Michael J. Sullivan AMA 2019

Hi Michael,

It seems like I missed another AMA!!!

First, let me say that the last chapter to Age of Legends was... I can't even find the words. It's one of those scenes that will stick with your forever.

Also, I don't think it was a cliffhanger since it's clear what will happen next, at least the broad strokes.

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Mine isn't a question, but a minor criticism. As much as I love your work, I do find that some of your characters are coming off as somewhat one dimensional or just hard to believe to be a real person. I want to stress "some" because the majority of your characters are fantastically well fleshed out and believable.

Let's start with the ones I are well rounded and realistic:

  1. Arista: pretty much the perfect fantasy female protagonist. Both her capabilities and limitations are believable. She's not battling down dragons with a claymore while wearing magical plate armor, and she's also not some super secret ninja assassin. She's a formerly spoiled princesses doing her best, often failing, but still trying.
  2. Alric: character evolution done right. He starts out as a spoiled prince (as most princes tend to be) but matures, evolves and ultimately sacrifices himself in a kingly manner. I'd like to have seen he live to the end but...
  3. Brin: about as believable of a female character as I've ever seen. Her roller coaster of emotions at the end of Age of Legends was one of the best scenes in fantasy, or literature, as I've ever read.

And now the ones that I felt were 1-dimensional or just hard to believe:

  1. Modina/Thrace: her rather sudden transformation from illiterate farm girl to emotionally paralyzed trauma survivor to political mastermind empress is a bit hard to swallow. I hesitate to use the term "Mary Sue" but...
  2. Moya: is where I don't hesitate to use the term Mary Sue. She masters archery in a few days while using a primitive bow. And she can accurately shoot from a chariot on her first try, all without anyone to teach her. That's like learning Greek and Latin over the weekend.
    I understand that this is a fantasy book and we're expected to suspend disbelief, but archery and chariot riding are both real world practices. Moya is also a regular real world based human. So I don't think the fantastical nature of the genre covers it.
    Otherwise, I love her character. Her headstrong nature is the perfect contrast with Persephone's cautious wisdom. Her verbal barbs with Tressa bring some much needed humor.
  3. Hadrian: this is the big one. He's just too one-dimensional. That dimension is being perfect. Despite his violent past, the man is a paragon everything good and positive. I can't recall a point where this characterization slips. I understand that this was to contrast with Royce, but it would have been nice to see the roles flipped for once. As it is now, I can't find a single negative thing to say about Hadrian as a man, and I feel that's not a good thing for a fictional character.

Again, I want to be clear that I love 99.99% of your books. I wait eagerly for each one. They're the best I've read in the genre, bar none.

/r/Fantasy Thread