Age of Myth

by Michael J. Sullivan

409 pages

English language

Published June 26, 2016 by Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-1-101-96533-7
OCLC Number:: 1001880049

(26 reviews)

"Michael J. Sullivan's trailblazing career began with the breakout success of his Riyria series: full-bodied, spellbinding fantasy adventures whose imaginative scope and sympathetic characters won a devoted readership and comparisons to fantasy masters Brandon Sanderson, Scott Lynch, and J.R.R. Tolkien himself. Now, Sullivan's stunning hardcover debut, Age of Myth, inaugurates an original five-book series--and one of fantasy's finest next-generation storytellers continues to break new ground. Since time immemorial, humans have worshiped 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 humans and the 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 …

"A new series set in the world of the Riyria Chronicles. In the land of the Rhune, trees can tell the future and the gods are beyond reproach. But when Raithe's father is slain, he does the unthinkable--he kills a god. From this act, rises the legend of the God Killer, the seeds of a rebellion, and the question of whether the gods are really immortal after all."

1 edition

Sean Gursky reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

A new fantasy series from Michael J. Sullivan should have been something I was going to devour but I hit a wall. I'm not sure if I am reaching burnout on the fantasy genre or if Age of Myth failed to connect with me, or something in the middle, but I wasn't enjoying myself while reading this book.

Once all introduced characters started to appear in the same location my interest started to climb...but it was temporary. I started to countdown the hours left in the book and realized I wouldn't be continuing with the rest of the series. I will put this series on the back burner and maybe go back to it later, but if I didn't enjoy book 1 I'm not sure that would change with 2 through 6.

I'll definitely jump on the next series from Sullivan but this one isn't for me.

Michael P reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An excellent start to a series.

Chris M reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

In a word, Fantastic. I love the setting, the characters are well crafted and feel real. The action sequences flow very well, and the prose just works flawlessly. It doesn't get better than this.

Mollarom reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is the second of Michael Sullivan's books I've read, and the second time I've given a book of his five stars. I love the plotlines, the characters are fleshed out, and it has an excellent mix of drama and humor. I've already picked up book #2.

ManyRoads reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A well written, enjoyable, fantasy novel. The characters are nicely developed and well-rounded (I learned that term in High School). The author, also, adds a new fantasy character-type (a welcome bit of innovation; even if the "race" name is close to sounding like "fairy"). These are clearly not fairies but more like elves...). All that aside, this is a good adventure. I'll try volume 2 when I can get it in e-book form from my library.

Geekess reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I liked the book, but it wasn't as brilliant as the original series. The story was good and the writing as always excellent. However, the storyline and characters felt a bit repetative. I'm very curious to see what Michael Sullivan will do with development of the main characters and whether he will manage to set them apart from Royce and Hadrian.

Yashima reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I was looking more at the author of Riyria than at the title of the book when I decided to read this. I did not quite get what I expected in this book.

Age of Myth is indeed just what the title suggests: a story from the "dawn of time".

My biggest trouble with the book is the cast: Instead of a charming rogue I got a bumbling ex-slave and the heir of Conan (at least he turns out to be a pretty good fighter).
I could not identify with any of the female cast. One is too young, the other is supposed to be my age but feels older due to what she has experienced in her life (I am talking about Persephone) and if 3k years isn't "too old" I don't know what is. And besides Suri none of them are very sympathetic characters. Their connections remain tenuous at best and so much of the story went on with my favorite element missing: characters I empathize with. I kind of liked Nyphron and his group when they showed up but while they are interesting they are not exactly protagonist material.

So why give this story 4* despite all that? Because it is an incredibly well executed idea story with a driven plot and a great great culmination that ties everything together and prepares the ground for the sequels. The idea here is a story from the "Age of Myth". I am not a particular fan of "Stories from the Bronze Age". This idea is btw re-inforced quite strongly by the snippets from the Book of Brin which I liked quite a bit.

While it is not my usual style, the plot and the idea and even the characters come together and do what the story sets out to do so well that I did end up enjoying it.

Be warned: it starts rather slow. The plot takes nearly half the book to get off the ground. But the end and the promise of sequels makes it worth it. And by the end of the book the characters and their relations are set up in such a way that I am hoping that I'll get more out of them with the next book. And
I am hoping to read lots more about Suri in particular. She ends up being my favorite.

state_electrician reviewed Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (The Legends of the First Empire, #1)

Review of 'Age of Myth' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I really enjoyed it. The characters felt nicer than in Riyria and I think that's because they are more varied here and because the reader can discover them. In Riyria we're introduced to two characters with much already defined.

The only thing I don't like is that print publishing is sooo slow. The books are written, but will be published one per year. That's really awful.