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Age of Swords cover art

Age of Swords

By: Michael J. Sullivan
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
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Summary

The gods have been proven mortal, and new heroes will arise as the battle continues in the sequel to Age of Myth - from the author of the Riyria Revelations and Riyria Chronicles series.

In Age of Myth, fantasy master Michael J. Sullivan launched listeners on an epic journey of magic and adventure, heroism and betrayal, love and loss. Now the thrilling saga continues as the human uprising is threatened by powerful enemies from without - and bitter rivalries from within.

Raithe, the God Killer, may have started the rebellion by killing a Fhrey, but longstanding enmities dividing the Rhune make it all but impossible to unite against the common foe. And even if the clans can join forces, how will they defeat an enemy whose magical prowess renders them indistinguishable from gods?

The answer lies across the sea in a faraway land populated by a reclusive and dour race who feel nothing but disdain for both Fhrey and mankind. With time running out, Persephone leads the gifted young seer Suri, the Fhrey sorceress Arion, and a small band of misfits in a desperate search for aid - a quest that will take them into the darkest depths of Elan, where waits an ancient adversary as fearsome as it is deadly.

©2017 Michael J. Sullivan (P)2017 Recorded Books

What listeners say about Age of Swords

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hmmm

Any additional comments?

Ok I liked the first book, and you simply can’t complain about anything Tim Reynolds narrates. However, even then and with the second book I just couldn’t get past a few issues; for one the elves come across as petulant children, and the dwarves as real scumbags. I guess you could argue that Tolkien’s vision has given many a perspection of those race, but still the racial tone of both just felt wrong.

But by far the main complaint I have is the humans. You have a race that as clearly intelligent and has dialog to supposed they aren’t a stupid race, and yet in the space of a few chapters they discover, the wheel, bow and arrows (which even the elves knew nothing about), learned how to read and create books, then go onto being able to decipher an ancient language, and cast a spell that should have been clearly beyond them. Plus quite a lot of other technological insights they had.

Now I will take this all back if the author has a logical reason for all the above, and I will listen to the rest of the series, but as it stands the structural framework/historical bases for each race for me just doesn’t sit well.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The series really starts to get going...

After that slower character building tone of the first book. This one really starts getting into the plot. Michael is a lovely writer and Tim makes it very easy listening.
After learning much about the world and the characters I found this very engaging and breezed through and straight onto the next book.
Well worth your time. Some great ideas played out here with a nice simple narrative.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed.

I love the Riyria books, and enjoyed Age of Myth. So a bit of a surprise how disappointed I was about this one.

So the worst part first; it's kind of boring. At least the first half.
I don't really understand why the previous book was set in a stone age like setting when this book throws them forwards leaps and bounds from the very start. So much of the page count is spent on just getting humans up to scratch so to speak. Written in a very clunky way I might add, where a few people just invent things in what is basically no time at all.

Secondly, the main story is a bit predictable, while the magic system seems to be all over the place. It's frustrating.

The characters are in general written really well (as can be expected by this author)...but the main “bad guy” and crew are just so stereotypically generic and flat. Imagen Draco Malfoy, the bad kid from Harry Potter...and that's basically him for the most part.

I find it hard to recommend this to anyone unless you absolutely loved the first book of the series. Sadly, I am probably not going to continue with the next book.


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men bad Woman good,

story from the first book was nice all worked together. now we invent thewheel and the bow in 2 weeks time cus that apparently didn't exist and did i mention that all men are morons and side characters, stupid and worthless. don't know what happened but it whent to shit fast. happy i did not pay for it

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Riyria Withdrawal

I LOVED both the Riyria Revelations and the Riyria Chronicles, and I really wanted to love this series too. Unfortunately, I don't. I admit, I had reservations when I was listening to the first book, but thought, 'no give it a chance, you've only just started and we're at the introduction stage'. I got just over half way through book two, and things are still not grabbing my interest. The fault likely rests with me. I'm so used to Royce and Hadrian, (two of my favourite literary characters) that I kept expect some reference to them which is stupid, I know, as this series takes place three thousand years before they were born. Still, I kept hoping for characters with similar personalities, or characters who were as interesting as that wonderful duo, that I could learn to like as much as Royce and Hadrian, but I just couldn't find any of the characters as interesting or as fun as those two. In my humble opinion, there are just too many characters to keep track of, and I kept forgetting who was who. About half way through this book, I lost interest in who was who, and in what they were doing. I'd like to make clear that I had no problem with the narrator. Tim Gerard Reynolds did a super job, as always. I've stopped myself from listening to this series, until I had all the books, and was looking forward to a real treat. What I got was nothing like a treat. I am so disappointed. I'm wondering if I can still return this series, and get something else, as I know I won't be listening to any more of the books.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Better than the first one

After listening to the first one I was not sure about the series, but decided to give the second one a try and was pleasantly surprised, all the things that I felt he missed in the first one are here. He introduces more rounded an more interesting characters that don't fit in to fantasy mold necessary. I still think he needs a better editor because there are some pacing problems.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing fantasy adventure

Great story telling and amazing character and world building. Follows on seamlessly with the first book, can’t wait to dive into book 3

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very Enjoyable

I enjoyed the first book of this series and wasn't sure if the author would be able to keep up with what had been set out in that book as the series moved on. I'm happy to say that this is not the case in Age of Swords, which is a really good development of the tale and characters. And I could listen to Mr Reynolds read anything, I believe.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great story, unbearable exposition in extremis

The performance was great as usual, and the story itself was absorbing and well constructed. What was annoying was the constant need for characters to tell someone else in their party to stop whatever they were doing and give a lengthy exposition of what, how, and why, they were doing it. When this occurs when the characters are mid battle, with imminent death bearing down on them, it gets both annoying and stretches belief. Chapter 27 was a particular horror for this.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

It is professionally written.

Deceptively unimaginative. First two thirds of girls book are the only memorable parts of entire series. Boring "strong" women, weak men, this has it all.

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