The Death of Dulgath

A Royce and Hadrian fix! Woo hoo! I love that!

Okay, now that I've calmed down just a WEE bit, I can say that the boys are in classic style here. I got a little confused with some of the interactions between Royce and the Countess Dulgath not wholly matching up with my recollection as to how things go later in Royce's life, but hey, it's been a while since I read those books, and I'm sure Sullivan knows better. I'm not going to nitpick, in any case.
I loved the way Hadrian treated Scarlett. He's always such a gentleman!

Executive Summary: Another great Riyria book. I hope we get another one soon! 4.5 stars.Audiobook: If you don't know how great this series is in audio, you're missing out. I first discovered it due to a daily deal on [b:Theft of Swords 10790290 Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, Vol 1) Michael J. Sullivan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1307959785s/10790290.jpg 15702572] a few years ago, and quickly devoured the rest. Tim Gerard Reynolds is Riyria for me. He does voices for all the characters and really adds to Mr. Sullivan excellent story telling.It's for that reason that despite dropping a substantial amount of money on the kickstarter for this book, and having early access to the ebook version (and a hardcover version on the way), I still waited for and bought the audio version. Full ReviewI was a little apprehensive about this book. Mr. Sullivan has been working on his First Empire series for the last few years, and suddenly discovered that if he didn't publish a Riyria book by the end of the year, he wouldn't be able to do so for at least another or year or two. He did a kickstarter in order to get it out on time and seems to have written the whole thing in only a few months.I should have known better. Mr. Sullivan really knows these characters well and always writes an entertaining story. It's fun to be back with Royce and Handrian. It's interesting to see how the characters have changed and grown in the original series from how they used to be. Royce has become more like Hadrian and vice-versa.It's also a lot of fun to see how certain details originally came to light. There are some great nuggets in here for people who have read the original series already. I know Mr. Sullivan has tried to make an effort to make it possible to read the prequels first, but after this book, I'm not sure that's still true. I've always recommended publication order anyways, but now I'll actively recommend against reading the prequels first too. I think some of the things here will ruin their revelations (see what I did there?) in the original series.Mr. Sullivan's writing is great, and the plotting is tight. He seems to mix humor, action and intrigue effortlessly. Despite knowing a lot of about the future of these characters, he was still somehow able to leave me guessing about what will happen next. He largely accomplishes this by adding some excellent supporting characters. I think both Lady Dulgath and Scarlet Dodge are great additions to the world. That said, it's the banter between Royce and Hadrian that really steals the show for me. This goes double for the audio. Mr. Reynolds does such a great job bringing it to life.Overall this another solid Riyria book. It's fun and light, in a genre that seems overrun with serious dark fantasy most of the time. If you haven't checked out Riyria yet, I highly recommend you do, starting with [b:Theft of Swords 10790290 Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, Vol 1) Michael J. Sullivan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1307959785s/10790290.jpg 15702572]. I hope we get a new Riyria book at some point in the next two years or so, but in the meantime I'm eagerly waiting for Mr. Sullivan's next book [b:Age of Myth 17664893 Age of Myth (The First Empire #1) Michael J. Sullivan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1450300630s/17664893.jpg 24657657]. I hope that Tim Gerard Reynolds narrates that series too. :)

Excellent characters and story as always! The only regret I have is that I am now finished with the Riyria story unless (until?) more come out. If you enjoyed any of the previous Riyria books, this is well worth the read.