[acesn8s]

Finished Theft of Swords and started Rise of Empires. I like how Sullivan is slow playing Royce and Hadrian's background. I mean a lot is obviously hinted at, but he doesn't give you final confirmation until much later in the series.

[QuickTidal]

acesn8s, on 10 January 2012 - 11:01 AM, said:

Finished Theft of Swords and started Rise of Empires. I like how Sullivan is slow playing Royce and Hadrian's background. I mean a lot is obviously hinted at, but he doesn't give you final confirmation until much later in the series.

[End of Disc One]

Googling Michael Sullivan, I came across one of the all time greatest album covers:

This post has been edited by End of Disc One: 11 January 2012 - 12:39 AM

[Pilgrim]

Just finished Theft of Swords, bought on kindle after reading the praise here and I'm not at all disappointed. Great read with hints of a much deeper story to come. I was pleasantly surprised that the ending was not what I expected it to be. Can't wait to move on with the rest of the series!

[Tsundoku]

Nearly finished Theft of Swords and will be getting the next omnibus soon. I really like his straightforward writing style, and the characterisation is quite good without being overblown. Sullivan seems to have a knack of giving you what's necessary in a minimum of time without walls of expository text interrupting the flow. It's just so easy and enjoyable to read.

There's a piece in the 2nd book (Avempartha) where Hadrian is instructing a farmer on what's important about using a sword, even before you pick one up. I'm no expert on the subject but it just reads so easily and makes so much sense, and it also gives us a glimpse into Hadrian's character, all at the same time.

Tight, rich, clean (ooo-er, sounds a bit naughty, eh? ) prose. Authors of unnecessarily overblown door-stoppers take note.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 17 June 2012 - 01:42 AM

[Use Of Weapons]

I seem to be the only one who doesn't get the love for these. They're perfectly acceptable sword'n'sorcery, I suppose, but not much beyond that.

[Ukjent]

The series start very well, but it's declining during the final books. But still, it's a enjoyable read

[Obdigore]

UseOfWeapons, on 17 June 2012 - 09:31 AM, said:

I seem to be the only one who doesn't get the love for these. They're perfectly acceptable sword'n'sorcery, I suppose, but not much beyond that.

Started off ok, and hes got some interesting ideas, but its pretty obvious what is going to happen less than halfway through the books.

[Tapper]

Obdigore, on 18 June 2012 - 04:10 AM, said:

UseOfWeapons, on 17 June 2012 - 09:31 AM, said:

I seem to be the only one who doesn't get the love for these. They're perfectly acceptable sword'n'sorcery, I suppose, but not much beyond that.

Started off ok, and hes got some interesting ideas, but its pretty obvious what is going to happen less than halfway through the books.

I think I had a bit of a bleh rant already elsewhere
It's decent YA/ non-pretentious stuff, I'd consider it 21st century Eddings entry level fantasy, but not a work of brilliance.

[T77]

UseOfWeapons, on 17 June 2012 - 09:31 AM, said:

I seem to be the only one who doesn't get the love for these. They're perfectly acceptable sword'n'sorcery, I suppose, but not much beyond that.

I didn't care for it either. After seeing much praise for this guy I just did not see it being merited. It found it very meh.

[Tsundoku]

You're all so jaded.

The entry-level crack just isn't cutting it for you these days, you need MORE. Pretty soon even Erikson and Bakker won't be enough and you'll be jonesing for a 20 volume series of navel-gazing doorstoppers...

... and then one day even THAT won't cut it. Then you'll be like those bitter, cynical professional film critics who didn't even like The Avengers. Or even worse, like those feminazguls who troll our favourite authors with their wagon trains full of baggage.

Stop now, before it's too late! Please, won't somebody think of the children?!?!

Dun dun dunnnnnnn

This post has been edited by Sombra: 21 June 2012 - 10:20 AM

[Use Of Weapons]

Yeah, maybe. But there's entry level crack (Sullivan), and there's entry level cliche-ridden crack done mind-bogglingly well (Butcher's Codex Alera). Forgive me for wanting more of the latter than the former. I still love old-fashioned stories done well.

[Tsundoku]

Just finished the 3rd omnibus (Heir of Novron) and it tied it all up pretty satisfactorily.

With the exception of a couple of off-camera deaths and the occasional jarring "gonna" or "dunno" from a character who hasn't shown a predilection for uing the vernacular previously, I quite enjoyed it.

Definitely better than Eddings entry-level crack. I enjoyed following Royce and Hadrian in a different way than I did when I read about Tavi in the Codex Alera.
Actually, in some ways I think they were better characters. But then again, JB WAS playing with cliches quite deliberately.

I'll be getting the prequel, even though I normally detest such things.

[End of Disc One]

Just started the first book and am 50 pages in--so far so good! This is exactly what I wanted after the lenghty A Memory of Light.

[Salt-Man Z]

I'm planning on reading this sometime soon-ish, but I've got a question: I've got the prequel short story "The Viscount and the Witch" on my Kindle; should I read that first? Or, perhaps more accurately, is there any reason I shouldn't read it first?

[End of Disc One]

Salt-Man Z, on 25 February 2013 - 04:41 PM, said:

I'm planning on reading this sometime soon-ish, but I've got a question: I've got the prequel short story "The Viscount and the Witch" on my Kindle; should I read that first? Or, perhaps more accurately, is there any reason I shouldn't read it first?

I haven't read the prequel and I don't know when it takes place or when it was released. However part of the fun of The Crown Conspiracy I'm finding is revelations of the characters' pasts in bits and pieces. You don't know anything about them at the start but you learn about them through comments that other characters make. I'm starting to see why this series has "Revelations" in the title.

So I can see why it might matter when you read the prequel.

[Stalker]

You might as well start with it. Michael is really active on reddit's fantasy section, and he recommends people check it out as a sample of his work for anyone on the fence. Since he recommends it as a starting point, no reason not to start with it.

[Dragnipurake]

Just finished the revelations series over the past week. Its always funny to see how opinions differ and I'm a little stunned to see the negative reviews but this series was just fantastic. The first book (in th original 6 part series) was simplistic but it just kept getting better and better. I found the (anti)climax of rise of empire pretty ballsy for a 'classic' fantasy story.

[QuickTidal]

Yeah, and the final book in the series is probably the best as well. The journey from book 1 to book 6 really shows how Sullivan's skills grew.

[Abyss]

Read 1-4 ( 5 and 6 in the pipes once EX-COMMUNICATION is done). Totally agree his writing steadily improves.