Reread: “Rise of Empire” by Michael J. Sullivan
Rise of Empire is the second volume of the Riyria Revelations, containing the third and fourth books of the series, Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm. I’m going to keep this review short, since it’s obvious that I really enjoy this series. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be rereading it instead of reading something from my massive pile of unread books. For more Royce and Hadrian reviews, see The Crown Tower, The Rose and the Thorn, The Death of Dulgath, and Theft of Swords.
In Nyphron Rising, the Church of Nyphron has finally implemented its centuries-old plan to unite most of the kingdoms of Avryn into an empire under newly crowned emperor Modina. However, Melengar and the Nationalists from Delgos remain thorns in the new empire’s side, and Prince Alric and Princess Arista are determined to keep the resistance alive. As the official royal protectors, Royce and Hadrian are crucial to the war effort. This is definitely a war book, although it doesn’t focus too much on the battles, it’s about war and its effects. I used to think that Arista was an annoying character, but upon rereading this, I actually really like her. She’s naive at first, but she grows and comes into her own in this book, and she’s probably one of my favorite characters.
The Emerald Storm is probably the most depressing of the books, it’s the part in the series where everything goes wrong and our heroes seem like they have no chance of winning. If this was a trilogy, this would be the second book. The tone of Royce and Hadrian’s story is more like an adventure novel, a lot of it is set on a ship, and there’s a mission into barbarian jungles. I don’t find ships particularly interesting, so I was glad that despite being named after the ship, the book had a significant portion of time off the ship. I wasn’t a big fan of the warlord and goblin plotline, I felt like they were reduced to stock “evil” characters in a series that usually focuses more on individuals and not their race. I probably enjoyed Arista’s story the most, she realizes that the war may not be the most important thing going on, and changes her plans.
I’m already halfway through Heir of Novron (I had to, after the way Rise of Empire ended), so expect that review soon.