I love reading myths and seeing what sorts of cultural or practical events are encoded. Seeds of truth beneath myths do lie, records of the past embellished with symbolism. “Sunlight had a way of showing the realities that shadows born of firelight hid.” One of my favorite lines of all expresses such a beautiful truth. It’s also amusingly prevalent with Suri, the young mystic. He reminds me a great deal of both the monk in Dragonheart and Chaucer in A Knight’s Tale. Sullivan is a master at weaving in deadpan deliveries, making for some wonderful interactions. The newcomers meet with a cool welcome, especially when trouble in the form the Fhrey shows. Along the way, the pair runs into a spot of trouble and is rescued by Raithe and Malcolm, who go with them to the tree and return to the village of Dahl Ren with them. Persephone is the only one to heed Suri, and she follows the young girl to Magda, an ancient oak of prophecy. Into this mix comes Suri, a young forest-child, a mystic with a serious message. It doesn’t take long for a new chief to rise up, incompetent to the post as he may be. Others are badly injured, with one having lost an eye and another an arm.

Her husband is brought back dead, victim of a bear hunt gone terribly wrong. A brief fight leaves two dead and Raithe fleeing in company of one of the slaves, a man named Malcolm.Įlsewhere, Persephone’s life is thrown into turmoil. They are discovered by a Fhrey and his two slaves. Rhunes are forbidden to dwell across the river. Desperation sends father and son across the river borders between Rhune land and Fhrey land, where they hope to build a quiet life. Most Dureyans are, pressed to service waging wars for the Fhrey.

The story starts divided between the trials and tribulations of Raithe and Malcolm, and those of Persephone and Suri, til gradually they become one. Though sad to not be journeying with Royce and Hadrian once again, I really enjoyed walking with Raithe, Malcolm, Nyphron, Persephone, and the others to meet the Fhrey and learn more intimately their culture. Sullivan’s Age of Myth is a new foray into a world (mostly) familiar to readers of the previous Riyria novels.

Age of myth sullivan