who the hell is Trilos?This book adds the Dwarves in, and I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that they make things interesting. Anyone who's read Mr. Sullivan's Riyria books will probably have a good idea of his opinions on Dwarves however.Overall this was an enjoyable entry in the series, and I'm already looking forward to [b:Age of War 18052169 Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire, #3) Michael J. Sullivan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500722524s/18052169.jpg 25336191].