Scan barcode
A review by msbookmarked
Age of Death by Michael J. Sullivan
4.0
Since book four, the series has taken an interesting turn and it's been a ride to read Age of Death.
There's a lot of lore deposition for this book and despite being five books in, the creativity in the world building still amazes me. In particular, I find the underworld setting to be a novel take and through this particular setting, there's a lot of exploration into one's humanity, morals and life outlook which is something I wasn't expecting in a high fantasy series. Yet, there's a lot more action compared to the previous book, which balances things out and makes reading quite thrilling.
I will say that the story has slowly descended into almost the Greek mythology genre and it's slightly maddening. The history was gradually revealed where most of the conflict stemmed from the gods and mortals being treated as puppets or afterthoughts. While this makes the plot more complex and interesting, I couldn't help but feel rather jilted. In the beginning of the series, the characters made their decisions on their own, and so their accomplishments felt more hard-earned and their sacrifices more genuine. Yet, slowly over time, it felt like more of the developments became "I have to do this because so-and-so told me to". I felt this eroded the humanity and autonomy of the characters and diminished their character development.
With that said, Age of Death remained an engaging story. With one book left, I'm interested to see how everything finally comes together.
Instagram
There's a lot of lore deposition for this book and despite being five books in, the creativity in the world building still amazes me. In particular, I find the underworld setting to be a novel take and through this particular setting, there's a lot of exploration into one's humanity, morals and life outlook which is something I wasn't expecting in a high fantasy series. Yet, there's a lot more action compared to the previous book, which balances things out and makes reading quite thrilling.
I will say that the story has slowly descended into almost the Greek mythology genre and it's slightly maddening. The history was gradually revealed where most of the conflict stemmed from the gods and mortals being treated as puppets or afterthoughts. While this makes the plot more complex and interesting, I couldn't help but feel rather jilted. In the beginning of the series, the characters made their decisions on their own, and so their accomplishments felt more hard-earned and their sacrifices more genuine. Yet, slowly over time, it felt like more of the developments became "I have to do this because so-and-so told me to". I felt this eroded the humanity and autonomy of the characters and diminished their character development.
With that said, Age of Death remained an engaging story. With one book left, I'm interested to see how everything finally comes together.