Nolyn by Michael J. Sullivan

Nolyn by Michael J. Sullivan

This novel shows why the back of the book blurb is so important. It can whet your appetite for the novel, but it can also set you up for disappointment. That’s what happened to me with Nolyn. The blurb set me up for an exciting fantasy military adventure—and there’s enough of that there that I was glad I read it. But it was also misleading, because in the first sixty or seventy percent of the novel, roughly two-thirds of the prose was devoted to a storyline focused on a woman whose child has been kidnapped—and that really wasn’t military at all. It wasn’t a bad storyline, but I resented it because in tone and style it was nothing that I had been led to expect in this book.

 

That being said, the last third is great—truly interesting—as are the opening chapters on the military problem. It’s an interesting book and I’m ultimately glad I read it, even if I feel a little misled by the blurb.