Nolyn by Michael J Sullivan is the first novel in The Rise and Fall Series. It is a very well written fantasy novel, full of action and adventure, containing a bit of romance as well. All that this author pens is brilliant. You are sucked into each book from the first word. Absolutely worth a read. The world building is really good that uses things that are familiar and spin them in unexpected ways.
It begin extraordinarily with great opening scenes for both Nolyn and Sephryn, however as the book advanced Nolyn’s scenes appeared to be unrealistic and hurried, and his character came off being both immature and naive for a being of 800 or more years. Maybe that was purposeful as later there is a reference to Nolyn feeling like he was at last turning into a grown-up. At the same point, Sephryn who is approximately his equivalent age appears to be experienced, intelligent and grown up. Nolyn appears to be an inexperienced youngster. But still he’s been a warrior, an administrator and a leader of people for 100s of years.
Most of the story is told from Sephryn and Nolyn POVs, both of whom you get to know fairly fast in the beginning. The chapters have character breaks all through so you get the “real-time” viewpoints of the characters as the story advances. I really like when chapters aren’t 100% centered around one character at a time.
For the first third or so of Nolyn by Michael J Sullivan. I felt like this was a beautiful standard epic fantasy. Nolyn’s and Sephryn’s stories were not actually connected by then and the attention is on their individual lives along with various other side characters. The story was humming along by then when it began to get great. I mean really, great. I can’t give too many details without spoilers. However, I should must say that the story took off out of the blue and I was hooked. The climax was really epic and reminded me again why I keep on reading these Novels.
If you love fantasy I recommend Nolyn by Michael J Sullivan and also his earlier written Books. A must read and collection for every Fantasy collector.
Also Read: All’s Well By Mona Awad
