Nolyn

Unfortunately this did not work for me. The Rise and Fall has been marketed as a standalone series from Michael Sullivan but I get the impression that this really should have been read after reading his other works - I get the impression the characters and events are eluded to throughout his other series. My main issue was I just did not gel with the main characters here. They felt either a bit too aloof or a bit too helpless and irrational.

I will try re-entering this world through one of the other series as I do here good things about it, I am just hopeful that this was the wrong place to start

Thrilled to have been a gamma reader and am so excited for the Sullivan fans who will read this when it comes out. You will love it!

I really enjoyed the original Ryria books so I was pretty excited for the First Empire series when it came out. I enjoyed the first few books in that series, but I felt like it lost steam by the end. So when this series was announced, I wasn't as excited.

I did want to read this eventually, but wasn't in a rush. I finally got around to it, and I found it another strong start to a new series. I thought the new characters were interesting, especially the titular character, Nolyn. Some of the supporting characters were reminiscent of characters in Ryria or First Empire, but the main characters felt more flushed out.

Overall I found this a fun listen and will be continuing right on into the second book. As usual, Tim Gerard Reynolds does a fantastic job with the narration. However there was one chapter where there was a lot of repeated text and it made for an agitating listen. If I had been reading the text instead I would have skimmed over that section.