Fantasy Book Critic: "The Viscount and the Witch" by Michael Sullivan (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Michael Sullivan Website
Get "The Viscount of the Witch" HERE (author's site) or
Order It HERE(Kindle)
Read FBC Review of The Crown Conspiracy
Read FBC Review of Avempartha
Read FBC Review of Nypron Rising
Read FBC Review of The Emerald Storm
Read FBC Review of Wintertide

INTRODUCTION:In the space of two years, Michael Sullivan has moved from a small press debut author that was featured in one of my first "Indie Spotlight Reviews" to a "name" in the fantasy field who sold-out his first novel and is getting both critical acclaim and fan appreciation. In my 2009 end-of-the-year rankings, Avempartha went head to head against the "big names" and made both my Top 2009 Books list and Cindy's Top 2009 Book list, while The Crown Conspiracy made Mihir's Top 2009 Reads too. Last year's Wintertide was a top 10 novel of mine and Percepliquis the much awaited conclusion to the Ryria Revelation series which will be released in early 2012 is my top awaited fantasy of the first quarter of 2012.

ANALYSIS: "The Viscount and the Witch" is a fast and fun short story set in the Ryria universe some 10 years previous to start of the main story and it details the fledgling partnership of Royce and Hadrian meeting with the impoverished viscount and expanding Ryria's reach into the intrigues of the nobility. There is a little extra background for the characters and the story serves as a very good introduction to the author's style and to his wonderful universe.

Royce's world weariness and even cynicism and Hadrian's optimism and his "I want to do good" attitude are on display and they show again why the two form such a great pair. Even more characters of the series are hinted at too!

In a nice bonus addition, the first chapter of Theft of Swords - the Orbit omnibus release on November 23 of the first two novels, The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha - is included. Since this chapter has a new first half that introduces Royce and Hadrian in action, rather than starting with Archie's misadventures with some stolen letters as in the original release of The Crown Conspiracy, you can regard this as a "new story" too if you have previously read only the original novel, while you can see "what's this fuss about about Ryria?" if you have not.

And to top it all there is a great introduction where the author talks about the series at large! So get The Viscount and the Witch and enjoy!

12:01 PM |

Posted by Liviu |

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4 comments:

Cursed Armada said...: Pretty cover...; October 8, 2011 at 1:01 PM
Liviu said...: While I do not know it for sure, I expect the cover has been done by the author himself as he is a graphic designer and has done the wonderful covers for the original five volumes; Orbit's omnibuses are much more fantasy traditional in covers; October 8, 2011 at 1:09 PM
Robin Sullivan said...: Thanks for posting the review, and for all your support for this "little indie" who is now crossing over to mainstream publication.

Liviu is correct the cover was indeed done by Michael.

The short is for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $0.99 (the lowest we could make it) but it is also available free from the link in this review.

I hope people who may have heard of the series, but not had a chance to start might pick this up because it is a quick 30 - 45 minute read to get them "introduced" to the main characters. I hope you'll check it out.

Robin Sullivan | Write2Publish | Ridan Publishing; October 8, 2011 at 2:40 PM
Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...: Oh yes. I enjoyed seeing the boys again. :) And their personalities are just great. They have changed a little over the years, but still are the great people they are. I really enjoyed this one as well. And loved that there are hints to other characters. Loved the meeting here with the Viscount...does explain a little bit there. :); October 13, 2011 at 11:53 AM