Age of Myth

Executive Summary: As I've come to expect with Mr. Sullivan, this book was a lot of fun. I'm glad to know that the rest of the series is already written, because I don't want to wait for the next book.Audiobook: Anyone whose read my reviews or had a recommendation from me knows how much I like [a:Tim Gerard Reynolds 4132657 Tim Gerard Reynolds https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1370714999p2/4132657.jpg]. Mr. Sullivan knows how good he is too, and made it a point to get him on board for the audio book before even selling his book rights. He does not disappoint here, and I'll once again proclaim that audio is the best way to go for Mr. Sullivan's fantasy series.Full ReviewI'm always stingy with my five star ratings, but this was an easy choice. The start is a bit slow, but I was far from bored. There was a lot to setup with the start of a new series, even one in an already established world, but it was done quite well as usual.Mr. Sullivan's books have become my go to recommendation the last few years, because I rarely feel so good while/after reading a book. He seems to always strike the right balance between tension and fun. I know I can pick up his books without worry about constant bloodbaths, backstabbing and despicable characters. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy darker fantasy as well, but it's nice to read something on the lighter side.I've been looking forward to picking this series up since first learning about it a few years back. I love his Riyria books largely due to the characters he's created. What would a series set in the same world but 3000 years in the past hold in store?The answer should be unsurprising to fans of his work. Mr. Sullivan has once again created a cast of excellent characters who I can't help but love. Since I did the audio you'll have to forgive any misspellings on my part. Hands down my favorite of the bunch was Suri, whose bafflement of “the game” everyone plays of stating obvious things is only part of the reason she's so endearing.A close second is probably Persephone. She's smart and capable, and cares a great deal about her village and its inhabitants. It's also nice to get the perspective of at least one of the Fhrey with Arion. So unlike many fantasy books that seem to relegate women to minor or unimportant characters, all of my favorites here are women.Then there are Raithe and Malcolm, who make for a nearly as amusing pair as Royce and Hadrian. However not quite THAT good. And that doesn't get into all the excellent secondary and tertiary characters. Persephone's village is full of very interesting people who I look forward to seeing again in future novels.All and all this book does a great job of setting up the story and introducing us to an excellent characters without ever feeling boring or full of info-dumps. It's also fairly well self-contained despite being the start of what looks to be a six book series. Things come to a good stopping place, while leaving your eager for what will come next. I for one can't wait!

Okay, this is a difficult one. I would say, I enjoyed about 2/3 of the book a lot. But then, around the middle, there was this chunk that just bore me so much it's not even funny.

Fhrey are basically like elves. They live a long life, they have a very developed society, their skills are superhuman and some of them can even do magic that makes them a league of their own.
Humans obviously see them gods, unbeatable creatures they need to fear. Until one day, some accidental things lead to Raithe, a normal human tribesman killing one of them and starting people out on realising that while Fhrey are tough, they are perfectly killable.
As so much fantasy now, this one also has multiple viewpoints; Raithe, of course, but also Penelope, the widow of a human tribe leader trying to keep her people alive, Suri, a wild little girl who is a mystic and also Arion, an esteemed Fhrey magic user and teacher.

What I liked about this is how it dealt with the differences between humans and supernatural creatures. How the simple fact of a different lifespan made their understanding of the world so different. The misconceptions that came from that. It makes sense; a human can't understand a race with millenia-old members.
It was also fun to see how random occurrences that turned out fortunate can transform into legends either through deliberate exaggerations or... well, just because things like that happen. Or intentionally?

One of my big issues that ruined Riyria to me was the princess character. She was such an annoying piece of shit, I couldn't handle one more chapter of her whining for something, getting it, then whining more because it wasn't as easy and fun as she thought. Many people told me she was “just depressed”, like half of us aren't right now and like that excused annoyingly written characters.
In this one, the exact opposite happened. I found a character I disliked immensely, namely Arion, but it was because she was so... I don't know? Clinical? Detail-oriented? Basically the woman was walking exposition. Her chapters were so dang boring until she meets up with the rest. And don't get me wrong, there were interesting ideas with the Fhrey, but if I have to read one more line about bullshit about architecture and such, I will cry.
It added nothing to the story that we know how much Fhrey obsess about architecture. Adding all the details about them could have been done much more gradually, without overloading us on about 5 different mysteries and political conflicts and the magical school and the freaking class conflicts, the mysterious door hiding something, etc. Too much, too dry.
It didn't help that these chapters ran parallel to ones where Penelope and the other villagers are sitting around, basically kissing each other's ass. Yes, yes, Moya is soooo beautiful and braaaave.

There are a bunch of interesting storylines in this. Malcolm. The mole people. Suri being Suri. I just really hope we are going to work on those more, instead of the already forming awkward love story or Arion being a bore.
I don't regret reading this, it's already a huge improvement compared to Riyria to me, but also... I'm not the biggest fan of the things the author picks for his focus.

I can't say that I loved it as much as the Riyria Revelations series. The biggest difference was that it took me so much time to get connected to the characters in this one. Maybe it's the fact that the other series started with just 2 main characters and expanded from there. I felt like there was a bit too much focus on too many characters from the start and it took a while for me to care about all of them.
But the worldbuilding and plot are definitely an upgrade on Revelations IMO. I really love the way his endings come together. 
Sullivan has become such a comfort author for me. I might not give his books 5 stars, but the enjoyment and comfort factor I get from his books really works for me.