This is only the second book in a series of 6 (all of which are already written, though the remaining 4 are yet to be released), so I will reserve my more extensive and well informed comments on the story itself for when I have read the entire series, in a couple of years time. But these first two books were already great reads on their own, with the typical for Michael J. Sullivan style - smooth and easy to digest, and yet not shallow by any means. With where the plot goes in these two books already, and how the characters are developed, the series promises to be at least as good as the previous epic 6-book series by this author - the Riyria Revelations. So I can't wait to read each of the next 4 books, as soon as they are released.
And yes, I do sound a bit biased already. I admit - Michael J. Sullivan is my favorite fantasy writer of all time, and his Riyria Revelations series is my favorite fantasy series I have ever read (yes, even better than the almost universally loved LOTR and ASoIaF series, in my humble opinion... especially since ASoIaF is not finished and, sorry I have to say it, we are not sure if it will ever be...).
Age of Swords, and this entire First Empire series, is set in the same world, but 3000 years earlier than the Riyria books, so it doesn't have that pair of protagonists whom everyone loves - Royce and Hadrian - but it has a large and diverse cast of character, who are also very interesting and some of them - awesome too (e.g. many readers tend to fall in love with Suri; I do like her too, and I like many of the others). I even like the young villain (or at least he is supposed to be one, probably in the sequels; his story-arc is still separate from the others in this book) - Mawyndule. He is flawed, but not "pure evil", and I can't wait to see how he develops in the sequels. This book also has a fun plot, with quite a few plot twists. While many people, who don't pay much attention and read too quickly, might dismiss Sullivan's books as "too light", they are actually much deeper than one might think... but that is, as I said, if you bother to think a bit more about the events and the characters. Those rare "haters" probably just like to read brutally dark and cynical fantasy, with huge amounts of gore and sex, and everyone being a villain and a backstabber (by the way, I like the ASoIaF books despite those things, not because of them... But I shouldn't digress, and should go back to my review of the actual book I'm reviewing). Obviously, Sullivan's style is not like that at all, and that is exactly what I love about his writing - while in his books there are enough bad people and bad situations to create conflicts and drive the plot forward, there are also quite a few decent people, whom you can sympathize with, and some feel-good (or even cute) situations once in a while, and I think that is much more realistic and similar to the real world, unlike all the depressing and brutal grim-dark "fantasy" that is so fashionable today. The real world is not hell, people!
Also, there are strong female characters, but unlike the silly modern tendencies, Sullivan doesn't magically turn them into fearless and aggressive bad-ass warriors, having enormous plot-armor, and being able to beat any big muscular man at his game - they are strong in their unique female ways, which in my opinion is much more realistic, even in a fantasy setting.
Michael's writing is indeed very character-driven and, while book #1 was a good set-up for the series, in terms of introducing to us many of those diverse and fascinating characters, this one is where we now get to know them more closely, and some of them really start to flourish. And since I already mentioned the women, here's a very obscure spoiler - in one of the main plot-lines of this book we have something like an all-female "fellowship" (although, as I said, not one made up of some sort of "women-warriors") going on a weird and somewhat crazy quest. And yet I'm pretty sure Michael didn't make the gang all female to cater to the feminists, or anything like that - it just happened naturally; and yes, it's kinda cute. :)
I can't wait to read Age of War! ...despite its title alluding to my (usually) least favorite aspect of fantasy narratives - war and battles. But I'm sure the book will have a little bit of everything again.
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FLUSSKY
La maravillosa fantasía de M. J. Sullivan
Reviewed in Mexico on June 18, 2019
