Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria series review

The adventure of an elven lifetime

August 9, 2025

Categorization: Fantasy

Where read: Kindle

If you have been reading my last few posts, you will notice that I have been harping on missing a certain trend in Fantasy novels right now… and that trend is starting-on-a-journey type Fantasy. The Hobbit-style.

As I was about to embark on a good month-long holiday, my subconscious must have picked up on my craving and started sifting (shopping my stash?) through my Kindle library for something that would scratch that itch. It also wisely picked up a story that spans several books and would last me long days of waking up late with my coffee, chilling out after eating too much, extended airport layovers and of course, plane boredom.

(as an aside, did the inventor of the Kindle ever get a Nobel Prize? I can’t think of any piece of technology that has improved my quality of life as much as this half-pound gem that carries my entire library and the ability to buy whatever my heart desires at a click of a button)

Anyway… (ducks tomatoes thrown at me for any halfway compliment aimed in Jeff Bezos’ general direction. Facts is facts!)

So I proceeded to read Michael J. Sullivan’s Riyria series for the second time. I recall I had picked this series up during the pandemic and enjoyed it very much. I also recall dropping it in the middle, and I think that was because the final book in The Riyria Chronicles had not come out yet at the time. As I could no longer recall any of it, it was about time for a re-read.

And while this unassuming series that I have not seen in any bookstores lately was not exactly the start-on-a-journey adventure that I was looking for, it scratched my itch and then some. Why, you may ask?

Because Michael J. Sulllivan managed to hit the very core of why people read Fantasy. He built a wonderful, expansive world that people want to be in. He created characters people want to meet. He can make the mundane, small, but important story points into immersive grand adventures, and he makes the epic scenes so brilliant and alive that it sweeps one away completely. This series has a rollicking irreverent quality that just makes it so darn fun to read. It kind of reminds me of The Belgariad, and The Tales of the Underdark, in a way. Less of a start-on-a-journey adventure, but adventuresome journeys are definitely going to be had by all so it almost doesn’t matter.

Non-spoiler synopsis – His main characters Royce and Hadrian are misfit partner-thieves and ne-er-do-wells who, in the course of their small time capers, blunder into matters much bigger than they bargained for. There, nuff said. Don’t read this book on the back of this deliberately vague description. Read it for the way that Sullivan takes you on a grand adventure with unlikely but believable heroes. Read it for the small, heartwarming moments of their friendship, for the exciting battles (nearly Brandon Sanderson-level, these battles are), the wonderful way he pulls the threads of different character’s stories together, and for all the funny moments that would make me suddenly laugh out loud in the middle of the airport.

(minor spoilers in this paragraph) And the way Michael J. Sullivan world-builds, I have to say, gets better and better with every book. His succinct but colorful descriptions of the places where his characters journey are terribly fun to immerse oneself in. Hadrian and Royce travel to an elven forest (my favorite!) aka Dragon Age style. They go to cold, desolate places God-of-War style. They potter around deliciously corrupt and busy towns (basically… every RPG ever made!). They end up in the Underdark (you know it!) and they find themselves in a jungle fighting a band of warriors Final Fantasy-style! There is this one battle which is probably my favorite scene in the entire series, where they and their unwitting sidekicks end up fighting a group of goblins consisting of a mage, a tank, a ranger, and an assassin. This lovely homage to gaming made me want to hug Sullivan from sheer glee. During moments like this and so many more I am simply unable to put the book down. I am on a Fantasy holiday during my real-life holiday and sometimes would rather go fight some templar-assassins in my head than say, go on a wine-tasting. You know, normal adult behavior.

And the thing about this series is that it is not just about the adventures of these two main character energies (did I say that correctly?). In the small moments that make up the stage for the epicness of epic Fantasy, Sullivan makes you revel in the fact that his story is about so much more than hack and slash antics. It is also about how someone rises to power physically and mentally, the triumph of overcoming economic adversity with nothing but your bare hands, courage, and friendship, and what real chivalry means. I don’t want to go into more specifics than that for fear of spoiling some of my favorite parts for future readers, but trust me, these side-companion storylines are fully-fleshed out “quests” in this series. There will be times where you will find yourself, for example, fully invested in whether or not a destitute woman is able to get a permit in a mayor’s office. What the heck! I found myself reading Sullivan’s narration of what is in essence pages and pages about graft and bureaucracy and found myself hanging onto every word as if it was a Brandon Sanderson-Kaladin description of a spear fight. I actually groaned when the chapter ended and I was unwillingly ported back to Royce and Hadrian’s escapades again. Now that is powerful writing. Sullivan is, if anything, a man with a story to tell, and with his pen he hammers out every nook and cranny of his world as if he were a dwarf on a mission.

A last but not unimportant word about Sullivan’s series – he has finished it. That means you can fully immerse in the story and know that you are going to get closure at the end. I mean, need I say more? There are plenty of series that are equal or superior in certain respects to this series, but without the closure that comes with an ending, or even knowing whether you will ever get closure, it limits one’s enjoyment of the Fantasy built.

Oh, a last thing, don’t make the same mistake I made. I think Riyria Revelations was written before the Riyria Chronicles, but the story chronologically starts with the Riyria Chronicles (1-5) and then ends with Riyria Revelations (6-8):

1. The Crown Tower

2. The Rose and the Thorn

3. The Death of Dulgath

4. The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter

5. Drumindor

6. Theft of Swords

7. Rise of Empire

8. Heir of Novron

I think you will find it much more enjoyable reading it in this order. Based on Wikipedia, there are also some short stories interspersed between 1-5 above and you can find them on the "Riyria Chronicles" Wikipedia page, but I haven't read them.

A last word to Michael J. Sullivan, I will basically read whatever you write, so please never stop.

riyria series review