Hollow World Review

A year ago or so I read The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan and enjoyed them quite a bit. Recently I had a chance to pick up a copy of his latest novel, Hollow World, as an e-book on Amazon for next to nothing, so I jumped at the chance. Hollow World, for those who didn't hear about it before via its successful Kickstarter campaign or other means, is a recent past/far-future time travel tale - think H.G. Wells' The Time Machine but without quite so bleak a future.

In Hollow World we are introduced to Ellis Rogers, a married man who is going to die and has little to hold him to his current life. Lucky for him, he has built a time machine and if he is willing to roll the dice, he may be able to find a cure in the future to save himself. we are given a very interesting view of the future indeed. That's as far as I will go into the plot as this story holds suspense and mystery and asks a number of social questions and I don't want to ruin it for you.

Anyone who has been reading my recent posts knows I like time travel or stories when people from our world go to a new one. This fish-out-of-water scenario is always interesting when it involves the future and we get to see the author's speculation of what the future might hold for mankind. Mr. Sullivan's take on the future in Hollow World is interesting and thought-provoking and will force the reader to question what the purpose of life is and how do sexuality and religion play a part in it. Luckily it doesn't beat those topics over your head, after all there is still an interesting story going on in there as well.

One thing I did find with Hollow World is that a few of the big reveals were possibly too heavily foreshadowed meaning they didn't have quite the impact that they could have. On the other hand, it was nice to actually guess a few events in the story rather than just go along for the ride. Either way, it doesn't detract from Hollow World being a good book and rating 4 Mick Happies for me. I recommend you give it a shot and if you buy it in print form you can get a free e-book copy from the author. Additionally, the e-book comes with two versions of the book, the explicit language one and the clean version. See you in the future.

The Riyria Revelations Review

After a bit of a hiatus, here is a review of The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. The Riyria Revelations were originally published as a six book fantasy series by Ridan Publishing (owned by Sullivan and his wife). The books were later picked up by Orbit publishing and released as Theft of Swords (November 2011), Rise of Empire (December 2011) and Heir of Novron (January 2012). Each volume contains two of the original novels.

The Riyria Revelations cover the story of Royce Melborne and Hadrian Blackwater, two thieves collectively known as the Riyria. We are first introduced to them as they ride toward their latest job, they are thieves for hire taking on different assignments, mostly for the nobility. Like most fantasy series, this one starts off small and later expands to epic world-shaking proportions as the story evolves, with the main characters involved – whether they like it or not.

Royce is a typical dexterous thief capable of stealing just about anything. Hadrian is the strong arm of the two and carries three swords, which he is very skilled at using when the need arises. I enjoyed the banter between the two characters, which had the feel of two people who spent a lot of time together in sticky situations. There is obviously a lot of history between the two that happened before the start of the first book and the reader learns more about some of that history along the way.

The world of the book has many of the staples of fantasy, elves – though they are treated as near slaves and outcasts, dwarves – also in servitude to humans and not allowed their own lands, humans and the Ba Ran Ghazel (goblins).  Elan is mainly a collection of human kingdoms inhabiting a land that previously was united as an Empire under Novron, the son of one of the gods. Factions are at work in the background trying to reform the Empire and this political maneuvering is part of the backdrop for the series (as the titles of the later books would indicate).

One of the drawbacks in the book would be that the banter feels a little too modern for the fantasy setting and may take you out of the story a little. There are also times where the development of some of the characters seems rushed. A magic user in the story thinks about how something might be done and then a few scenes later is doing it without many of the struggles you might expect. However, there are enough twists and turn and fun along the way to make these easy enough to overlook.

I purchased the series through iTunes, got to love iTunes gift cards, and at $9.99 each, I thought the price was well worth it for essentially two novels in each book.  It is also a major bonus that the story is already finished – no waiting for the next book here. I give The Riyria Revelations 3 Mick Happies. If you want to try it out, download a prequel short story, The Viscount and the Witch, for free from the author’s website and enjoy. Samples of the books are also available on Mr. Sullivan’s website here.