Age of Death

Winter lies over the land, and the western human army is stuck. The tower of Avempartha blocks its way into the Fhrey homeland, so the army looks for a way over the Nidwalden River. Time is short, because the fane is close to obtaining the secret of dragons.

The mystic Suri are running out of time too, and so is humanity. The only chance left for the living rests with the dead. A handful of misfits have made their choice, and the book asks whether such a group can manage what looks impossible or will be lost for good.

This is epic fantasy with a mythic turn. The story moves beyond the world of the living, in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost. Its questions are large ones: whether gods exist, whether the future can be known, and what lies past the veil of death.

Age of Death by Michael J. Sullivan is the second to last book in the Legends of the First Empire series, set in Elan. The series follows the period when humans rise against the Fhrey, whom they once regarded as gods.

It takes place 3,000 years before the Riyria tales and stands apart from other Elan stories. Readers who know those other books will find lies revealed and historical figures shown in a different light.