Wintertide by Michael J Sullivan

Wintertide (Riyria Revelations, Book 3, Part 1)

by Michael J. Sullivan

Note: Wintertide has been replaced by Heir of Novron a two-book Omnibus edition that contains both Wintertide and Percepliquis.

A FORCED WEDDING. A DOUBLE EXECUTION. TWO THIEVES HAVE OTHER PLANS.
The New Empire intends to celebrate its victory over the Nationalists with a day that will never be forgotten. On the high holiday of Wintertide the empress will be married. Degan Gaunt and the Witch of Melengar will be publically executed. Then the empress will suffer a fatal accident leaving the empire in the hands of the new emperor. It will be a perfect day. There is only one problem-Royce and Hadrian have finally found the lost heir.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Instead of a string of sequels The Riyria Revelations is a fantasy series conceived as a single epic tale divided into individual self-contained episodes. All were written before the first was released so that plot elements are intertwined, yet each book has its only story and conclusion.

Reviewed by thepunktheory on

5 of 5 stars

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Full review on my blog!

Wintertide has such an interesting dynamic! We get to follow both Hadrian and Royce separately which is pretty much the first time in the series. We learn some more about Royce’s past and my heart just keeps breaking over and over again for him. I just want hug him – which probably means he’d murder me, which to be honest I find quite relatable.

But it’s not just my two precious little nuggets that make this story so awesome. There are so many intriguing side characters! I know I’ve been talking about how great all the ladies are a million times, but it’s not just them. One I didn’t mention before is Myron who is just like a little puppy that I want to pet so bad. Sir Breckton is equally amazing. He’s perfect but not in an annoying way. It’s just so well written!

Even the bad guys are intriguing. They are evil and you just want to hate them. Sullivan does a good job providing even them with some depth so that you can hate them in layers! Believe me, you will hate them – especially after this ending. I had seen it coming from the very start but it still shattered my heart into a million tiny little pieces. Make sure you have some tissues at hand when you’re reading this one!

Another thing I appreciate about Sullivan is how he managed to never let his side plots travel too far from where we started and how neatly he managed to bring everything together. How brilliantly he managed to converge everything just in time for the final book!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 26 June, 2021: Finished reading
  • 26 June, 2021: Reviewed