In Age of Myth, Raithe accidentally kills a god, and the ‘gods’, AKA the Fhrey, seek vengeance before this revelation starts a rebellion. Only the rumor-claimed “God Killer”, a widow, and a young seer can hope to stop them.
Why this book?: I’m a huge fan of Mr. Sullivan’s other books, and when I saw I could get this book earlier, I was ecstatic! That being said…
I would like to thank the people at Del Rey for allowing me to have an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
Let me just say this—if you go into this book having previously read Mr. Sullivan’s other books, Riyria, do not expect these books to be at all similar. Riyria is one of my all time favorites, and that is how I originally learned of this book. Mr. Sullivan intended for this book to be another entrance into this world, and that means that it’s nothing what you will be expecting.
Only a few things ended up bothering me in this book, and most of them were either fixed or proven that those ‘traditions’ were wrong.
Amazing world and characters!
Not much world-building had to be done, in my opinion, but that was because I had already read the Riyria books. Even if you haven’t, the world building is still there. Details were still explained, names were easily placed to people/objects/places. As said before, it’s not necessary to read all 9 Riyria books before picking up this one.
The characters—I loved all of them. Raithe is just the perfect amount of cynical and humorous, Malcolm reminds me of another character from a different book (with the same name) with his innocence and sheltered behavior. All of the woman are amazing and strong. Persephone knows what shes about, and rules with her knowledge and intelligence. Suri is such a unique little girl, fearless and adorable. And Arion! Arion! Wow, I just love all of the women characters, especially Moya—yelled at for being ‘slutty’ but ignoring them and being herself. It’s amazing, all of the characters are so diverse and life-like.
What dropped the rating for me was the predictability and sexism. The sexism I could deal with, because it was disproven and was actually a plot point that became important near the end. The predictability, however, killed a lot of the surprises during my read of this book. Maybe I was thinking too hard, and not enjoying the book, but that stood out to me.
Sweet and simple writing!
Mr. Sullivan’s writing is one of my favorites though. At times, I find it missing something, missing descriptions, missing explanations, and the like. But for the majority of the time, I loved how simple it is. He doesn’t add unnecessary flourishes, and it’s not like anything major is missing.
Final Rating: ★★★★★
Overall?
Overall, it has been determined that I will always love any book Mr. Sullivan has written. I loved this book, loved the characters. The only thing that I had a problem with was the occasional sexism from male characters–which is solved and challenged at the end of the book.
Would I Recommend?
Any lovers of fantasy, magic, diverse and funny characters, and strong women characters would LOVE this book. A problem I had with Mr. Sullivan’s previous books was the overwhelming abundance of men, and the few women characters. Despite the few women characters being amazing, they were few and far between. That problem was fixed in this book, the majority being flipped.
Additional Information:
Published: June 28th, 2016
Publisher: Del Rey
Page Count: 432
Genre: Fantasy/Epic Fantasy
Synopsis: via Goodreads
Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between men and those they thought were gods changes forever. Now, only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer, Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom, and Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people. The Age of Myth is over; the time of rebellion has begun.