Search This Blog

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Age of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

Age of Swords: Book Two of The Legends of the First Empire follows The Age of Myth, which I really liked.  And I loved all of the Riyria Chronicles.  So why did The Age of Swords fall short for me?  

I enjoyed catching up with some of the characters, and yet I wasn't as engaged with any of them in the way I was with Sullivan's previous books.  The Age of Myth was the introduction to this new series, but for some reason, Age of Swords felt more like an introduction and less like an advancement. The pacing felt uneven and perhaps too much time was given to the discoveries of things like the wheel.  The book seemed more like a history of inventions than a genuine story.  Everything was either about the advancement of a primitive tribe or preparation for war.  

It isn't that I didn't enjoy it, but neither did it command my interest and enthusiasm in the way that Age of Myth and all of the Riyria adventures did.  I truly loved the main characters in the Riyria Chronicles and the adventure and humor in those books.  Humor is largely missing in Swords and so was my engagement with the characters.

Read in May; blog review scheduled for July

NetGalley/Random House/Ballentine

Fantasy.  July 25, 2017.  Print version:  512 pages.

6 comments:

  1. I hate when second books disappoint like that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe if I had not read the previous books in both series, I would have liked it better, but that isn't to say that I wasn't engaged with the story.

      Delete
  2. What a disappointment. Let's hope the next book will be better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just went to Goodreads to check reviews, and almost everyone liked it better than I did. Such a personal thing, isn't it?

      Delete
  3. I am listening to this on audio right now so I only skimmed your review. I will be curious to see what I think!

    ReplyDelete