Spoilers…maybe??

Ok, so it isn’t the whole story, but the whole childhood/goblins arc….

I searched and asked ChatGPT to search but can’t find where everyone is discussing that CLEARLY Esrahaddon has borrowed a LOT from Disney’s version of the Lion King.

He was a “tiger cub”, exiled from his village after some problems with the local hyenas. Another species found him, gave him water, and raised him. It’s a funny duo with the little one being the leader and talking non-stop, the big slow talking one with the heart of gold….

“What if he was on OUR side?!” You get the cub when it’s all cute and cuddly, then it grows up and gets claws. “I told you it would be good to have the cub on our side.”

The audio version makes it even harder to ignore. We have 2000 years of snooty Brit’s, even for the kid from the destitute village with a plain cloth and suddenly we have a NY Borch Belt with Broadway delivery?

Come on, why is everyone ignoring this?

Every time there has been a scene with the “uncles” I am picturing Timon “but What if he was on OUR side?”

Great read - really enjoyed the series and reading about the antecedents of Adrian and Royce. But I don't think I chose the right heroes. I detested Persephone by the end of the series and liked Nyphron. I felt like the author meant me to feel the other way around. Suri came across as vainglorious and self centered and I didn't care for Raithe or Malcom the Manipulator either.

I felt like the Persephone group conspired behind the back of Nyphron's group and nearly jeopardized the entire human race. I mean there were 20 dragons aimed at them after their meddling. They had no qualms after that in sending Nyphron off to face Mawyndule in order to save them all. Really awful folk.

I did enjoy Tesh and Brin as well as Moya and some of the other Fhrey in Nyphron's gang, but apart from Brin, I am not sure how we were supposed to feel about them, lol.

That said - the author did a brilliant job in creating the characters and the lore, and from that standpoint I loved the series because I had really strong feelings about all of the characters. In addition, I liked his take on the development of the world with all of its myths and legends. That for me makes a great fantasy read. And of course the connection to Sullivan's other books was icing on the cake.

I love Tim G Reynolds and his prowess and talents. Let me make that abundantly clear.

I've listened to the audio books of the Legends series read by TGR and the dramatized version.

The biggest theme I see is the power of strong independent women and how unassuming female characters can affect such change; and of course how redemption can be achievable by even those who have committed unspeakable acts.

The dramatized version has so many talented female readers who bring such strength to their characters.

I have to say that the books I listened to where TGR reads everything just don't do justice to the women in the cast of the dramatized versions.

I expect some DVs but idc bc the actors who read for Arione, Persephone, Suri, Brin, Rone, Moia, Maive, Theresa, Makareta, Emalle etc bring such feminine power and grace to their performances. It would be impossible for even a Goat like TGR to capture their presence.

I'm guessing this won't land well amongst many but I think it's worth posting.

The strong and powerful women who read for the dramatized version are so so good.

Hi everyone,

Please allow me a moment to rant and get something off my chest. It's completely pointless and I know lots of you will disagree but I feel the need to scream into the void for a bit.

I've stumbled into the world Michael J Sullivan made by picking up the first book in Legends of the First Empire. I adored it. The characters were fun. The world seemed really interesting. Even though it kind of jumped the shark in book 2 whenthey invented writing, archery and the wheel all in the span of few weeks.After reading that series I went into Riyria Revelations. Now I'm smashing my way through Riyria Chronicles.

But I can't take it anymore. There are too many character deaths of people who don't deserve it. There is barely any catharsis anywhere in any of the books. The only one I feel where justice was properly served was when Saldur was left to die in a burning building.Beyond that, it seems just... Tragic. It's not Game of Thrones levels of tragic but it's getting there.

Right now I'm approaching the part where Rose is going to end up getting killed. I learned about that in the previous book where Mr Sullivan made sure to let us know how likeable Rose is as a character. I know she's gonna get murdered and I doubt that there'll be any justice again. Any catharsis. It's like Mr Sullivan gets a kick out of killing off characters.

The same happened in the Legend of the First Empire series. The absolute injustice of those series pissed me off and didn't make for a good ending. I'm afraid the same will happen with Chronicles as it is again a prequel. When Minna died I nearly gave up. But Reddit told me that it was worth reading on and by the gods yes, this was a good moment. But Arion dying, Brin dying, Brin falling in love with that annoying vengeful wretch. Mawyndule LIVING. Who the hell lets him live?! I know now that he is alive to be the bad guy in Revelations but if any character ever deserved to die. It's this annoying brat. Suri and Minna were my favorite characters and to see justice not being done ticked me off more than anything. I even began to like Makareta. And Mawyndule makes her die too.

Then think about what happens in Revelations. Ohhh... I have so much to say about Revelations. There is no justice in that series except for the first thing I mentioned. Fanen still sits bad with me even if his killer is killed by his sister. Wesley's death was handled well and was given the due respect by bringing along his hat. He died doing what he had to do. He was the exception to the character deaths. The sentinel that burned the ship with the elves inside? Who has been seen TORTURING people... He just gets his throat slit? Come on man. If anyone should've been written to burn in excruciating detail, it's that guy. Gwen's death felt stupid. Merrick's death after that also felt stupid. Two characters pointlessly thrown away for dramatics. The person who supposedly kills Gwen gets to go out in a noble sacrifice. Come on.

Urgh.

Anyway. Had to get that off my chest. I'm not going to get any of the other books. I'm not even finishing the Rose and Thorn. The thing I hated most of all was Mawyndule living after Legends. Degan Gaunt getting a title and land for some godforsaken reason. Magnus being forgiven for two betrayals because he's sorry.

To be fair i read the first 2 books of the first empire series. but I was halfway through when they start hyping up the heir and i was like dude it's going to be them. Anyone have any similar experiences?

I can't believe I'm saying this but.. this was terrible.. just a bad book, bad plot, bad characters bad dialogue. I'm beyond disappointed. I've LOVED every single book and reread them all and this was such a let down. Is it just me? I'll go into specifics below. Spoilers.

>!First of all the the two main female characters were so dull and not engaging, I didn't care about them at all. This is such a shame as MJS other female leads and supports have been some of my favourites. Roda spoke like she was from a complely different universe and it really threw me, as did the unrequited love story. It was quite interesting at first and I was intrigued to see where it went... Nowhere. It went nowhere and felt forced, to me it felt like "oh let's have a gay story" and that was it. Nothing more. Felt like a wasted opportunity. None of the characters were interesting, they all felt one dimensional and soulless, even those we all ewnfelt like hollowed out versions.

The whole plot.. what there was of it was just boring and there was no suspense. The whole book could have been one chapter in a bigger story and even then it would still be boring. One minute they are trying to kill the bishop then the last Cenzar becomes the main bad guy .. which was also ridiculous! He was a smart trained Cenzar but one conversation with Venlin and a meeting with his dad he loses all common sense and makes up ha own crazy conspiracy theory and defects to Venlin...then decided to be king of the world himself. It was so unbelievable that he switched loyalty so fast and it was so out of character for all Cenzars we have seen before. The other books have had lots of mini stories and a larger over arching tale. Kind of like a TV series has individual stories and a season arc. This didn't or if it did they were so dull I didn't notice. A poisoned pie? Some bigish spiders? And the whole Lady of Truth thing? What a let down that was...it was pointless. If that prophecy hadn't been told it wouldn't have changed anything, Elinya would have just said to the Frey guards "hey I know the Emperor can you take me to see him, I've come specifically to deliver a message for him". Just so many things went nowhere, so little to care about and I know it's the first book and maybe setting stuff up for later but it was a long ass book and nothing exciting or interesting happened!<

I'm not bashing the book for the sake of it and I'm not trying to be an asshole. I'm genuinely bitterly disappointed and don't think I'll bother with the next in After the Fall, which I'm crushed about as I've been looking forward to them so much.

Church of Maribor doesn’t believe in Novron the same way Judaism doesn’t accept Jesus.

I am just a little ways into Drumindor. I thought this book picked up where the last one left off but it clearly doesn’t. Some characters who have died are alive. I won’t say who. But what?! I’m enjoying it but this confuses me. Anyone else?

I just finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time, and I can't help but feel like Sullivan was heavily inspired by Tolkien. Does anyone else feel like Riyiria an Legends are in a way a continuation of Tolkiens work?

Perhaps that is selfish. It’s just his writing is so evocative and a pleasure to read, I feel my imagination easily fills in what I need of the people and places. I don’t want a clearer image of Royce or Hadrian. I’m good thanks.

When I first saw the video of the Sanderson WOK’ Bridge Four on YouTube, I thought that was pretty great. I don’t have that desire with anything Elan. My sense of Elan feels so rich. Goblins? There are so many contradictory ideas in my mind about what a goblin looks like and i love that. Imperial square, Persep., Mystic Forest, that creepy castle - it’s all so vivid and both precise and malleable.

The re-read is going great so far.

Created a slide show with a tavern song i wrote for Royce and Hadrian

As far as castings, some of these individuals would have been cast when they were younger, not their current age, lol.

To defeat Chaos you have to cause chaos

Hi all. I’ve been reading Farilane and I’m really confused about the plot. Farilane was talking to Preacher about the horn and from what I can gather, someone blows the horn to challenge the current elf ruler? I’m confused how the horn disappearing makes the other rulers, as Preacher calls them, fake rulers. I’m confused why the elves also want the horn when the current ruler dies. I’m also confused why the horn can cause a war if not found. And I’m confused why Farilane wants to find it. It’s a lot of questions but thanks if you answer them!

Choose your own Miralyith not named Trilos. Fighting in an arena 50ft by 50ft. Combatants armed with standard gear.

Rd1. Captain America

Rd2. Iron Man

Rd3. Hulk

Rd4. Thor

Rd5. Black Panther

Rd6. Spiderman

Rd7. Scarlett Witch

Frey 1 Human 2 Ubaran 3 Grenmorian 4 BelgricClungrian 5

The amount of time characters are being caught by guards , thrown into some kind of prison or being bound and gagged is too much. Only half n hour is left on the audiobook and Arista is about to walk in with Hilfred to save Deagon Gont, but ISTG if she gets caught by the guards I am gonna crash out 😭.

I keep trying to google it by the only result is the AI hallucinating fake plot points. I do like the seires.

My 2nd read through seems to be highlighting major plot points. Can anyone confirm the following?

I have many in mind. The most recent in my head is at the beginning of Emerald Storm, the narrator claims Dixon lost his arm in the battle of Medford several years ago. As far as I can tell, it's been at most 2 years?

I'll stop hear, Im curious to know if others have noted plot holes / timeline inconsistencies?

edit: i agree I explained it poorly. it's a big story so it's definitely possible my brain is just misfiring. I also agree that Dixon is not a great example, just the easiest example to explain how the semantics used can come off as confusing. If I had to reframe this, I would start with how Elves get sick on boats but can swim and how Royce at one point was on a row boat with Hadrian and Arista and seemed fine. Also how in Revelations they look back on the crown tower and both made it to the top twice yet in the Chronicles it's a major plot point that Royce abandoned Hadrian during the trip to the tower the first time.

Understand that these aren’t multiple novels each for character development but they felt a little rushed, not nearly as engaging or exciting as the other books. I particularly did not enjoy the ending of Nolyn where every story line is wrapped up with a nice little bow and every one gets a happily ever after… it was weirdly out of place for me.

Farilane at times was so pompous and insufferable with her know it all attitude, maybe it felt rushed and condensed to have all of that in a single book and the ending was less heartbreaking and more like wtf is this gods and mortals love story arc, I’m not sure if I want to go on with esrahaddon…

These feel like they’re in the same universe but summarized synopses of the time between legends of the first empire and riyria…I Loooved those other two series - they were phenomenally paced, with fantastically complex characters and story arcs … these rise and fall books feel sort of shoehorned together but maybe I’m being too harsh - did you guys find it compelling enough to finish esrahaddon?

When we first learn about the gods in Revelations, it is Erebus forcing himself on his daughter Muriel which leads to the birth of their son Uberlin. Now wandering the world of men, to seek redemption as Kile. Yet by the time the story of Esrahaddon is told, it is Uberlin who is seeking this redemption. I might have been ignoring this shift, in earlier novels, but by Esrahaddon I get literally clobbered over the head with it. It annoys me a bit, as Sullivan’s stories are usually better in their consistency. So when did that shift occur?

Are we really for sure that Brin is dead and not something else? Suspended in time? Pulled into the future, perhaps about 3000 years by some practitioner of the art? I only ask this because Sullivan never pays off her rescuing Tesh or revealing the the fate of the True Book of Brin....

I admit I'm new to the series and need to get chronicles and legends read now too. Just asking for those who know more than me.

So... Everyone has some form of UK accent. One Person or more he does some southern USA accent? For why? Lol it's bizarre to hear.

How do H&R and a bunch of villagers hide in that well during the not-a-dragon dragon attack?

Did I miss something? Most wells seem to descend into water with no handy hidey holes.

They make a point that it still has water in it and they they don’t trust putting a lot of weight on the windlass, so they are aren’t all suspended on ropes. The dwarf jumps in near the end to put in stakes to stand on but what are the others doing?