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A review by escan
Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan
5.0
theft of swords is a perfectly solid, uncomplicated read in just about every way, from its prose to its plot to its setting: there’s nothing particularly gimmicky about it. i ultimately enjoyed it on the strength of its characters, obviously hadrian and royce in particular. for me, at least, rise of empire was just a way better book. it was really, really fucking good.
i loved the fact that both hadrian and royce get deconstructed. hadrian gets to move beyond “happy-go-lucky and talented with a sword” to “cheerful and principled but suffering under the weight of his own deeds”, which makes him a lot more interesting and also, uh, i want to hug him. royce’s character development is pretty clearly referenced even within the story (i will NEVER be over hadrian and gwen's conversation about him) and i just think it’s really damn cool that instead of simply going he’s a tortured brooding assassin with a dark past and a whole host of issues which he deals with by killing people and stealing things, sullivan lets royce, yeah, be naturally cynical and suspicious and selfish, but also have genuinely meaningful and loving relationships with gwen and hadrian, and take steps to try and become more than a product of his past.
(also, gwen and royce are just... the fact that gwen’s fine with “sharing” royce with hadrian, the fact that royce is so fiercely sure that gwen is as valuable as any other woman in the world despite - or because of - her job, the fact that he genuinely really wants to just settle down with her and raise a family, the fact that he never mocks her fears or insecurities or dreams... they’re so good i love them so much)
i don’t actually remember what i was going to say next because i got sidetracked thinking abt gwen and royce but also! arista! i think her whole storyline with realising exactly how privileged she is in many ways but also still having to fight harder for anything she wants to achieve because she’s a woman is really interesting (although there were a few moments with the gender thing that did have me rolling my eyes a bit, like when she declared she never wanted to see/wear her corset again - that’s a pretty tired declaration of female independence, and kind of a dumb one considering that corsets usually served some of the same functions as a modern bra and were only super uncomfortable if you tight-laced them!).
the worst bit of it by far was the whole “we need to escape from the savage natives in the jungle”, which i think was just written without thinking too deeply about the implications of that particular trope rather than with any malicious intent, but was still pretty uncomfortable for me.
also, is it just me or is it somehow a thing for part of a fantasy novel to be set at sea?
i loved the fact that both hadrian and royce get deconstructed. hadrian gets to move beyond “happy-go-lucky and talented with a sword” to “cheerful and principled but suffering under the weight of his own deeds”, which makes him a lot more interesting and also, uh, i want to hug him. royce’s character development is pretty clearly referenced even within the story (i will NEVER be over hadrian and gwen's conversation about him) and i just think it’s really damn cool that instead of simply going he’s a tortured brooding assassin with a dark past and a whole host of issues which he deals with by killing people and stealing things, sullivan lets royce, yeah, be naturally cynical and suspicious and selfish, but also have genuinely meaningful and loving relationships with gwen and hadrian, and take steps to try and become more than a product of his past.
(also, gwen and royce are just... the fact that gwen’s fine with “sharing” royce with hadrian, the fact that royce is so fiercely sure that gwen is as valuable as any other woman in the world despite - or because of - her job, the fact that he genuinely really wants to just settle down with her and raise a family, the fact that he never mocks her fears or insecurities or dreams... they’re so good i love them so much)
i don’t actually remember what i was going to say next because i got sidetracked thinking abt gwen and royce but also! arista! i think her whole storyline with realising exactly how privileged she is in many ways but also still having to fight harder for anything she wants to achieve because she’s a woman is really interesting (although there were a few moments with the gender thing that did have me rolling my eyes a bit, like when she declared she never wanted to see/wear her corset again - that’s a pretty tired declaration of female independence, and kind of a dumb one considering that corsets usually served some of the same functions as a modern bra and were only super uncomfortable if you tight-laced them!).
the worst bit of it by far was the whole “we need to escape from the savage natives in the jungle”, which i think was just written without thinking too deeply about the implications of that particular trope rather than with any malicious intent, but was still pretty uncomfortable for me.
also, is it just me or is it somehow a thing for part of a fantasy novel to be set at sea?