Paperback, 649 Pages
Adult/ Epic Fantasy
By: Michael J. Sullivan
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 1/2
“You don’t win battles with hate. Anger and hate can make you brave, make you strong, but they also make you stupid. You end up tripping over your own two feet.”
I have been meaning to read Sullivan’s books for ever! I was always procrastinating because there are many of those but I learned to tackle series one book at a time and since I read all Abercrombie’s books, I am ready to dive into Sullivan’s world!
I heard a lot of good things about these books and everyone says this book is kind of the weakest and I think that is a good thing as it means the series will improve! I enjoyed the writing, it kind of reminded me of the Greatcoats series as it mixes adult epic fantasy which is usually dry and tough to read with humor that lightens things up. The weird thing about this trilogy as it consists of three omnibuses and I have never read anything like that before. The synopsis is that of the first book so that made getting into the second book a bit more difficult. The stories do continue each other but they also have a self contained story in each book so it was kind of tricky!
Hadrian and Royce were certainly unique characters and I do like both of them. It is a bit early to pick a favorite at this point but I think I understand why people love them and as a result love this series! To be honest, there was some telling rather than showing and the characterization sometimes felt weak but overall, I think I can tolerate that from a debut which I know will get better.
“Aren’t you going to say, I told you so?” Hadrian whispered.
“What would be the point in that?”
“Oh, so you’re saying that you’re going to hang on to this and throw it at me at some future, more personally beneficial moment?”
“I don’t see the point in wasting it now, do you?”
The world building is not very complex but I don’t think that matters very much here as it is a character-driven series, that doesn’t mean there is no world building though. I liked the inclusion of magic and mythical creatures and I am certainly looking out for more from this world!
I think this is a series of standalones that do continue each other and the author note at the end does explain it better than I do so I won’t say much. I also believe the way I will approach the second book will be a bit different and more in conjunction with the way it was written!
Summary: I finally read a Sullivan’s book and although the experience did not take my breath away, it did not disappoint me. I think some of the stuff shows that it was a debut but I am looking forward to more from this world specially the notorious Hadrian and Royce which means I will most certainly continue this series!
The book prescription 