The anticipation I had for this title was quite high and probably led to me feeling a certain way after I was done with it.
Sullivan's follow-up to Theft of Swords (book 1 in the Riyria Revelations) was high on my radar after I was totally enamored by the first entry in the series. In Rise of Empire, we are again thrown into the world of Royce Melborn and Hadrian Blackwater, two highwaymen who are much more that what they appear to be and the ladies that we were introduced to in the first Arista, and Modina, and we are introduced to Amilia this time around. To give you a 2 cent summary it is almost the plot of the Empire Strikes Back with a slight twist and a few more female characters. There are reviews that I have read which rave about the character development and I agree, there was a lot of that. My major complaint is that is all it really was, I didn't see much originality, I thought it was all character development and little story development. It was predictable and slow and (I listened to the audiobook version) I wanted to turn it off so many times that I lost count. It got to be a slog, like the late/middle volumes of the Wheel of Time books.
I am not saying this is compete garbage as Michael J Sullivan is an awesome writer and I love 90% of what he puts out, but this really didn't do it for me. I don't know, maybe he was spreading things too thin. Too many story lines not enough time to everything squeeze in...too many irons in the fire so to speak.
Just disappointed. The first book of the series was SO GOOD, maybe I was just destined to be disappointed. At best this is a three star for me.
Hopefully volume 3 will right the ship again. ( )

Hadrian and Royce are a great duo, and the world building is good - obviously a lot of places he could go with the world he's set up. Part of the plot rests on characters grabbing the stupid ball, which is a little disappointing. Overall good, though ( )

This was a slow starting series for me, but now I'm hooked on the story and the characters. Immediately went and bought the next one, which is a great sign. ( )

Very nice. Again, big challenges for the protagonists, creative solutions need to be found. That is really fun. ( )

I really loved this. It's certainly as good as the Theft of Swords books, and I'm well into Heir of Novron. I did subtract a star because Rise of Empires leaves too many loose ends, a feeling I didn't have after the first two books (i.e. Theft of Swords). I don't mind a few loose ends, but this time, it just didn't seem -- complete -- for lack of a better word.

Again, I listened to the extraordinary narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds, who brings all the characters to life wonderfully.

I admire the world building in this series, and I love the characters. I would write more to both, but there'd be spoilers, so I have to restrain myself.

Suffice it to say, that the locations are fantastic, and that I love the variety. ( )