Right off the bat, I definitely need to mention that I originally read Michael J. Sullivan’s book, Age of Myth, for the first time back in 2018, I absolutely loved this book, and I wanted to review this book, and continue to read the rest of the Legends of the First Empire series. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to write a review for this book while the details of Age of Myth’s plot were still fresh in my mind, or got around to continuing on with the series until now. That being said, here are my thoughts on Age of Myth.
All in all, I really loved Age of Myth for the most part, and as someone who’s a HUGE fan of both the YA fantasy genre, and the adult fantasy genre, I felt like this book had almost all of the elements that I enjoy the most in an epic fantasy story. Michael J. Sullivan also did an excellent job of setting up the overall premise of the series in general, introducing each of the main characters, and setting up the various storylines for the series. One of the things that I felt helped to set this book and Sullivan’s take on the fantasy genre in general apart from the other fantasy books that I’ve read over the years is definitely the tone of his writing. Despite the fact that the Legends of the First Empire series is an action-packed story with a decent amount of compelling drama and intrigue, there were also quite a few lighthearted moments throughout the course of the book as well; especially when it came to Sullivan’s writing for the character Malcom, who kind came across as being somewhat of a comic relief character at times.
Another thing that I particularly really enjoyed about Sullivan’s writing style is the fact that while both this book and the Legends of the First Empire series in general are an epic fantasy story, I ultimately felt like this book had a quaint feel to it due to how the various groups of people were portrayed, and the fact that the various groups of people and storylines that were taking place throughout the book had pretty much all come together by the end of the book. That being said, if I had to say what my biggest hope for the series as it continues is currently, it would be that I really hope that Sullivan finds ways to expand upon the world-building; possibly by having the characters split up into different groups, and start venturing off to different locations for various reasons, most likely introducing more characters, locations, and cultures along way. Ultimately, I just hope that Sullivan is able to find ways to maintain the quaint tone of his storytelling and writing style as the series progresses; while also not doing it in such a way that it could potentially hinder the world-building aspect of the series in the long run.
