The Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan (26-Jan-2012) Paperback

The author of this series deserves all the kudos he has received for the concept and execution of what has to be one of he best epic fantasies to come along in years. I ordered and read all three volumes back to back and finished them over a weekend. I could not put these books down, and when I finished "Heirs of Novron" I was suffering from withdrawal. I cannot wait to see what this author comes up with next, but I hope Hadrian and Royce at least get a cameo.

This is a wonderful series. The characters are well developed and the author weaves a tale of intrigue that will keep you turning the pages. I enjoyed it so much that I have preordered the first installment of the author's next series.

This is a review of the entire Revelations series. I had a fun time reading it, but in the end, the plot was very weak. It's difficult to go into detail without saying anything, but suffice it to say that my itch for good fantasy has not been scratched. I was not absorbed in the world, and I had a hard time getting attached to any of the characters.

The characters were highly unbelievable. The attempts at inserting love stories were boring at best and often difficult to believe or seemed horribly out of place. Nothing at all was realistic about Modina. Amilia's story was yawn-inducing. Arista felt like a plot device to make things happen when the characters seemed completely screwed. And everyone goes on and on about how Royce had this terrible life, but hardly any info on that is given. It is also stated constantly how scary Royce is, but I never really got that. I've always been a fan of authors showing me what a character is like instead of telling me, and Sullivan did not deliver.

You would think with how I'm talking about this book that I'm writing a one or two star review. But it was entertaining enough to give it three. I probably won't revisit this series, and I'm not really interested in reading the three prequel novels about Hadrian and Royce's backgrounds.

The bottom line is that this series didn't leave a strong impression on me one way or the other. But the journey was pleasant enough.

I just finished reading the Riyria Revelations and it has become my favorite fantasy series. I've read the Sword of Truth series by Goodkind, the Wheel of Time series by Jordan, and the Mistborn series by Sanderson. Sullivan has surpassed them all to become my favorite, with Mistborn a close second (still waiting on the next Stormlight novel by Sanderson!).

With that being said, I absolutely love this series - from the story to the characters to the detailed world the author creates - its almost as if I was there with Royce and Hadrian on their adventures. I look forward to reading many more books by Sullivan!

The plot and eventual conclusion is very satisfying, but the true beauty lies in the relationship between Royce and Hadrian. The not so gentle jabs at each other and feeling of deep and true friendship is what makes this series one of The Great series in this genre.

I could not put down these books! The characters were real, flawed humans (and other than humans), who nevertheless did amazing and heroic things! The narrated versions of the Chronicles and the Revelations are well worth buying because Tim Gerard Reynolds is amazingly good at breathing life into each and every character. I will probably immerse myself into the world Sullivan created a second time because it was so enjoyable!

Just as Sullivan began to really develop his characters it all ended. I have watched over the past gazillion pages as his writing style has gone from good to great, even lyrical. I do feel a bit like it became formulaic at the end, but it was what I wanted as a reader anyway, and while the characters became more interesting too many rich details got swept under the rug by the time the series concluded

I really enjoyed the entire series of Riyria Revelations and Riyria Chronicles. Michael J. Sullivan is truly an amazing writer. Hadrian and Royce are very refreshing and captivating characters. I couldn't put this book down and as a result, I didn't get much sleep. What to read next?

This BOOK is magnificent. The main characters are so very well put together and the minor characters every single one was created with in-depth precision and skill, owning their part perfectly....the monk for example.....that 'scene' where his sister confronted him to beg for forgiveness....that was HILARIOUS!.... wonderful work. Not just hats off.....gloves,mittens and scarf!!
Great job Michael. :-)
I SEE MOVIE DEAL!

I enjoyed this book and series. It was light and entertaining with characters that are fun and interesting. Some small plot holes along the way and inconsistencies in character development, but you barely notice them. My biggest one is of Thrace and how she evolves as a character. Overall, if you can look past this flaw, I think you will love the book and characters.

Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan (a compilation of two books, Wintertide and Percepliquis, previously self-published by the author) is a rousing finish to the Riyria Revelations. While standard epic fantasy fare, it is well done and engaging. Sullivan has clearly grown as an author while writing these three (six, really) books, and Heir is certainly the best of the lot. While there are several plot twists, all are adequately foreshadowed for those who pick up the clues. It is hard to argue with Sullivan's themes of love, forgiveness, and redemption. These are played out well throughout the entire work, although those who are cynical may find the final scene to be too saccharine sweet for their taste. A good read, Heir is a very satisfying conclusion to Sullivan's debut series. ****

I loved all the constant plot twists! Beautiful descriptions, a writer that makes seafaring sound epic and can put you right there in the fight where you can see and smell and hear it all.
However there were one or two grand reveals that gave themselves away too early, that's my only bone to pick.

Heir of Novron closes out the Riyria series with a bang! All plot threads are resolved (though not necessarily in ways you might expect), all open questions are closed. All this is done without letting up on the action or the intensity. All in all, very tidily done. This whole series has been a very satisfying read, and a very impressive debut by the author.

I would love to see the author write a follow up series exploring the world of the elves and dwarves more, perhaps with appearances by our favourite characters?

The main characters have enough facets to be interesting but not so odd as to be unrealistic. The main plot/story line is not so obvious that you are bored. Nor is it so obscure that you go huh, where did that come from. I went straight on to the next installment to see where the pair of Riyria was headed in their adventures and as people.

Simply perfect... This is my first review as I usually don't write any (obviously), but felt compelled to. The Heir of Novron pulled together a series of major and minor questions that kept popping up in my head while I read the series. I never expected Mr. Sullivan to not only answer all of them, but he did so in a way that I felt satisfied and not cheated.

The Riyria Revelations just kept popping up in the suggested reading area and since I had never heard of the books or the author I didn't give it much thought until I essentially ran out of stuff to read. The series just blew me a way, and finding a gem like this was super refreshing; I only wish I had pulled the trigger earlier. Anyways, if you are on the fence about starting this series, don't put it off anymore!

The Absolute Best! Funny, Sad, Serious, Political, Exciting, Thrilling ....
And seriously, I was caught up in the suspense, I laughed, I cried.... I LOVED IT!!! The trilogy is amazing and I cannot wait to read another Michael James Sullivan story!

Great conclusion to the series. Everything was neatly and tightly tied together into a very satisfying conclusion. Very well done. Some elements of the story were predictable but others I didn’t see coming. Worth your time and money.

The Final Curtain of Hadrian and Royce; I knew it would be a bitter-sweet farewell. True to the expectations of the introduction of The Crown Tower; you don’t want to say goodbye to these gents. Interestingly enough, I can think of some ways the author may continue the story; he left a few head-scratchers.

The characters end strong, and the ending is satisfactory to the journey you've been taken on- not an easy thing to do with such a thick journey. There are some beautiful moments between characters as you see just how far they've really come and grown, and you realize that it happened so naturally- a perfect example of a well-written story. It maintains an excellent pace of intrigue and detail, though I admit I was a bit impatient near the end and browsed a couple of chapters instead of absorbing the reading.

There are some downfalls. There are some areas that I felt the author could have had added suggestive description; scenes went from A to C without the subtle B to lead us there, making it a little less convincing and believable to the characters and the story. The worst complaint of this story is Mangus using the word ghetto. There is such an other-world feeling to this story and it’s taken away with such modern slang. Hard cringe at that one.

Not all art can be perfect to every critic, and this is no exception. If art is a reflection of life, then such is to be expected and appreciated all the more for it. This was still a fully enjoyable tale with wonderful characters and a fantastic plot. Lots of twists and turns, and the end gives you something to cheer for.

Downloaded some sample chapters looking for a new series to read and was pleasantly surprised by
this book and all the others in this series. Good characters and well developed story. Start with "Theft of Swords"
then read "Rise of Empire" and then "Heir of Novron".

Great read. The story takes many turns without losing readers to confusion or boredom. The author does a great job maintaining a balance between excitement and character/story development. Great read!

First of all, I really enjoyed the story. I liked "most" of the main characters and found some of them to be unique and interesting (Royce being by far my favorite). The story had depth that really came together in this last book. Without divulging too much, I particularly liked finding out about the history / origins of Novron and the empire. I would have liked to see more backstory on the Pickerings as I felt Mauvin was a little underappreciated. I found myself forgetting he was around most of the time. The ending was expected, yet unexpected at the same time. A handful of twists help keep things interesting.

There were multiple things I did not like about the books. The dialog was way too modern for my tastes. At multiple points it would take me completely out of the story. The dialog even made me angry at some points due to being extremely cliche. I'm used to more traditional fantasy novels by Martin or Tolkien, but I can't really fault Sullivan for being different. It just wasn't my cup of tea. There were also multiple attempts at humor, but it felt very forced and missed the mark (in my opinion).

Still, even with the flaws, I really enjoyed the story. I would have given 3.5 starts for HoN, but round up to 4 because it was a fun, easy read.

This book, and this series, is awesome, especially from a newly-published author. Even more than the story (which is exciting, terrifying, and full of surprises) I love the characters in these books. Each one is fleshed out, interesting, and compelling. By the time they begin to suffer really difficult things, you feel like you're really invested in whether or not they succeed.

It's an amazing story full of amazing people. You'd be doing yourself a favor to check it out.

While so many authors in fantasy fiction nowadays do anything they can to stand out by breaking the mold, this series glories in fitting perfectly inside of it. On the surface you have a world of dwarfs, elves, goblins, an ancient but wise wizard, thieves and prostitutes with hearts of gold(Ok one thief), ancient dungeons and perilous quests so on and so forth. But when you get invested into the characters and the setting you forget you have read this multiple times before and realize you are onto something great.
Not to mention the single greatest Bromance ever written!

If you enjoy fantasy this has just about everything you could want out of a fantasy novel.

Part 1: After learning that the New Empire have Degan and is slated for execution, Hadrian and Royce head for the heart of the New Empire in an effort to save the Heir of Novron. However the dynamic duo is seperated when Royce leaves when he learns about the destruction of Medford (where Gwen, his beloved, lives) and Hadrian is captured by Seret Guy. Hadrian strikes a deal with the devil so to speak. In order to save the life of Princess Arista and Degan Gaunt, Hadrian agrees to kill Sir Breckton (the brother of Wesley from the previous book) under the guise of an accident during a jousting tournament.

Part 2: During the Rise of Empire, I kept wishing that we would get more elf action. Boy do we here. Soft of. We see a more prominent role of elves when they cross the river and attack. They quickly overpower different countries. Soon enough, Hadrian, Royce, Arista, Elric, Wyatt, and others are sent on a quest to retrieve a horn thingy in order to stop the elves. But the horn is located in Percepliquis, which is basically the lost city of Atlantis. They must find the city, find the horn, and rescue all of men basically.

Heir of Novron is a large volume (over 900 pages) but there's so much packed into it: revenge, death, romance, sword fighting, prophecies (soft of), magic, flashbacks, etc. Let me just say there is quite a bit of death in the book, hankies may be required. There are lots of twists and turns in the book and the plots are neatly tied up now. I really do like the twists in here and I thought they were expertly done. There was one regarding Royce that caused me to text my sister and be all "Sullivan... you sly dog, you." (She'd read the series so she would mislead me or be all "I'm not telling!" with certain plot points)

I really enjoyed the story and I was sad to see it end. The only thing I wasn't really sold on was the romance between Arista and Hadrian. I think that maybe I had trouble with it because by and large I didn't really like Arista as a character (by and large, I found her to be annoying but I did like her character growth).

I know that there is a prequel to the series (which I am looking forward to reading) but I am hoping that sometime in the future we might get a sequel to this series. Though I hope we get to see more of the Hadrian and Royce bromance.

Michael Sullivan can tell a great story. I just finished The Riyria Revelations and am sad that it has ended. Sullivan created a great cast of players and support people, I enjoyed reading about each. I would love to see the story continue sometime in the future. Very well done, thank you.

This series started out a little weak, but finished strong. If you read how he got started writing the series you'll understand why. Really great characters are what drives the story. Some aspects are a little predictable, but no less enjoyable for that. It's a really fun anti-hero story.

While so many authors in fantasy fiction nowadays do anything they can to stand out by breaking the mold, this series glories in fitting perfectly inside of it. On the surface you have a world of dwarfs, elves, goblins, an ancient but wise wizard, thieves and prostitutes with hearts of gold(Ok one thief), ancient dungeons and perilous quests so on and so forth. But when you get invested into the characters and the setting you forget you have read this multiple times before and realize you are onto something great.
Not to mention the single greatest Bromance ever written!

If you enjoy fantasy this has just about everything you could want out of a fantasy novel.

Part 1: After learning that the New Empire have Degan and is slated for execution, Hadrian and Royce head for the heart of the New Empire in an effort to save the Heir of Novron. However the dynamic duo is seperated when Royce leaves when he learns about the destruction of Medford (where Gwen, his beloved, lives) and Hadrian is captured by Seret Guy. Hadrian strikes a deal with the devil so to speak. In order to save the life of Princess Arista and Degan Gaunt, Hadrian agrees to kill Sir Breckton (the brother of Wesley from the previous book) under the guise of an accident during a jousting tournament.

Part 2: During the Rise of Empire, I kept wishing that we would get more elf action. Boy do we here. Soft of. We see a more prominent role of elves when they cross the river and attack. They quickly overpower different countries. Soon enough, Hadrian, Royce, Arista, Elric, Wyatt, and others are sent on a quest to retrieve a horn thingy in order to stop the elves. But the horn is located in Percepliquis, which is basically the lost city of Atlantis. They must find the city, find the horn, and rescue all of men basically.

Heir of Novron is a large volume (over 900 pages) but there's so much packed into it: revenge, death, romance, sword fighting, prophecies (soft of), magic, flashbacks, etc. Let me just say there is quite a bit of death in the book, hankies may be required. There are lots of twists and turns in the book and the plots are neatly tied up now. I really do like the twists in here and I thought they were expertly done. There was one regarding Royce that caused me to text my sister and be all "Sullivan... you sly dog, you." (She'd read the series so she would mislead me or be all "I'm not telling!" with certain plot points)

I really enjoyed the story and I was sad to see it end. The only thing I wasn't really sold on was the romance between Arista and Hadrian. I think that maybe I had trouble with it because by and large I didn't really like Arista as a character (by and large, I found her to be annoying but I did like her character growth).

I know that there is a prequel to the series (which I am looking forward to reading) but I am hoping that sometime in the future we might get a sequel to this series. Though I hope we get to see more of the Hadrian and Royce bromance.

Michael Sullivan can tell a great story. I just finished The Riyria Revelations and am sad that it has ended. Sullivan created a great cast of players and support people, I enjoyed reading about each. I would love to see the story continue sometime in the future. Very well done, thank you.

This series started out a little weak, but finished strong. If you read how he got started writing the series you'll understand why. Really great characters are what drives the story. Some aspects are a little predictable, but no less enjoyable for that. It's a really fun anti-hero story.

This whole series and the prequel are fantastic. Although it's a great conclusion to the trilogy which stands alone, reading the 2 books of the prequel definitely helps flesh out without spoiling some of the plot lines.

I'm spiraling into a world of depression now that this series is over. These books were just breath-taking. I hate that it finally had to end.

I purchased this book from the store on October 7, 2013 for $8.89. Again, this is much more than I would typically pay for a book. But when you find one that just sweeps you off your feet like this series did, WELL, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

The Heir of Novron had me in tears clutching my heart. All the while I was laughing at the banter between Royce and Hadrian. Never was there a dull moment in this book...or series. I honestly couldn't put the book down. The times that I was forced to mingle with reality, all I could do was ponder what was about to happen.

Now that it's over, I'm left with wanting to know how everyone is handling the new world. The book ended the series perfectly, but it still leaves you wanting more.

I accidentally stumbled upon this series while looking for another book. All I can say is this was the best accident to have ever happened to me. (I'll be praying that there is something that allows us to see how everyone is holding up!)

I've been reading fantasy for almost 50 years. Having read some of the finest works of all time, I had given up hope the finding great new Authors. But, as Nimbus said, "Everyone deserves a little happiness."

The first novel Theft of Swords was great, but man does Heir of Novron weave more twists and turns than ever!! This book was great Sullivan did a wonderful job of keeping the attention of the reader making me fall in love with all of the characters even more, hanging on to every word! As soon my kindle hit 100% I was at the kindle store purchasing Rise of Empire! The entire series is amazing, as an avid epic/fantasy reader I recommend this series to anyone looking for a great read!

I adored these books. What starts as a fun adventure of two unlikely heroes becomes an incredibly epic story. I loved these books and am thoroughly impressed by Sullivan's excellent writing. If you consider yourself a fan of fantasy you have to read this series.

A wonderful end to a wonderful trilogy/6 book series. I was leery at first when I read that this series was purposely written so that the first book would be the weakest and least interesting. I honestly should have never doubted.

I will get the bad over with. This book was a little slow at first. Slow and tiresome. But it turned out to not last long. Because once the Wintertide games started, it went back to being entertaining, funny, and suspenseful. Though I am glad the first book in this volume was short. Especially because the second book was all the longer for it.

As in the previous two reviews, the first book is a medieval games setting and the second is a dungeon crawl with all the heroes and favorite characters of the books. Things I didn't expect to happen, happened. Things I hadn't even thought about happened. Then there its he fact that we get character growth all around. Oh and the best part? This book answered all questions asked during the series, no loose threads, plot holes, or deus ex machina. And my favorite part of all? A long denouement. Seriously I love books that don't just abruptly end after the climax. I always feel cheated.

So long story short, if you read the first two, this one is even better. If not, I wholly recommend the Riyiria Reveleations. The books are not repetitive, they are entertaining but have depth, and are just all around fun.