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Age of Death
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds, Robin Sullivan, Michael J. Sullivan
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
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Age of Death
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Summary
Winter blankets the land, and more than just hope has died. Prevented from invading the Fhrey homeland by the tower of Avempartha, the western army seeks a way across the Nidwalden River before the fane obtains the secret of dragons. As time runs out for both humanity and the mystic Suri, the only chance for the living rests with the dead. Having made their fateful choice, can a handful of misfits do the impossible, or are they forever lost to an inescapable grave? Do gods truly exist? Is it possible to know the future? And what lies beyond the veil of death?
In the tradition of Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Milton’s Paradise Lost, the most epic of tales transcend the world of the living. It’s time to see what lies in Elan’s Age of Death.
From Michael J. Sullivan (New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post best-selling author), comes the second to the last installment in the epic fantasy series, Legends of the First Empire. The series chronicles a pivotal point in Elan’s history when humans rise against the Fhrey who they once saw as gods. Set 3,000 years before the Riyria tales, Legends is a stand-alone fantasy series which is independent of all other Elan stories. That said, if you do listen to the other books, you’ll see lies revealed and the truth about historical figures unmasked.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Poppey
- 31-05-20
....
As it has been a lengthy time since I listened to Book 4, I was pleasantly surprised to find Book 5 picked up where Book 4 ended and I found it quite easy to get back into it.
That said, I can't say I was bowled over by this book as I found it slow, as though it was setting the scene for the final book. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Sam Barker
- 24-05-20
A little disappointing.
I want to state that I really enjoy most of this authors work and also the work of the narrator.
I maybe that I have been listening to slightly faster paced books or books with just funnier/better interactions between the characters recently but I found this book a bit of a slog, which is sad because I really enjoyed the first 3 in the series. I felt the fourth was a bit sluggish and this book didn't change that trend.
the author defends his position for not releasing both books 5 and 6 together but at just over 13 hours, I feel that this really wasn't worth the credit, especially with book 6 being around 16 hours. I have listened to many audiobooks at around 30 hours long and this isnt a problem, nor is a 5 part series rather than a more symmetrical 6 part.
The book has positive aspects, some development of characters and a deep dive in to the lore of the universe but not enough happening to make me really recommend it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jackie Hammond
- 07-02-20
Again Awesome
Tim Reynolds is a fantastic narrator. So glad I don’t have to wait to long for the next and final book. Already know I’ll miss them though. I listen to this book in two days. Well recommend this series.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Swordsman
- 09-05-23
Disappointing
All previous books brilliant - binged on them - this one was difficult to finish. Although the author separated the final books into two to explore the world more, I found it was unnecessarily padded and in some cases repetitive, slowing the pace. But, as I’m now hooked on the series, looking forward to listening to the next.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-04-23
Absolutely epic tale hurtling towards conclusion
When this series started, it created a new world and the characters started to come alive. This book however is the best in terms of detailing the foundation of the world. The best compliment is that it is reminding of Tolkein's world building for the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and the prequels. The author is slowly and steadily sketching a fine painting of the underworld as well. Brilliant narration and excellent pace
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rich88
- 18-04-23
5
I just want to leave a star rating and nothing else 5 5 5
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alan
- 27-02-23
Age of Epicness.
Damn, another brilliant tale, from the Legends of the First Empire, Age of Death is the fifth book, and the author has gone and done it again, leaving us on another intense cliffhanger. I absolutely love the pace at which this book moves along, lots of Easter eggs relating to Riyria series, its action packed, and keeps you hooked from the very first page. I can't say enough good things about this author who has brought this wonderful series to our lives. The way in which Michael J. Sullivan is able to keep you glued to your seat throughout each book is amazing. Not to mention, the attachment he is able to build between the reader and the characters, it really is truly incredible. After Suri is kidnapped by the Fhrey for information, a secret weapon that could win the war once and for all for the Fhrey. A band of misfits, Rhune, Fhrey, and Dherg, are given the task to rescue Suri, but in doing so, they must travel to the afterlife. A lot of powerful players stand in their way of reaching their goal. This series has been excellent from the very beginning. I very highly recommend, Now for the last book Age Of Empyre...😁💙💥⚔️
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dc Nash
- 07-04-21
Such a good series can't wait for final book
Listened over three days. Love these books, look forward to the final book. So many lose ends. How's it going to end.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sean
- 19-05-20
I've just
bought the next instalment, this book is great edge of you're seat stuff, TGR as always brings it to life, now for "Age of Empyre" 😁
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JW
- 31-03-20
Wow.
Just great as always. The story is meticulously crafted and the characters have great depth. Also loved the afterword from his wife!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Suspect
- 06-02-20
Age of Crying
MJS is a good, creative writer. However, his wife, Robin, is clearly both his biggest fan and puppet master who governs his creativity. And her influence here is as clear as the stars on a clear and frigid winter night. Essentially, she‘s revived the characters and some parts of the story from MJS’s great original trilogy (see books 1-3) and molded them into a clichéd YA love story. There are no battle scenes, every single main character cries multiple multiple times about some love-related nonsense, there’s a heck of a lot of whining, and absolutely zero logicality or sense of order to the many and various storylines.
Age of Death is a mess. Three stars, only because of the MJS and TJR combo. In good faith I cannot recommend this book to anyone over the age of 17.
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70 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Nathan Michaels
- 18-02-20
1/3 of a Book
I don't even want to waste the words. I am livid. This book, also does not finish a story.
There are two types of people in the world, those that loved the last season of Game of thrones, and those that realized it lacked a complete narrative and disliked it in varying degrees. If you liked pretty dragons and just want to see read about cool heroes, this won't effect you. The latter folk will hate this book for bating and switching.
There are so many scenes in this novel, like the last, that with proper editing could be tightened up. I am convinced, more than anything, that this series is being stretched for profit.
This series initially was 4 books. For some type of cashgrab the last book was broken up into 3 books. There doesn't need to be 3 books. Honestly, halfway through we were following Perstephanie in scenes that felt like they wasted time, as she doesn't reappear for the remainder of the book. I noted those scenes, because if you take them out, you miss nothing of the book.
TO say i am furious is an understatement. So either this is a cashgrab or inept editing. These cliffhangers aren't cliffhangers, These books are ending literally in the middle of unresolved plots with no other plot being resolved.
Spoiler
At the end of this book Sirie is still trapped inthe elf city, the heroes are still in the abyss (and once again appear to have been dead) and nothing has resolved. Dragons apparently are in the main world but there's no narrative part that leads to this . (fake cliffhanger).
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46 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Nathan
- 15-02-20
cash grab?
Age of Death starts out with MLJ painstakingly explaining why they're 6 books. "Font to small, line spacing too tight" and "felt lopsided" was some of the justification as to why the book number increase. Naturally he didn't mention the huge monetary benefits of so many short books for those interested in completing the series. Had he saved this long winded, incomplete, explanation till the end of the book, it would have been less jarring. This book and the last book felt especially short. Reminded me of the hobbit movie that was needlessly extended into 3 parts. Book itself was entertaining and i'm a sucker for the [full] story. However, the story is questionable worth 15 USD ( x6 .. ). Hopefully his next series has less books and more complete stories (as opposed to 1/3rd stories)
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34 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Ron
- 28-02-20
Near Pointless Info Dump
Up to this point I've thought this series was great. One of the best I've ever read. I was a little iffy on the Age of Legend, but hopeful. This is a disappointment though and I have no idea where it's going from this point. Not in a good way either.
Almost nothing actually happened in this book. It mostly served as a massive info dump on the world's backstory.When it wasn't discussing the world building it was mostly padding. I lost count of the time spent informing each and every single character walking through the underworld that nothing is real. If even half of it was cut out I think it would knock around an hour off the run time, if not more. After a while it almost felt like the author thought I might be an idiot. Strangely that's how a lot of the characters are starting to act.
SPOLERS from here down;
There are so many strange things and interactions.
The dwarf Rain's only purpose of joining them was to find a woman he's dreamed about forever. He finally comes face to face with her and reacts like he has no idea who they are, even on the slightly hostile side. This was his life's goal and it's like he forgot. It's also highly anticlimactic. Turns out it's just a lady who can see the future. She says he's going to be a king and he will 100% survive every coming event. It's so poorly executed... It also brings up the issue that Rain, along with Brin, now can not be used to danger bait. Since he becomes a king for sure, and Brin clearly released her book by the chapter interludes, you know neither can come to any real harm. They are in no danger.
Moya find out she's been in love with murder and just cool with it. Tekchin helped wipe out two entire villages, kicking off an entirely unnecessary war. and somehow they have the audacity to be annoyed with Tesh, Hundreds upon hundreds of deaths were caused by this and Tesh is the only one who cares and he gets hate for it. Bafling.
There are more examples, but there are some just random, nonsensical scenes too. A giant army is hunting them down, then a giant snake thing blocks their path. Rain has a sudden digging competition with the snake thing while the army is advancing, and it just leaves... not brought up again... and then the whole group abandons Tesh for no real reason. Just leave him to get captured and tortured.
Also apparently Nefrel (hell) is just a place of eternal war. That's fine, but there are two factions, one lead by a God, and the other just some 'heroes' who died. The heroes talk about their goal of bringing the god down, etc. etc. but when she appears at the battle they just give up. It makes no sense... I can't accurately explain just how bad it is in this box there are so many weird flaws, though processes, and writing.
The problem I had before with the other books is back with avengeance too. Holding scenes. Have you ever asked how many different ways can one person tell another person to run and leave them behind? How many ways can that person say no? If so you're in luck. He explores every single last one of those possibilities in a single scene that drags on to the point of me thinking about skipping ahead because I don't care anymore and I hope they get overrun for wasting time. It happened a few times in the other books, but he ramped it up here.
It also end literally the same way the previous book did. They are in the underworld after dying, so what happens on their long journey through basically Purgatory and Hell? They fall into "The Abyss"... So they essentially die in the land of the dead again since "no one comes back from that fall". Not to mention this is all a waste of time since Suri The Mystic doesn't need to be rescued anymore.Even if she had needed it they'd have been far too late with how long all of this had taken. They sit down to multiple cups of tea and story times while their friend could be dying by brutal torture for all they know...
There's more, but you get the idea. I'm going to finish the series, but this is not a good start to the end. It's quite bad actually.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 07-02-20
Boring
I tried to like this book but I feel this is a dragged out story and this book serves no purpose.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- dianaciotta
- 18-02-20
Unhappy
Sry but the first 3 books made me fall in love with it all and then i dont know what happend just dosent hold any sway over my hart or imaginatio maybe because I know how it will end Boeing
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Andrew M.
- 15-03-20
Age of Nothing Happens
This book could have easily been combined in prior and following books. Nothing happens. Characters act in bizarre ways that are contrary to everything we know about them. There is almost no conflict throughout of the whole book. When there is, it is nearly instantly resolved in the most un-satifying manor and without any significant explanation. This book does not live up to the quality we are used to from MJS.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Justin Philhower
- 05-02-20
Excellent
The marriage of Sullivan’s writing and Reynolds’s narration continues to be a special pairing. I personally found Suri’s storyline in this book to be as compelling as anything MJS has ever published, almost to the detriment of the other storylines since impatience crept in whenever MJS left her.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Isaac
- 08-02-20
Not my favorite- but great world building
I count down the days to when a MJS book comes out because I have always known it will be a new favorite. Unfortunately, this isn’t one. His last two books have felt rushed and they lack the mysteries and “aha” moments I loved with previous books. In the first 3 books of the series, all of the characters were growing and evolving but the last 2 have felt more like moving pieces from location to location without the emotional maturity we normally expect.
MJS did not disappoint when it came to building the world! The back story of the immortals and all of the levels of the underworld were fascinating and it was those moments that kept me engaged.
Knowing these 2 books are part of a 3 book arc, I am looking forward to the last book to see what the conclusion will be!
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Skipper
- 25-02-20
nonsensical waste of time
Sorry to say, I could barely finish this book. It is a mess. And it felt totally unnecessary. Any key info could have been summarized in prior book. Filler, anyone?
Given the opportunity to describe the afterlife / purgatory I would not — could not — dream up this bizarre ball of dreariness. It’s just all over the place.
It felt like pointless, make-believe nonsense.
And like its predecessor, it ends on a cliff.
Ps. Great narration
Pss. I cannot comment on the cliff notes at the end. I skipped that part.
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7 people found this helpful