ARC Review: Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Author: Michael J Sullivan

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Edition: ARC courtesy of Del Rey

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Release Date: June 28th, 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

I received an ARC of Age of Myth from the publishers.  Thank you!

Michael J Sullivan is one of my favorite author's thanks to his Riyria Revelations series (which, if you haven't yet read, you should go read RIGHT NOW) and so I've been excited for this one since it was announced he was writing another epic fantasy series.  Then, I heard he was going to C2E2 so of course I wanted to go and see him but didn't have anyone to go with.  And then it was announced that they'd be giving away ARCs of the new book and the next thing you know, I had two tickets and was dragging my dad to the show.  And now I have a signed ARC of Age of Myth (and I got Theft of Sword signed as well)!

Age of Myth follows several perspectives.  Raithe, a Rhune (think Human) who kills a "god"; Persephone, the widow of the previous ruler of her town and a very strong figure within her town; Suri, a young mystic with Fhrey (think Elf) powers; and Arion, a powerful Fhrey magician.  They would all seem to be set out on different paths until Raithe kills this "god", which turns out to not be a god at all but as mortal as everyone else, and changes the world forever.

I think I may have had too high of hopes for this one.  Part of that lies in how much I loved Riyria Revelations, a series that takes place in the same world as this one but several hundred (maybe thousands) of years later.  Basically, it's a different world.  And it's about completely different characters, not the ones that really made Riyria so amazing (Royce and Hadrian are some of my favorite characters of all times).  So, in these ways, I think I just, in my mind, overhyped it.  Of course, it could not live up to my expectations at all, which made me really sit down and think about how I felt about this book.

And, in the end, it was pretty good fantasy.  Not mind blowing, if only because I've read better.  There were also moments where it really dragged.  The story, though, asks many interesting questions, introduces us to colorful characters, and sets up a story I'm still very much interested in reading about.

My favorite thing about the whole book were the easter eggs that point to the Riyria books.  There are actually quite a few and I think fans of his previous series will be very happy with them.  They delighted me and surprised my quite a bit (I won't spoil any, but really, they're all pretty amazing).

Basically, if you're even slightly curious I recommend picking this book up.  With the way Michael J Sullivan writes his books every single word is chosen with care and every thread will be connected in the end in unexpected ways, so I fully expect each book to get better and better and finally culminate in one grand masterpiece.