Discovering Michael J Sullivan
I’ve seen Michael J Sullivan books around the book community online and locally for years now. According to goodreads, I first added The Crown Tower to my shelf in January of 2014, though I think I had heard of the Riyria books (and had them recommended to me) before that. But it wasn’t until June of this year that I finally picked up one of his books. That book was Age of Myth. And that was just the beginning.
Since picking up Age of Myth, I have read Age of Swords (the real catalyst behind this sudden obsession), the Riyria Revelations series, and begun the Riyria Chronicles. I have nearly caught up with Sullivan’s backlog of books. In less than two months. Yes, they are that good. And yes, you should read them.
As a writer, there are many things that I hope to learn from reading Sullivan’s work. First and foremost on that list is writing compelling characters. His novels have some of the best characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading. They each have strengths and weaknesses, pasts full of shadows and demons, and I can’t help but love them all for these things. Or hate them. It really depends on what you should feel toward the character. They just seem so very real. So, as a writer and as a reader, his characters are at the top the list for why his books are so compelling.
His plotting probably follows just behind character. In the beginning of the Riyria books I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of them. I had a lot of fun, but they seemed more like lighthearted adventure stories than anything else. Which is fine, but not really what I expected. But with each new book in the series something else was uncovered. All of the small things that seemed insignificant before suddenly had meaning. And it was really beautiful to watch it unfold.
I hope that I can learn something from Sullivan’s writing that will help me with my own. The best way to learn is to take lessons from those who do something right.
If you haven’t read Michael J Sullivan yet and you are at all interested in fantasy novels, then you should pick them up. They would be a great introduction to high fantasy for those worried about the genre being “over my head” in some way as well, because they are told in a very accessible way and have a lot of similarities with the real world.
If you have any authors to recommend, I would love to hear about them. It’s always a great feeling to find an author you love and I hope to find many more.
