Heir of Novron

Executive Summary: I try not to give out 5 stars too often. I add books to my favorites shelf even less, but I really loved this book. I will definitely be revisiting this series again in the future. Listening to this book just made me happy. It's not going to have much appeal to the people who want gritty realism in every story. For someone like me who needs an occasional break from that and just wants a fun sword and sorcery story, this delivered.Audio book: Mr. Reynolds sold me on doing these books exclusively in audio with [b:Theft of Swords 10790290 Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2) Michael J. Sullivan https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1307959785s/10790290.jpg 15702572], and hasn't left me disappointed at the choice by this third and final installment.I'm happy to see he's also reading the prequel series!Full ReviewSince this is an omnibus, I'm going to opt to review each story individually.WintertideThis was easily my favorite of the series thus far. It was really hard to stop listening. In fact I went out of my way to find reasons to keep listening. That's always the sign of a good book.In this story we have the majority of the characters that have been spread out throughout the world all in one place on the verge of Wintertide. Things are looking bleak for our heroes, yet somehow Mr. Sullivan finds a way to keep things light and fun for the reader.In many ways this felt like a pause from the continuing story, but there are many important developments in the last few chapters that look to have large implications heading into the final book. The situation Hadrian finds himself in seems a bit ridiculous, but I don't care as it made for some really great storytelling.Mr. Sullivan seems to have really come into his own both in writing and his grasp of all the details of the world and characters he created.My only small complaint is one that most authors and fantasy fans wouldn't mind. With the previous four stories, they each felt complete and come to a reasonable conclusion. You want to read what's next, but I found it easy to pause between stories to read other things. Not so with this book. If it were not for the fact that I had the final story ready to go not seconds after finishing this, I would be annoyed at having to wait. Thankfully that's not the case and I jumped immediatly into the final story.4.5 StarsPercepliquisGiven where the last story left off, the start of this book was frustrating me until all of a sudden it wasn't and I kept yelling in triumph. It was a little ridiculous. Thankfully I was alone in my car and it was dark out so no one saw/heard me. :)War is threatening and mankind of on the verge of obliteration. Royce and Hadrian set out for One last job..This is Mr. Sullivan's [b:The Fellowship of the Ring 34 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) J.R.R. Tolkien https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1371849682s/34.jpg 3204327]. All of the characters I've grown to love, and some I've grown to despise group up and head to the find the ancient city of Percepliquis in search of an important artifact that may be their last hope for survival.The book is maybe a bit too predictable. I was kicking myself for not guessing some of the details much sooner. Others might realize where things were going a lot sooner than I did. I might not have enjoyed it as much if I had, it's hard to say.With authors like [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg] and [a:Steven Erikson 31232 Steven Erikson https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1219169436p2/31232.jpg] I've been trained to expect the worst to happen around every corner. This is a nice break from that. Don't get me wrong, bad stuff happens, but not at the same level as your grimdark fantasy that is all the rage these days.As it was, I think the ending while a bit eye-rolling in places was perfect. It made me feel really happy but also sad that it was over.I'm already jumping right into the first prequel book [b:The Crown Tower 16043804 The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles #1) Michael J. Sullivan https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375570227s/16043804.jpg 21821161], so I can put off being sad the series is over for a little while longer.5 Stars.