Hey Beautiful Booklovers! I haven’t done a post in a bit, and those I have been uploading are mostly just reviews, but today along with my booktube upload I wanted to take the time to explain how to read my absolute favourite author Michael J Sullivan.
If you follow me on social media, especially Instagram, then you will know that I only discovered Michael’s books this year, and since discovering them have managed to read all of his current series.
I love this world, love these characters, and just want to spread the love, so if you are interested in any of these amazing books here is where I recommend you start.
Firstly, Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire and Heir of Novron are a part of The Riyria Revelations series, which is actually six books in a 3 book bind-up. They follow the story of Royce and Hadrian who are two notorious thieves who complete the supposedly ‘impossible’ missions no one else is capable of. One day they are approached and asked to take on the job of retrieving a sword, but when they embark on this mission they end up being framed with the murder of the king.
These books are set in the ‘here and now’ of the world.
Secondly, we have The Riyria Chronicles, which is made up of The Crown Tower, The Rose and the Thorn, The Death of Dulgath, and The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter. Again we follow Royce and Hadrian, but this time we are set in the past. This is Royce and Hadrian before they became the dynamic duo they are in The Riyria Revelations and follows the beginning of their partnership and how they came to be. I should point out that each novel within this series does not necessarily follow on from the last, meaning you could technically read them as individual novels.
Lastly, we have The Legends of the First Empire series, which currently consists of Age of Myth, Age of Swords, Age of War and Age of Legend, but as of next year Age of Death and Age of Empyre will be added to this series. This series is set 1000 years before the events of The Riyria Revelations and therefore is completely separate. We, of course, no longer follow Royce and Hadrian but are given a full cast of characters to get behind. At the beginning we are introduced to a land severely divided. The Fhrey and Rhunes are two races who are seperated by a river. Rhunes are our human types, and Fhrey are our Elven types. The Fhrey are revered as Gods by the Rhunes because some are able to use magic, but one day Raithe (a rhune) and his father cross the river in hopes to build themselves a better life. They are stopped by some Fhrey on patrol who demand they surrender their weapons and leave. When Raithe’s father refuses he is killed, and Raithe then in turn kills the Fhrey. From then on he is said to be ‘The God Killer’ and as rumour spreads of his victory against the ‘Gods’ both Rhunes and Fhrey accept the idea of war, and so begins the journey.
As I stated above, there is currently four of these books but a further two are being released in 2020. Age of Death and Age of Empyre pictured below.
All of these books are beautiful and epic and I cannot recommend them enough, but where should you start?
In my personal opinion you should read them in the order I have listed above…yes that is technically time reverse order but trust me okay? You could technically read them in time order but I honestly don’t recommend you do that for two reasons;
- One, because you will miss out on a lot. There is so many moments in The Legends of the First Empire series that meant so much more to me because of the events in The Riyria Revelations and Chronicles. And because I went into it with that prior information was able to recognise it for what it is.
- Second, because that is the order Michael J Sullivan recommends you read them.
Of course you can disregard both mine and Michael’s opinion and start at The Legends of the First Empire, you could move onto The Riyria Chronicles or Revelations afterward, it is entirely up to you. You could start at the Chronicles, and move to the Revelations then to The Legends of the First Empire. Again, this is entirely your choice, but as someone who has read them all, I recommend the way I listed them above. You will appreciate them much more that way, and of course…they were written that way too. This may be relevant to some of you if you are like me and like to see the progression of an authors craft.
Whatever way you do choose to read them, I am just happy that people are picking up his books and hopefully you will love them as much as I do.
If you have read any of these books or are planning to read any of these books let me know in the comments below, I always love hearing what you all have to say! And of course I would be super hyped to chat with more Michael fans!
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