4.5 stars. Absolutely incredible. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. So many heartbreaking moments. Michael J Sullivan, thank you for ripping my heart out quite a few times during this book. What an action packed, emotional third book. About to pre-order Age of Legend.

MAJOR SPOILERS coming:

So now that I got my emotions out of the way I wanna go a little more in depth. I thought this was very well written and very fast paced. Age of War combined the best aspects of both Age of Myth(pace and plot) and Age of Swords(character development) into a VERY solid 3rd entry in the Legends of the First Empire series.

Mr. Sullivan does not miss a beat from Age of Swords. From the moment the book begins we as the reader know the stakes are high and the tension continues to build until the final climactic battle.

Mr. Sullivan is not afraid to kill off main characters either. Raithe, the very first person we meet in this series, sacrifices his life to save everyone at Alon Rhist. Arion, mentor to Suri and first Fhrey to truly join the human's side(cause Nyphron is a self serving weasel so I don't count him), is killed in an explosion as she pushes Suri away to save her life. I honestly dont know who is going to survive to the end of this war. None of our main characters feel safe and I love when authors do that.

I actually enjoyed the romances in this one. Especially Moya and Techkin and their snarky relationship. Moya has shown a lot of growth over three books and I look forward to more CD for her.

That leads me to my favorite character Suri. Why does Michael Sullivan hate Suri? I dont know, but I can tell you one thing. She is one of the best examples of bravery and self sacrifice that I have ever seen in a book. She is incredibly selfless. I hope she is able to get back to more of her whimsical self in the coming books. Her character arc has been so cool to watch unfold and I look forward to the rest of it. Shout out to Gifford and Roan for having very interesting and deep character arcs as well. I'm glad Roan is finally growing and leaving Iver behind.

The one tiny issue I had is with the ending. The dragon, don't feel like looking up the actual word for it, felt kind of convenient and repetitive since that is how they saved the day in Age of Swords. But at the same time it made sense that they would do that.

Overall, a very solid entry in Legends of the First Empire and I cant wait for Age of Legend to come out soon!