When a novel opens with a man killing a god in revenge for the death of his father, you know you are in epic territory – at the foothills of a grand beginning. Raithe, the God Killer, and Malcom, one of the god’s slaves, soon find themselves traveling across the land as the word of Raithe’s deed spreads and the people soon hear whispers that a god can be killed, killed by the hand of a mortal no less. Of course, as they find themselves in a tavern, Malcom “enhancing” the story of how Raithe killed the “despicable” god only inflates the legend, or Myth, of the God Killer. Thus the epic proportions of the story in Michael J. Sullivan’s Age of Myth begin to unfold.
Once the god is killed, Sullivan moves his focus to Dahl Rhen, a small Rhune (human) village in the midst of transition, their clan chieftain is killed during the hunt for a demonic bear and a new chieftain must be anointed. This storyline is seen through the eyes of the thane’s widow, Persephone. For reasons beyond the vague traditions of her clan, as a widow, Persephone becomes something of an outcast now that her husband has died and there are no surviving male heirs since her son died shortly before her husband died. With no chieftain, a fight between two of the strongest men is arranged to determine the new chieftain.
Sullivan also introduces Suri, a strange prophetic young girl who communes with animals, in particular her pet wolf Minna; and trees, specifically, the great tree Magda. Suri shares some prophetic words with Persephone including among other things that the world will end. As life barely moves on in Dahl Rhen, a group of Fhrey, led by the rebellious Nyphron, arrive. Nyphron’s entourage is who are followed by a mystic named Arion charged with bringing Nyphron and his band of rebels back to the Fhrey lands.
Sullivan has tried to recapture the camaraderie exhibited by Royce and Hadrian from the Riyria Revelations with the characters of Raithe and Malcom. The two strike up a partnership? Friendship? Whatever it is, Malcom is there when Raithe kills the god early in the novel and Sullivan builds their friendship as the two partake in some cheerful banter as they get to know each other and learn to rely on each other, even if they don’t completely trust each other through most of the book.
Although I did enjoy the budding bromance between Malcom and Raithe, the character I enjoyed the most and felt was the most well- and fully-developed was Persephone. She was smart and even though she may be a headstrong character, she’s not blindly so. Smart and strong willed, but open to suggestion and advice. For me, she was the backbone of the story, she kept everything grounded and focused. I hope Sullivan features her at least as prominently in the next book in this series. I also appreciated the clouded layers truth; not all characters are what they appear to be, nor does every prophecy mete out what the characters expected.
The novel is set three thousand years prior to Sullivan’s enormously popular Riyria novels and require no knowledge of those books to “get” what’s going on in this book. Some names may be familiar to fans of those books, but readers new to Sullivan’s work won’t be missing anything critical to the plot of the novel.
While I enjoyed the novel quite a bit and breezed through the 400 pages in just a few days, it isn’t without its minor flaws. The world building is fairly standard for secondary world, epic fantasies, with long-lived races like the god-like elves (Fhrey), the disliked goblins, and the looked down-upon humans (Rhune). The world features magic, monsters, sentient trees; much of what one might expect in a High Fantasy. Despite the humorous and enjoyable banter between Raithe and Malcom, they became friends quite quickly and seemed to approach a friendship close to that of Royce and Hadrian without the equal investment of time and experience together. I also felt as if there was some repetitiveness throughout. A character would have an internal dialogue about something they were thinking of doing and the next page much of it would be restated only as external dialogue with another character.
I enjoyed the first six Riyra novels (reviewed here as three omnibus editions Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, and Heir of Novron), and after reading only one of the two Riyra prequel novels, I was looking forward to diving into Age of Myth because I enjoy Sullivan’s approachable style. Though there weren’t too many surprises throughout the novel, I enjoyed it and would recommend it as a fine read to finish out the remaining lazy days of summer. Fans of Mr. Sullivan’s previous works should enjoy this peek into the far past of his popular secondary world.
For another review here at SFFWorld, check out Nila White’s review here: http://www.sffworld.com/2016/08/age-of-myth-by-michael-j-sullivan/
Recommended
© 2016 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover, July 2016
Legends of the First Empire, Book 1
https://firstempireseries.com/
