Review of Age of Myth J. Sullivan

 

Review of Age of Myth  by Michael J. Sullivan

 

From the back of the book:

Michael J. Sullivan's trailblazing career began with the breakout success of his Riyria series: full-bodied, spellbinding fantasy adventures whose imaginative scope and sympathetic characters won a devoted readership. Now, Sullivan's stunning hardcover debut, Age of Myth, inaugurates an original five-book series, and one of fantasy's finest next-generation storytellers continues to break new ground.

Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between men and those they thought were gods changes forever. Now, only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer, Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom, and Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people. The Age of Myth is over; the time of rebellion has begun. 

 

Leona's Review:

 

This is my first read by Michael J. Sullivan and so I was not familiar with his writings.

It took me some time to get to know the characters but the back of the book has a glossary of terms and names and that was a great help.

 

 

 

This is the first book of the Legends of the First Empire fantasy series.  Age of Myth, Age of Swords, Age of  War, Age of Legends and Age of Empire. The author has written all the books in this series and they will be released "in a timely" manner.

 

The book begins with Raithe and his father approached by a god who demands to know why they are here.   He has two servants with him; one servant, Malcolm, becomes one of the main characters.

 

I have to say this is a hard book to review with so much happening with the different characters, friendship, battles and

 

It is a fantasy book that is well written. I give if a 5 star rating. I will say becuase I usually  do not read these books, I will give it another read before the next book comes out so I am familiar with the characters and happenings. 

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, Felix J. Palma and Simon & Schuster to read and review. The opinions are my own.


The book has been translated from Spanish to English by Nick Caistor.

I was first interested in this book because the cover said the book would have characters such as H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, two of my favorites.

Interesting read but a little confusing at times. I actually was reading this book and put it aside then began to read again. The review is just a touch because the reader must read the book to get the real details and content of the book or "Tale(s)" as the author has said.

H. G. Wells was one of the main characters in this book. His book, The Time Machine, was all the rage in Europe.
There are three parts of this book. Part One goes into the past, Part Two goes into the future and Part Three goes way into the future as well as a lot of this section stays in the book's time period of the late 1880s.
Andrew Harrington in Part One wants to go into the past to kill Jack the Ripper before he kills his love, Marie Kelly by using the machine that took the character, George, into the future with his Time Machine which is described in the book written by Wells, The Time Machine. Andrew is suicidal and his cousin, Charles, takes Andrew to see H. G. Wells so Andrew could travel back to the past. Marie is a prostitute in the Whitechapel area in London. I did some research and find the names I checked are the women Jack the Ripper killed except the name was Mary Kelly, not Marie. This section is very descriptive in the gruesome acts of what Jack the Ripper does to the women.
Part Two of The Map of Time journeys us into the future and time travel. Gilliam Murray has developed a program that takes men and women of London area from 1896 to the year 2000 and it is called Murray's Time Travel. The passengers are transported into the fourth dimension on a tram where they find automations are trying to take over the world in a legendary battle between humans and automations. The hero is Captain Derek Shackleton and his job is to defeat the king of the automations.

Claire Haggerty has decided to go to Murray's Time Travel with her friend, Lucy, but makes plans not to return to her time period. Claire has decided that the century in which she lives is boring and she has no interest in men in her time era. She believes the future holds more for her. When the passengers are getting ready to depart, Claire hides and see Captain Shackleton without his helmet, which had hidden his face during the battle. She tells him she loves him and wants to be with him in this time period. The man in charge of the group finds Claire and tells her she must leave with the rest of the group; Derek Shackleton rushes out of sight.

The tale is interesting and there are many details of people and events. H.G. Wells and his wife, Jane, are brought into the tale closer to the end.
Part Three has a Scotland Yard detective who believes that someone from the future is committing murder in London. This section is mainly about Wells but also has Henry James and Dram Stoker. H.G.Well's book, The Invisible Man, is part of this tale.

This book is difficult to read because there are so many different occasions happening and the book seems to jump into different areas but the author still brings the tales together. It is a page tuner and so many details and people are in this book, even if only a mention. After I started the book again, I started with Part Two and went back to Part One. The "Map of Time" is described in Part Three and well worth waiting for the meaning. It pulls the book together.

Some names are Jules Verne, Dram Stoker, Henry James, German chemist who developed aspirin (Felix Hoffmann) in the late 1800s and the chemist who invented Coca Cola.
Felix J. Palma has done a remarkable job on The Map of Time. It seems like he is in London and for the readers who have been to London, it puts the reader there but in another time era.

Anyone interested in time travel will find this a good read.

I have to give this a five star plus because of all the details in the book/tales.
Leona Olson

mnleona.blogspot.com

Talon of the Unnamed Goddess by J. R. Tomlin

Talon of the Unnamed Goddess






This was not a good read for me. I hate to begin negative but felt there were so many names and I tired of the war scenes.



Aisha is a Talon, one who is prepared for war and protection of others. Aisha is contracted to protect Rhiannon who is the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Grayna. She has been prepared for the challenge by training for ten years; one of the few women who accomplish this. I found her a strong character and very qualified in her tasks. The book focuses on protecting Rhiannon and helping her to regaining the kingdom of Grayna after the death of her father.



The book has plenty of descriptions of the battles and wounding and death of the warriors. There are no heavy intimate scenes and what was there was well done.



I liked the main characters of the book but would have liked more personal and less battles. I think the book was well written and good descriptions on places, food, herbs and people.



I give this 3 stars.



This is my opinion and hope I do not prevent others from reading this. I have enjoyed other works from the author but not this one as much as I had hoped. I want to thank the author, J. R. Tomlin, for the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions are my own. I received a complimentary copy from Smashwords, LibraryThing and J. R. Tomlin.