Age of Myth
core novel 2016 Riyria / Legends of the First Empire
Record
| First published | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.22 (42,520 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 432 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781101965351 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Age of Myth opens the Legends of the First Empire series in a world where humans, called Rhunes, have worshipped the Fhrey as invulnerable, immortal gods and sole masters of magic for untold generations. That assumption shatters when Raithe, a warrior of the Rhune clan, kills the Fhrey Shegon in vengeance for his father's death, becoming known as the God Killer. Joined by Malcolm, a former slave with his own secrets, Raithe flees the wrath of the Fhrey while news of a god's death spreads and destabilizes the fragile peace between the two peoples. Among the Rhunes, the widow Persephone struggles to hold her clan together, while the young mystic Suri, guided by her wolf companion Minna, senses that older, stranger forces are stirring. As Fhrey lords debate how to respond, humans and Fhrey alike are drawn toward a widening conflict neither side can easily undo.
Where it sits
- Universe: Riyria / Legends of the First Empire
- Series: Legends of the First Empire core; position 1 of 6 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Michael J. Sullivan
Awards (verified)
- Readers' Choice Awards (Fantasy), 2016: nominated; Reader-nomination round (semifinalist); did not win. Winner: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Notes
- From the series record (Legends of the First Empire): 6-novel series (2016-2020) set ~3,000 years before the Riyria universe; per the author's own framing, requires no prior Riyria knowledge. Publication switched mid-series from traditional publishing (Del Rey/Penguin Random House, books 1-3) to self-publishing (Sullivan's own Riyria Enterprises LLC + Grim Oak Press, books 4-6, all Kickstarter-funded); the author has stated this let him release the final three books within a 10-month span rather than Del Rey's annual cadence.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Legends of the First Empire: position 1 of 6: next Age of Swords (2017)
- Internal chronology, within Riyria / Legends of the First Empire: position 2 of 20: previous The Crown Tower (2013) · next The Rose and the Thorn (2013)
Sources
← Riyria / Legends of the First Empire dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.