Age of Legend by Michael J. Sullivan, Riyira Enterprises, Grim Oak Press 2019 hardcover, Legends of the First Empire (Book 4) 480 pages, fantasy.
This is the just recently published fourth book in the series. Though I had a couple of other books waiting, I just had to read this right away.
In his author’s note at the front of the book, Sullivan explains “I went even deeper into the bedrock of Elan [note: the name of the world] to create something I feel is truly special and unusual.” Also, “…this book is not self-contained as all my previous works have been. When you get to the last page, you have only completed act one of the three-act play.”
Therefore, I had been warned. So when the last page was read, and I turned to the next one and it was blank, I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was a little shocked at the abruptness of it. Now I’ll have to wait for months, who knows how many, and that doesn’t make me happy.
I liked the book. This series, volumes 1-3, were my favorite reading for 2018. I read them back-to-back and was delighted. I’m not positive I like the new direction the first book in the second trilogy is taking things, but all I can do now is wait and see.
Honestly, this is why I almost always wait for a series to be completed and published before starting it, but this was going to be a trilogy and so with the third book out I read Age of Myth, Age of Swords and Age of War. Then I found there was more, and I was going to have to wait. So I did, as I was very engaged with the plot and characters. Now, I’ll have to wait again. Darn.
This is a very good series, but my advice would be to wait until the whole thing is published before beginning it, as I probably should have done.
Meanwhile, what are you reading?
Tip the Wink 
Just finished Shot In Detroit by Patti Abbott and enjoyed it a lot. Reading Mr Know It All by john Waters and dipping into various various short story collections by R.A. Lafferty and Brian Evenson.
I haven’t read that Abbott yet, Steve. It’s been a while since I read Lafferty.
I am currently reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I recently finished Broken Harbor by Tana French. I have liked everything that I have read by Tana French but that was extremely tense.
I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn a couple of months ago. My comments on it will wait until I finish my survey of the Heinlein juveniles, but I enjoyed it.
Thanks, Steve!
I liked BROKEN HARBOR too. She is very good.
I am about to start CONVICTION by Denise Mina but am still slogging through EUPHORIA, which I have to finish by tomorrow.
I’ll have to check out Broken Harbor. Euphoria must be a book club selection, eh, Patti?
I agree on reading trilogies, though I have been known to not follow my own advice.
I raced through Chuck Wendig’s 800 page WANDERERS this week. It’s an end-of-the-world book that has been compared to King’s THE STAND, and as that is a favorite of mine, I had to read it. Since (as I said) I raced through it, you can assume I liked it. Picture a STAND for the Trump era, I guess. People suddenly seem to have a form of sleepwalking, though they can’t be awakened, and they cannot be stopped without the direst consequences.
I will go back and finish Paula Fox’s DESPERATE CHARACTERS next (I am 44% through it). I’m also reading short story collections by Peter Orner and O. Henry.
Of course the original trilogy WAS published when I started, and I was able to read it all from the library. But then…
I have never read The Stand. I’ve thought about it a couple of times, but never made the move.
I’m with you on trilogies. I prefer to wait until I have all the published volumes before I start reading. I have purchased some of Michael Sullivan’s earlier books. My Library Books stack is dwindling.
Good for you, George. Of course the original trilogy WAS published when I started, and I was able to read it all from the library. But then…
I’ve been avoiding epic fantasy series for some years now, Rick. Short-sighted of me, I know, but for a while there was a lot of dreck and imitative books published in the genre. Someday, maybe…
I finished Neil Gaiman’s GOOD OMENS script book and really liked it. It added another dimension to the mini-series.
I also read ZERO COOL by “John Lange” (Michael Crichton). This was a not-quite by-the-books thriller about a hapless American who gets caught up in international intrigue involving a number of gangs after something implanted in a corpse. A lot of twists and turns with various players being not what they seemed to be. Minor stuff, but interesting.
Murray Leinster’s THE SILVER MENACE AND A THOUSAND DEGREES BELOW ZERO contains two science fiction novellas from 1919, presented in reverse order from the title. In one a mad scientist holds the world captive when he invents a machine that comes close to absolute zero (back when it wasn’t really known what temperature that would be), in the other the oceans and waterways of the world are turning into a gelatin-like substance that begins to encroach upon the land. Gerrold and Davis, a scientist and an airplane pilot, save the world in both stories — the only tales Leinster wrote about the pair. Good, clunky fun.
I finished an early John Carnell anthology, LAMBDA ONE AND OTHER STORIES, the stories all coming from the Carnell-edited NEW WORLDS SF magazine.
I also read a YA non-fiction book from Lester del Rey, ROCKETS THROUGH SPACE, first published in 1957 and revised three years later. It’s a dated look at what we knew in the early days of space exploration, as well as a look at what SF writers of that time were working with. That leaves only one del Rey non-fiction book I have not yet read — THE MYSTERIOUS EARTH (about the International Geophysical Year and what we learned); I should be getting to that in a week or so, along with the only del Rey novel I haven’t read, PSTALEMATE. For some reason I’ve been going through a del Rey kick and also read a lot of his short stories recently; with the exception of two fairly rare tales, I’ve now read all his science fiction stories listed in ISFDb and the Fictionmags Index. Some really good stuff among the chaff there.
Currently reading Eric Frank Russell’s THREE TO CONQUER, first published as “Call Him Dead,” a serial from ASTOUNDING in 1955. So, with the exception of the GOOD OMENS scripts, my reading lately has been taking me back to the days of my youth — a fun place to be.
Here’s hoping your reading continues to take you to fun places, my friend.
I’ve read that Leinster, and may have read the Del Rey in it’s revised edition. As for the fantasy, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, Jerry. There is some good stuff available, and Sullivan is writing some of it. His earlier series is finished, available and pretty good.
I’ve been enjoying the first series he did in this world (these are set much earlier in the universe). I think I’ve read three of the 6 thus far and a couple of short stories. Really like the two main characters and their relationship with one another.
I have a couple of that series, but have yet to read them.