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Rise of Empire  By  cover art

Rise of Empire

By: Michael J. Sullivan
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
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Publisher's summary

Best-selling author Michael J. Sullivan’s mesmerizing Riyria Revelations series has found a welcome home with fans of magic, clashing swords, and daring heroes. This second volume finds Royce and Hadrian on a quest to enlist the southern Nationalists to aid the ever-weakening kingdom of Melengar. Royce suspects an ancient wizard is manipulating them all, but to find the truth he’ll have to decipher Hadrian’s past—a past Hadrian wants to keep secret.

Rise of Empire contains Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm, books 3 and 4 of Riyria Revelations.

©2011 Michael J. Sullivan (P)2012 Recorded Books

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What listeners say about Rise of Empire

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I have loved every minute of it!

I love these books. I am already mourning the loss that I will feel after the next book. It is like losing your best friend or dog! After spending this much time with them I don't want to leave.

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Not sure I’ll listen to the final one

The story is good, but I don’t love it. Truthfully, the narrator’s choices have been wearing - everyone in the book sounds pompous, snide, angry or bored. So, all of the characters are getting in my nerves. To be clear, I think the narrator is quite skilled, I’m just not enjoying the characterizations - could be the writing or the voices. Hard to tell. Sorry.

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  • Overall
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Very enjoyable fantasy adventure

Listened to this series because of the reviews and glad I did. Really enjoyable fantasy adventure. It’s not as dark and gritty as seems popular with some, but a far more classical adventure story. I loved it. Genuine hardship and risk without the drive to ‘subvert expectations’ that can lead to plots or characters making no sense just for the sake of shock. The characters have genuine depth and growth and I’d recommend these books to any fantasy fans.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Thrilling and bit boring

A well written book nonetheless but I did find myself lose interest in it 2/3 of the way in so I do think it could've been shorter. Narration by Tim Reynolds is excellent as usual.

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An incredible second book in the series

Rise of empire sets the bar for what a second book in a series should be.

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Spectacular!!

This is a wonderful series. I listened to all 3 books back to back. The characters pulled me in so much I was crying and laughing out loud. TGR was amazing, he has so many different voices and they are all perfect. I highly recommend getting all three!

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Listen to Tim Gerard Reynolds NOT the “dramatized” version

Tim Gerard Reynolds is a fantastic narrator! I made the mistake of buying dramatized versions which were difficult to follow and less entertaining.

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loved it!

Great book and great narrative! I enjoyed listening to this book and finished it in just few days. Looking forward to listening to the next volume.

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  • Overall
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Michael J Sullivan has me hooked

I can’t get enough of Royce and Hadrian! This should become a mini series on Netflix that way the whole story can be told. Gotta go to start my next book. Lol!

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The performance is excellent

Great second book!! Love to hear it , the performance by Tim was excellent.I recommend this Series to everyone.

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