Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan

This is where keeping track of my books on Goodreads comes in handy. To narrow down my options for Best Book I’ve Read This Year, I went straight to my 5-star reads. Still, 2013 isn’t even half done yet, and according to my stats I’ve already racked up quite a few of those. Looking over the list, it was a tough choice, but in the end I had to go with Heir of Novron for overall best read.Why? Well, Heir of Novron is actually an omnibus that collects the last two books (Wintertide and Percepliquis) of a six-part fantasy series called The Riyria Revelations. The first two omnibuses are Theft of Swords (collecting The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha) and Rise of Empire (collecting Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm), and it’s the gradual building up of the over-arching story in these books that made the stunning conclusion such a joy to read.

This is a delightful down-to-earth fantasy series, filled with adventure, action, and a cast of great characters. Once you start the first book, you just can’t help but keep going; each installment has its own self-contained story, but the series is also meant to be read a whole. As you make your way through it, you will find that the author has dropped hints of what’s to come in the earlier books, WAAAAAY before you even realized it was happening, which is what made Percepliquis such a mind-blowing experience. So many twists and turns, and shocking reveals. Let’s just say the word Revelations in the series title is certainly apt.

And the icing on the cake is that the author is such a nice guy. After you finish the series, Michael J. Sullivan asks that you contact him for bonus material. So I sent him an email about it, along with my thanks and comments about how much I loved his books. This led to a back-and-forth email conversation which lasted a couple days where we talked about the themes of the series and he answered all my questions. To be able to discuss a book that I loved so much with the author right after reading it was one of the coolest experiences ever.