Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1) by Michael J. Sullivan (Goodreads Author)

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow there is more to Malcolm than first meets the eye. At the beginning of the book we are lead to believe that Malcolm's decision to help Raithe was a spur of the moment seizing the opportunity to escape type deal. In fact he seemed horrified that Raithe had killed Shegon. At the end of the book we discover that Nyphron (his master) had ordered him to kill Shegon. Suspecting that if he had followed orders and killed Shegon he would have been executed, he merely made it possible for Raithe to kill Shegon and then escaped with him. Not sure why Nyphron wanted Shegon dead and what he is planning, but he definitely not the hero I thought he was for protecting the humans.

Malcolm (human slave of the Fhrey) seems adapt at sneaking up on people and bashing them in the head. He also doesn't seem as defenseless as he makes himself out to be. He saved Raithe by sneaking up on Shegon and bashing him in the head. Raithe finished Shegon off by taking the sword Shegon had used to murder his Father and hacking his head off. At the time Raithe was laboring under the delusion that the Fhrey were immortal gods, and only hoped to slow him down.

The Miralyith tribe have been using The Art (magic that taps into the forces of nature) to set themselves up above the other six Fhrey tribes. With Nyphron's Father's death in the arena by the use of The Art Lothian insured that no one but a member of the Miralyith tribe would rule. Supposedly this is why Nyphron disobeyed orders to kill the humans, especially the God killer, Raithe and instead he and his men are protecting them.

Suri is the true heroine of the book. Abandoned at birth on the orders of her Father who didn't want his cheating to come to light she was raised by Tura an ancient mystic. Suri's powers in "The Art" are great enough that she can save her clan 1.) She warned them the Fhrey were coming and convinced Persephone to listen to the trees. So instead of trying to fight with Nyphron's group they let them in and banded together with them against the Fhrey. 2.) She used the Dherg markings from the cave to bind Arion's power after Malcolm knocked her out. Thus the destruction everyone predicted after Persephone forced everyone to heal Arion instead of killing her never happened and Arion got a chance to know the humans. When Arion discovered that Suri could use The Art she reevaluated her opinion of humans and sent Nyphron to save her from Grin the Brown Bear. 3.) When Grin was fixing to kill Minna (Suri's wolf friend) Suri set the bear on fire with The Art. And 4.) When Gryndal (First Minister to Fane Lothian) attacked Arion Suri was able to tell Arion to take the bandages off and that doing so would restore her ability to use The Art thus allowing Arion to defeat Gryndal.

Glad Gryndal is dead he caused a lot of pain and suffering in his belief that he was better than everyone else and his plan to become Fane. Ferrol's Law prohibits Fhrey from killing Fhrey. The exception is the Fane or someone he designates. Gryndal had manipulated Lothian into giving him permission to kill Fhrey and he intended to kill everyone Fhrey and humans alike.

Persephone has become First Chair of Dahl Rhen by the end of the book and she has named Raithe her shield. Konniger (who had secretly killed Reglan in order to become First Chair) got what he deserved when the bear killed him.

*Who is Trilos and what is he up to?

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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (Hoid's Travails, #2)

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yumi appears to be a young girl trapped in a life of service and ritual. Then one day she is connected to Painter. His life went horribly wrong when his dream of getting into the Dreamwatch was crushed and he lied to his friends about it. Now he has a chance to redeem himself by helping Yumi.

And Hoid (Wit) spends most of the book as a statue in Design's restaurant. How he wound up bonded to Design seems to be a story for another book.

But it turns out Yumi's world is a lie. Her people were murdered by a machine they created and they are the nightmares that Painter and his friends battle. When Yummi destroys the machine the shroud that has kept Painter's world cut off from the sun unravels and the nightmares including Yumi disappear. But Painter is unwilling to let the woman he loves disappear and he paints her back to life.

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