I am quite late on the bandwagon with ‘The Crown Conspiracy’, but I gave up hope that the cool books would come to me. I stuck to resolving the issues with my Leaning Pile of Shame, which is nowhere near resolving, and tried to ignore the awesome titles that everybody gets. It would seem that my star is rising, because I had the fortune to be offered not just the one, but the first three books from the series.
The status quo dictates that ‘The Crown Conspiracy’ is a jolly good read. I might be a rebel in the community, but I second what other bloggers have to say about Sullivan’s book. My first reaction following the first twenty or so pages was to second question whether this was in fact a debut, because it reads like butter on toast. Sullivan knows what he is doing and the pages turned themselves. I couldn’t help myself and think of Tolkien, while reading this book. There is a quality to the prose, the characters and the world, which reignite that my spark and sense of wonder.
I enjoyed the parallel between Sullivan’s world and the Roman Empire. I’m terrible at history though and not the best judge, so correct me if I am wrong there. Hadrian and Royce make an unforgettable and humorous duo to follow. The secondary cast is most satisfying. My one and only irk so far is that everybody is giving everybody else looks, glares, stares in various forms and manners. But that is nothing but a minor speck. The rest is pure entertainment, so far.
7 comments:
Personally, I loved these books...
I am developing the same affection towards them.
"I enjoyed the parallel between Sullivan’s world and the Roman Empire. I’m terrible at history though and not the best judge, so correct me if I am wrong there."
It would depend on how you interpreted it. There are similarities between the lost Novronian Empire and ancient Rome in respect to a loss of "civilization." You could even draw similarities between Glenmorgan and Charlemagne as a resurgence of that lost era. But it would be a mistake to take the analogies too far as Elan is not Medieval Europe. Historians will find a variety of aspects to Elan completely out of sync with Earth history.
For example, there is coffee, tobacco, potatoes and chocolate. None of these existed in medieval Europe as they all came from the New World. Cavalier hats and powdered wigs grace the heads of the inhabitants of Avryn, and ships are triple mast, multi-decked ocean-going frigate class ships—all of which are found in the Age of Sail nearly a thousand years after the time of Charlemagne.
So yes it is true that I did happen to be reading a very thick text book on European history back in 1989 when I first began conceiving the world of Elan, and I likely drew inspiration from the past , but I was not above rearranging things to my likening. Don’t worry though, the ships don’t carry cannons and nothing is made of plastic.
I am not that much of a historian. My sense of time is not the best, so I can't be the judge of that. And I did draw this parallel on account of the loss of civilization and because they have a whole dead language that resembles Latin in spirit. Otherwise the titles like marquis and viscount and the likes, do speak of a different era.
I have no complaints, you have to know.
Roman Empire? Never got that when I read it. Then again I don't really look for historical influences when it's not a historical novel!
Glad you're enjoying these books :)
They are subtle, but I think that they exist in the novel. I am not the one to search for such things, when readings, but it popped up as an observation.
Hello,
For those that don't know, the first printing of Michael's Crown Conspiracy recently sold out. We (Ridan Publishing) just released a second edition and you can purchase it from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Crown-Conspiracy-Riyria-Revelations/dp/0979621135
The other Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Crown-Conspiracy-Michael-J-Sullivan/dp/0980003431
is for the first edition and shows it “temporarily out of stock”. There is one last shipment going out, so some of the backorders will be fulfilled soon, but we are pretty sure most of books ordered from that URL will be cancelled.
For those that really want first edition copies, Michael has a very limited number that he’s making available at: http://www.michaelsullivan-author.com/special_offer_soldout.htm at a 15% discount. He’ll sign them and dedicate them if you desire.
Glad you are enjoying the book.
Susan Parker
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