The Riyria Revelations: Rise of Empire by: Michael J. Sullivan

 

The Riyria Revelations is a series which I picked up over a year ago and enjoyed the first two installments contained in Theft of Swords, but despite owning the three omnibus installments didn’t think about continuing until a year later.  Promptly I reread Theft of Swords and swiftly moved on to Rise of Empire.  Rise of Empire is an apt title for this installment as it’s two installments, Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm, chronicle just how a powerful, but unjust empire can grow, seemingly fulfilling prophecies to prove by the gods that this new Nyphron Empire is just.  Both books focus heavily on the expansion and the terror that comes with that sort of imperialist conquest.  Author Michael J. Sullivan never quite has his characters come to the conclusion of what forms of government could replace empires and monarchies in general, but there are several points between Royce and Hadrian which makes for some interesting quips.  Sullivan is at least partially self-aware of many of the fantasy tropes he is playing with, but never looks down upon them, but questions just why, leaving in the reader a question of how you can blend classic and modern fantasy.

 

Royce and Hadrian are the driving forces for both books included, Hadrian starting this installment at a point where he genuinely wants to be done, not to be wrapped up in prophecy and a lot of Nyphron Rising gives us some of his backstory.  Sullivan does a nice subversion of the Chosen One trope by having our protagonists being the ones searching for the Chosen One, the true heir to the Empire.  The subversion is so skillfully executed yet somehow signposted so obviously when it eventually happened it almost felt too obvious, but in a good way.  There’s the satisfaction of seeing a really well executed twist play out and your theories and setups actually pay off.  It’s something we don’t see as often in recent media as plenty of stories try too hard to play things off as a surprise to the viewers that nobody could possibly see coming which is honestly not great for storytelling.  There is also something great about Hadrian’s backstory being simple and fairly embedded in classic fantasy tropes which is a great parallel to what we know about Royce’s backstory from Theft of Swords.  His village is a great reflection of who he is, with an interesting implication as to his relationship with his father as not a bad one, but not necessarily the best.  It’s a complex thing and perhaps not fully explored.  It should also be mentioned that Royce and Hadrian as a double act is genius through both, but especially in The Emerald Storm where they are put on a boat and have to pretend to be sailors to great comedic (and later dramatic) effect.

 

There is also a dark undercurrent with the empire, Thrace being rechristened Modina and essentially traumatized into being mute.  This was a plot that worried me at first because it could easily play into harmful tropes, but Sullivan mainly avoids that by having the character generally just trying to stay alive and eventually coming into her own near the end of Rise of Empire.  Modina is assigned a secretary called Amilia who helps her through who herself is under threat of murder if she cannot keep Modina under the thumb of the empire.  Amilia gets quite a large portion of the point of view, with Thrace being seen from the outside and Modina being treated as a completely new character/personality which has supplanted Thrace.  There is a compassion to Amilia who genuinely wants to help the Empress but cannot and is a good person without any real power.  She is contrasted with Arista, who is essentially a morally grey person in power, leaning towards good, but willing to manipulate to protect those around her and get people to further her (and their) goals.  Arista gets a lot of focus throughout as she leads a revolution in Nyphron Rising, finds herself going against Esrahaddon, her mentor, and even against her brother.  Becoming mayor of a town during the war is one of the sections of the book where Sullivan questions the forms of government of fantasy novels, but she is never portrayed as a despot, mainly because the reader can get into her head.

 

Overall, Rise of Empire is a book who’s title is perfect at explaining what it sets out to examine.  It’s a book which somehow manages to be very much going to entertain while slipping in some of the deeper ideas.  It’s improved on the already great double act of characters by delving into their pasts and what makes them tick while bubbling the tension underneath as imperialism becomes the enemy in the end.  It’s a book about accepting your place and your past and is near perfect popcorn, but also genuinely fulfilling, fantasy.  9/10.