Robert Natuk
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
I have really enjoyed listening to your Legends of the First Empire and look forward to the 6th book coming soon! I wanted to start listening to your Riyria books and I was wondering if you could recommend which books to start with and the chronological order to follow with? You have become one of my favorite authors along with Robert Jordan, Michael Wisehart, Terry Mancour, Brandon Sanderson and R.A. Salvadore!
Michael J. Sullivan
Why thank you, Robert! I'm glad you have been enjoying the stories, and I'm honored to be one of your favorite authors (especially given the company you have put me in).
For the Riyria books - you can read in either publication order (starting with Theft of Swords (which contains two books The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha) or chronologically with The Crown Tower. I personally prefer order of publication for a number of reasons...
1. It's the way I "designed" for people to be introduced into my work and my characters.
2. It's a better value as each "volume" is two books in one.
3. After reading Revelations, you'll see a number of "Easter eggs" in Chronicles (nothing critical to the stories, just little winks and nods to "people in the know.
4. Revelations is a completed series and all the books were written before the first one wa published which makes for, imho, a very satisfying conclusion.
About the only downside in going this order is my unusual approach to writing (which was to start simply and add complexity and delve deeper with each book. Writing this way made each book better than the last, but that also means the first is the weakest of the series. Also, being my first published books The Crown Conspiracy isn't nearly as polish as day The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter (which was written nearly a decade later). I keep working at constant improvement and the book I just finished writing (Farilane) is by far my best book but it is also the 29th I've written!
All that said, I hear from many people who take the chronological route and claim that IS THE BEST way to read them. That pleases me to no end because one of the major goals of Chronicles was to make it so both approaches are enjoyable.
If you try them out, let me know the order you went with and whether you liked your choice!
For the Riyria books - you can read in either publication order (starting with Theft of Swords (which contains two books The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha) or chronologically with The Crown Tower. I personally prefer order of publication for a number of reasons...
1. It's the way I "designed" for people to be introduced into my work and my characters.
2. It's a better value as each "volume" is two books in one.
3. After reading Revelations, you'll see a number of "Easter eggs" in Chronicles (nothing critical to the stories, just little winks and nods to "people in the know.
4. Revelations is a completed series and all the books were written before the first one wa published which makes for, imho, a very satisfying conclusion.
About the only downside in going this order is my unusual approach to writing (which was to start simply and add complexity and delve deeper with each book. Writing this way made each book better than the last, but that also means the first is the weakest of the series. Also, being my first published books The Crown Conspiracy isn't nearly as polish as day The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter (which was written nearly a decade later). I keep working at constant improvement and the book I just finished writing (Farilane) is by far my best book but it is also the 29th I've written!
All that said, I hear from many people who take the chronological route and claim that IS THE BEST way to read them. That pleases me to no end because one of the major goals of Chronicles was to make it so both approaches are enjoyable.
If you try them out, let me know the order you went with and whether you liked your choice!
More Answered Questions
Lottie
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Is the planning stage of writing the most challenging? Or is trying to get the ideas into a fully formed story more difficult? I imagine the planning for the Cycle series must be a huge task!! Thank you so much for your work - I'm new to your books and already love them so much! I'm so glad my friend recommended them. And I don't think I could ever get bored of Royce and Hadrian! Thanks again :)
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