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A review by sarahdm
Age of Legend by Michael J. Sullivan
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I hate to say it but this book is the first in the series that is not a certified banger.
I've given the first 3 books in the First Empire series 5 stars because I think they are all genuinely really good and any flaws they have (slow beginnings, a few repeated story beats) are widely overshadowed by the positive. Age of Swords is in my opinion the BEST book in the series so far and is my absolute favorite but I even accused it of having MBS: Middle Book Syndrome. But I don't think Sullivan's books actually suffer from MBS, I think its something that I call "The Fuck Off" moment.
The Fuck Off moment is when the beginning of the book is honestly really slow and boring until the adventuring party gets together and fucks off on an adventure away from the overarching plot. Every single book has a Fuck Off moment and the moment it happens the story gets really interesting and intense and I can not put it down until I complete the book. The events of the Fuck Off moment usually launch the book from a 3-4 star right into the 5 star range for me.
That being said, what happened in Age of Legends? There is no "Fuck Off" moment.
"But Sarah, there is a Fuck Off moment," you say from your RGB keyboard throne, "The gang fucks off to go find the super magical thingamajig." And yeah, they do do that but I don't think its a true Fuck Off moment. I think the actual Fuck Off moment happens at the very end and we aren't actually gonna see the Fuck Off pay out that it was all building up to until Age of Death.
This book is slow and a lot of mundane stuff is happening. Its setting the scene for the next book which is the Fuck Off moment. There is also a few time skips in this one which I don't really mind but I think narratively are kind of boring because they then have to get us all caught up on what happened during the time skip. Also there are some TRULY out of character moments. Both Persephone and Suri have some really dumb "what the hell were you thinking" moments that I feel were really out of character for how smart and awesome they are.
That being said, this book is still really good. A lot of this book is really trying to turn side characters into main characters and there are a lots of nice moments here. A lot of lore and world building gets discovered in this book and its really just wonderful to dive deeper into this world.
Solid 3.5-4ish. Weakest book by far but still really good. Looking forward to the next one.
I've given the first 3 books in the First Empire series 5 stars because I think they are all genuinely really good and any flaws they have (slow beginnings, a few repeated story beats) are widely overshadowed by the positive. Age of Swords is in my opinion the BEST book in the series so far and is my absolute favorite but I even accused it of having MBS: Middle Book Syndrome. But I don't think Sullivan's books actually suffer from MBS, I think its something that I call "The Fuck Off" moment.
The Fuck Off moment is when the beginning of the book is honestly really slow and boring until the adventuring party gets together and fucks off on an adventure away from the overarching plot. Every single book has a Fuck Off moment and the moment it happens the story gets really interesting and intense and I can not put it down until I complete the book. The events of the Fuck Off moment usually launch the book from a 3-4 star right into the 5 star range for me.
That being said, what happened in Age of Legends? There is no "Fuck Off" moment.
"But Sarah, there is a Fuck Off moment," you say from your RGB keyboard throne, "The gang fucks off to go find the super magical thingamajig." And yeah, they do do that but I don't think its a true Fuck Off moment. I think the actual Fuck Off moment happens at the very end and we aren't actually gonna see the Fuck Off pay out that it was all building up to until Age of Death.
This book is slow and a lot of mundane stuff is happening. Its setting the scene for the next book which is the Fuck Off moment. There is also a few time skips in this one which I don't really mind but I think narratively are kind of boring because they then have to get us all caught up on what happened during the time skip. Also there are some TRULY out of character moments. Both Persephone and Suri have some really dumb "what the hell were you thinking" moments that I feel were really out of character for how smart and awesome they are.
That being said, this book is still really good. A lot of this book is really trying to turn side characters into main characters and there are a lots of nice moments here. A lot of lore and world building gets discovered in this book and its really just wonderful to dive deeper into this world.
Solid 3.5-4ish. Weakest book by far but still really good. Looking forward to the next one.