Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2) in Mythic Scribes

Jul 12, 2011 Michael added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-ve-written, fantasy, the-riyria-revelations, sword-play, fiction, adventure, favorites, magic

I'm the author of this book, so I'm not going to do a rating but I did want to take just a moment to say a few words about what I was trying to do in this book.

For those who don't know, I wrote all six books in the series before publishing any of them (truth be told when I wrote the books I had no intention on publishing at all). This allowed me to weave threads between the books, but I made sure that each title had its own conflict and resolution. My intention was to start small and end big, wi ...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Michael added it · (Review from the author)

Shelves: books-i-ve-written

Those that know me, are aware that I never rate or review my own books. But I do use this space as a way to update you on things that you might find interesting.

Update: 06/04/25 — Theft of Swords on sale for $1.99!

Update: 10/07/23 — Theft of Swords on sale again for $2.99!

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | eBooks

Update: 03/27/20 -- Theft of Swords ebook is on sale for $2.99. I'm not sure if this is just US or not, and I'm not sure how long it will be discounted. So grab your copy soon! More than 22 ...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Katina French rated it it was amazing

I think I'm a little in love with Riyria. Not in a weird, "Twilight moms" kind of way (although I'm sure both Hadrian and Royce are "totally hawt" or whatever the current trying-too-hard hip terminology might be.) I mean I'm in love with this kind of story. I love the swashbuckling action. I love the banter, even if it gets a little anachronistic. Then again, I loved the "Taming of the Shrew" episode of Moonlighting, and I'm pretty sure Bill Shakespeare didn't include a cover of The Rascals "Goo ...more

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Jan 17, 2015 Raavyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, trilogies-series, my-ordered-list, fantasy-trilogies-series, fantasy-to-buy, book-that-pique-my-interest

The short version for now:

I loved this book. I love the dynamics and contrast of the two main characters, Hadrian and Royce. I think Mr. Sullivan did a great job to give a sense of each characters personality.

I really enjoyed the story. I found myself many, many, times so fully engrossed in the story that I didn't even register the things go on around me. Not a bad thing, but at work I had to be careful :-)

The writing, and/or writing style, was light and easy. The style made for a very easy to r ...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, recommended, review, read-2012

‘Theft of Swords’ is the first in Michael J. Sullivan’s series ‘Riyria Revelations’. It actually contains two books, ‘The Crown Conspiracy’ and ‘Avempartha’, because Michael was actually self-published originally. He became successful, took the sales data to publishers and is not published under Orbit (at least in Australia.) He wrote his series in six books originally, and the publisher worked with him to combine the books into three.

While it is still clear that ‘Theft of Swords’ is two books r ...more

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Aug 26, 2012 James Vernon rated it it was amazing

Theft of Swords is an exciting and fun fantasy novel. Basically two stories in one, Theft of Swords mainly follows the adventures of Hadrian and Royce, two jack-of-all-trades that work together to complete a variety of jobs for whoever can afford them. When a job comes up that seems too good to be true, the two set in motion a series of events that place them as well as a few other interesting characters in a plot that could effect everyone in the region. While this might sound like the plot for Theft of Swords is an exciting and fun fantasy novel. Basically two stories in one, Theft of Swords mainly follows the adventures of Hadrian and Royce, two jack-of-all-trades that work together to complete a variety of jobs for whoever can afford them. When a job comes up that seems too good to be true, the two set in motion a series of events that place them as well as a few other interesting characters in a plot that could effect everyone in the region. While this might sound like the plot for a multitude of fantasy novels, the way Sullivan presents the world, characters, and action differentiate it from many of the commonly used fantasy plot points.

Sullivan does a great job of presenting characters that you quickly grow interested and invested in, as I often continued to read on trying to find out what happens next. Some of the most frustrating things about stories of any genre that follow multiple view points is when there is that one character that kills the momentum of the story. In Theft of Swords, that problem never arises. I found all of the characters interesting to follow, including the brief view points of the "bad guys" on occasion, and never felt myself mentally groan when I started a chapter that switched view points. The conversations between the characters are also on point, mixing humor and depth especially between the two main characters.

The world that Sullivan created is equally as in-depth and full of history and quirks as the characters that live in it. Descriptions of locations and conversations about the history of the world between characters never feel like information dumps and help to paint a clear picture of the world that the characters are moving around and exploring. The author puts you in the cities, the country, and the other different locations by painting a clear picture of the locations through his description.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this story and look forward to the opportunity to see how these characters grow in the future novels. ...more

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Feb 26, 2015 Andrew Alderman rated it liked it

This book is somewhat difficult to review. On one hand, I feel like I should complain about its lowbrow prose, but then I had fun reading it.

The book is divided into two books, as they were originally self-published. After the first one, I complained about cliches, juvenile characterization, and monologuing characters, but I still enjoyed reading it. I started the second book, and was just less enthused about it. I eventually picked it back up, finished it, and while those prior complaints are ...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Saeed Sabbagh rated it it was amazing

this book really pulls you in good from start to finnish the relationship between the protagonist is great

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Nov 08, 2012 Chris Conley rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

It took "book one" and "book two" quite seriously, so it was basically its own sequel wrapped up on one novel. I liked the characters, but would have liked to see more build/development early. I actually thought the second part did a better job of that. Good story overall. The secondary characters were all interesting, which helps. ...more

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