Oh, and before I go any further, let me state for the record how much I enjoyed the masterful way that Michael spun the tale. Yes, dear, I said masterful, but don’t get a swollen head. What I’m referring to are the early mentions of (a) Audrey, (b) losing your soul if you break Ferrol’s Law, and (c) how important it is for the dead to reach Phyre. It wasn’t until I re-read the book that I noticed how these things come full circle. I tip my hat to you, dear husband. I knew I was wise to snatch you up when I did.
Okay, other likes. I adored every scene where we were inside Arvis Dyer’s head. The way her scrambled mind thought, the bravery she exhibited when Death pays a visit, and her courage to fend off the foes in the sewers to save Nurgya were all favorites of mine. Please do me a favor, go back and reread the first two paragraphs of chapter ten. The opening of the scene is beautiful and heartbreaking.
Another favorite aspect of mine was the camaraderie of the men-at-arms that are the Seventh Sik-Aux. Jerel’s unrestrained devotion to Nolyn, Amicus’s initially skeptical view of his new commander that bloomed into shared respect, and even the comic relief of Smirch made me look forward to the scenes when we returned to this band of brothers.
And then there were the surprises! To be honest, I didn’t expect to see Malcolm. And I completely missed all the clues during the scene with the bakers. In fact, when Mawyndulë first mentioned that Seymour’s name was obvious—I, too, was taken in. I thought to myself, Why didn’t I suspect this all-too-convenient monk. And then I was proven wrong when Malcolm dropped the bow string to Sephryn.
While it may seem odd, one of my favorite parts of this book is that things didn’t go the way Malcolm planned. I’m a massive fan of the old television show Quantum Leap, where Sam Becket is “striving to put right what once went wrong,” and that is Malcolm in a nutshell. If everything always worked out for him, this series wouldn’t be nearly as interesting. But Michael upped his game in this book by showing us that even Malcolm can trip and fall. And my husband broke my heart by making Sephryn pay the price for Malcolm’s shortcomings.
Speaking of which, I know from my interactions with the beta readers that Sephryn’s fate is a disappointment to some. But I have a different perspective. First, I think she, Nolyn, and Nurgya will have hundreds of bliss-filled years together. Also, Sephryn is like me in that we are happiest when we have goals to strive toward and positive results come from our efforts. I see a lot of potential for that in her new role as empress, so that gives me hope. But I also know that Michael is a “happily ever after” kind of guy, and I’m confident he has some tricks up his sleeve. And, no, this isn’t a carrot I’m dangling because of things I know about privately. It’s just that after forty-two years, I know how Michael thinks, and we are both romantics at heart. But even if I’m wrong about that, another book of Michael’s has taught me that people who have broken Ferrol’s law can still have a happy existence filled with purpose and fulfillment even if that means finding it on the face of Elan rather than in Phyre.
While we are on the subject of Sephryn, I should mention that just because I’m not singing her praises doesn’t mean I didn’t like her. On the contrary, I enjoyed her quite a bit. But as I already mentioned, we are a lot alike, so it’s awkward for me to say too much about her.
Now for my one gripe: Moya. The first time I met her in Age of Myth, I wasn’t impressed. To me, she was a “pretty girl with a cheeky mouth,” who I had seen before. In many ways, I thought of her as a throwaway character. But then came Age of Swords, and Michael changed my entire perspective (something he has done on multiple occasions, so I shouldn’t have been surprised). Anyway, after one particular scene, she became one of my favorites of all time. Because of my love for Moya, I wanted her and Sephryn to be close. In many ways, they are, but not how I wanted them to be. I wasn’t fond of how Michael portrayed my beloved Moya in this book, and even though what we saw was “Moya as seen through Sephryn’s eyes,” I hope new readers don’t get the wrong impression. From a story perspective, I know why Michael made the choices he did, but I still wish I could have convinced him for some changes.
While I wasn’t able to influence the book in that particular case, there are places where my feedback did result in alterations. One of the cool things about writing an afterword is providing a behind-the-scenes peek into the creative process, so I’d like to share one of those now. In the original version, Trilos was in Seymour’s body from page one. When I discovered this, it “tainted” my early impressions of the monk. What I saw as a genuine and sincere person turned out to be a deceptive and manipulative cretin, and that didn’t sit well with me. After much debate, Michael conceded that I could have my well-loved monk and that Trilos would take over “at some point,” but he left the time of transition vague and untold. As a reader’s advocate, I thought some would feel they had been the victim of a bait and switch, so Michael eventually added the scene where we see Trilos step in.
That illustrates just one of the thousands of decisions made during the creation process. Ultimately, how much you enjoy a book depends on how often you agree with the author’s choices, and I hope that in the case of Nolyn, it’s more often than not.
Well, my time is up. I sincerely hope you’ll return to Elan for the release of Farilane in the summer of 2022. It’s one of Michael’s favorite books and for many valid reasons. For now, I’ll bid my adieu by saying thank you for the continued fantastic support. Michael and I will keep working hard to provide you with the best stories we can.
Robin Sullivan
April 20, 2021
Kickstarter Backers
Our eternal thanks go out to the following people (and to those who chose not to be recognized publicly), for being patrons of the arts and making the hardcover editions of this book possible by pre-ordering through our Kickstarter project.
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Donna A. • Eric A. • Katrina & Hunter A. • MC Abajian • Asher “Smasher” Abbott • Paxton Hoang Abbott • Kyla Abbuhl • Chuck Abdella • Sara Abis • Abou C.Z. • Anna “Claire Christine” Abraham • B. Abrams • Therese Abrams • Abraxas • Iris Achmon-Klein • Josh Acocella • Mitchell Acton • Adam, Lini & Haku • Andrew J. Adams • Colin Adams • Emily “Missy Boo” Adams • Frederick Adams • Jennifer Lee Adams • Josh Adams • Rob Adams • Sam Adams • Scott Adams & Randy Furr • Laura L. Adelaide • Michael & Heather Adelson • Adib • Anna Adler • Daniel Adler • Julie Adley • Scott Adley • Lee A. Adolfson • Svetoslav Agafonkin • Mark Agnello • Joseph W. Aguiar • Paulo J. Aguiar • Kawika Aguilar • Eddy & Rebecca Aguirre • Matthew Brian Aguirre • Dani & Kelly Ahern • Jeff Ahlstedt • James & Diana Aiken • Noah Kate Aikens • Ashley Akers • Khaldoun Al-Qaysi • Alfonso Albarran • Dan Alber • Andrew Alderman • Michael Alerich • Alex • Scott A. Alexander • Heather Aley • Kristel Alger • Rehman Ali • AliiKatt • Alis & Dave • Harrison Alldred • Cody L. Allen • Julie Marie Allen • Kurt Allen • Shawn Allen • Stuart Allen & Lorri Stone • Jacob T. Allenstein • Mark Ivan Mandap Almariego • Thomas Almores • Sami Almudaris • Salim Alowais • Brett Alstad • Emmie Alston • Jesselyn Alvarez • Barrak Alwazzan • Alwin • Amber & Charles • Ameneni • With love to my son, Ben Ames-Robinson • Shreyas Amrutkar • Jan Anderegg • Brian Anderson • Carol Beth Anderson • Colin A. Anderson • David M. Anderson • Julie Anderson • Kris Anderson • Nathan Alan Anderson • Scott Anderson • Sean Anderson • Thomas Alan Anderson • Troy Anderson • William Anderson • For Elin Anne Anderssen, may she love these books like her Nan does • David & Braden Andre • Andrea • Andrea, Jacob, Zack, Josh & Noah • Becky Andreasen • Cindy Andresen • Dan Andrews • Dennis Andrews • Jerome P. Anello • Jacek Aninowski • Catrina Ankarlo • Shu Ann • Abigail Annand • Anon • Summer Applebaum • Paul Aquino • Rodrigo Aranda • Ricardo Araujo • Devon Archer • Joaquin Antonio I. Arcilla • David Arcuri • Caitlyn Arizmendi • M.H. Armour • Alec & Caressa Armstrong • CCM Armstrong • The Armstrong Famil
y • Jonathan Armstrong • Matt Armstrong • Wesley Armstrong • Larea Arnett • Jordan Arnold • Malc Arnold • Mona Arora • Andrew Arrow • Ivan P. Tamayo Arteaga • The Ashbay Family • Quint Ashburn • Dyrk Ashton • Debra Astin • Astridd • Chad Atchison • Dagny Athena • The Atkinson Family • KennyMac Attack • Jocelyn Au-Yeung • Brent Auble • Jon Auerbach • Marco Auger • Devan Ausiello • Ava, Bina & Josh • Matt Avella • Marcus William Avery • Keoni & Lindsay Avilla • Axels • Megan & RJ Ayres • Arya Azarshahy • For my family, Rachel, Molly, Talyn & Abby Azzinaro
— B —
Brian B. • Dan B. • Dina B. • Eivind B. • Elise B. • Justin B. • Kurtis B. • Marius B. • Richard B. • Rob & Jill B. • Michael Babb • Kerri Babbitt • Nathan Bacon • Tracy Bacon • Robert Baeten • Chris Bailey • Kelvin Bailey • Keri & Patrick Bailey • Koda Bear & Wolf Bailey • Michael Bailey • Chris Baima • Cameron & Isaac Baird • Jeffrey Baker • Anand Bakshi • Mrinal Singh Balaji • Linda Balder • Meghan Ball • Nick Ballway • Baloo, Scout, & K • Nic Baltas • Gemma Banks • Preston Bannard • Callum Barber • Joshua Barber • Heather Barcomb • Yasmine Barghouty • Logan Barker • Caleb Barley • Aaron & John Barlow • Maria Barna • Bryan M. Barnard • Kathryn “Kat” Barnard • Barndoor1954 • Dan Barnes • Robert Barnes • Laurel Barnet • David Barnett • Allen Barnhill • Josh Barratt • Ger Barrett • Joel Barrett • Maura Barrett • Nolan Barrett • John W. Barron • C. L. Bartley • Lara Barton • Michael Jonathan Basaldella • Priscilla Basilio • Dave Bass • Wes Batcheller • Dotsy & Barrett Bates • Matt & Diana Batten • Berta Batzig • Marc Baudry • Jörg Baumann • Stefan Baumgaertner • Emerson Bayuk • Emerson Flynn Bayuk • Victor Delray Beach • David Bean • Matt Bean • Tyke Beard • Abby Beasley • John Beatty • Nicki Beaudry • Nate “The Kaiser” Beck • Brian Becker • Christian, Niquela, Felix, & Keira Becker • Nicole A. Becker • Anne Beckmann • Danielle Bednar • Cheryl Beebe-Skynar • Yosif Behar • Lambert Behnke • Dana Belden • Douglas Bell • Jessica Bell • K. Bell • Matthew Bell • Julio Benavides • Emily Benger • Michelle Beninati • Benji & Ragnar • Henry Benn • Nolan Bennett • Timothy J. Bennett • Erin Benson • Walter Benson • Chrisie Bentley • Pattanan C. Benz • Dirk Berger • Larry & Laurie Berger • Justine Bergman • Clif & Nicole Bergmann • Sara Bergstresser • Jon Berlinski • Mary Catherine Bernadette • Sharla Bernard • Ben Berndt • Adam T. Berns • William & Sydney Berroteran • Alexis Briel Berry • Dustin Berry • Meredith Bertschin • Nathaniel Besenski • Peter Bess • Nathan V. Best • Pete Best • Oliver Beuchat • Blake, Kari, & Royce Beyer • Rhett W. Beyer • Nelson Bezanson • Ype Bezema • Rati & Aru Bhargava • Anna Bianchi • Sam Bibby • Nate Bibens • Sara Bickersmith • Lucas & Erin Bider • Christian Billen • Lucy & Remy Billings • Chris Bilodeau • Bailey Bilt-Kravitz • Jan K. Birch • Sarah Birchard • Abby & Liam Birkheimer • Javier Birriel • Jodi Bishop • Raymond & Danielle Bissonnette • The Bitterman Family • Jessica Björklund • Kari L. Bjorklund • Samuel Robin Blackwell • Howard Blakeslee • The Blesnikins. • Jeff Blickle • Aaron Block • Karin & Dietmar Bloech • Nick Bloss • Paxton, Tatum & Deacon Blount • Jeff Blucher • Owen & Madeline Blumenthal • Tylor Blythe • Bmeist • David Bobbitt • Billie Bock • Nathan Boeckman • David J. Boeding • Tom Bohac • In loving memory of Madeline Carol Bohne • Nadiia Boiko • Nicholas R. Boileau • Mircea Boistean • Steve Bolahan • István Boldog-Bernád • For my mother, Lynne Bolduc • Matthew Boley • Amy Bolla • Lucas Bombardier • N. Bonnema • Nicole Bonney • Stephen Bonney • John H. Bookwalter Jr. • Boone The Lion Hound • Jasen Boothe • The Boreham Family • Rikke Borgaard • Halli Borgfjord • Alexander Joseph Borns • Andy Bosher • Brian Bosman & Kate Rausch • Becky Bosshart • Arielle & Cameron Botta • Kris Boultbee • Andy Bowden • Chad Bowden • David Bowden • Jason Bowden • Corey Bowman • Kayleigh Bowman • Matt “Doc” Bowman • Adara E. Bowser • Team Boxley • Justin Boyd • McKayla Boyd • Rick & Carol Boyd, Retired Oilfield Trash • Timothy “Doc” Boyd • Michael Boye • Kevin Boyer • Fiona Boyle • Iain Brabant • Braderjeff • Angela Bradley • David Joseph Brady • Orin R. Brady • Amanda D. Bragg • Keir Bramman • John F. Brandenburg II • Ariane Brandt • Tom Branham • Brad Branstetter • brant • The Brass Family • Lauren Bratt • Amy Braun • For myself, Bree • Milou Breedveld • Ethan & Ben Breese • Ernst Brehm • Thomas Breitkreutz • Rachel Brekke, will you marry me? Love, Eric • John A. Brennan • Steve Brenneman • Carmen Brenner • Thad Brenum • Chandler Brett • Thomas & Joanne Brewster • Brian & Bonnie • Hannah Bridge • Kyle Bridges • Sarah Bridges • Robbie Bridgewater • Scott Brim • S. Bringhurst • Svemir Brkic • Julien Brochet • Brock • Destinee Brock • Kelly D. Brogdon • Frank Broussard • Rachel Brousseau, MA • Gerry & Peggy Brower • Amanda Brown • Curtis Brown • Forrest “f00bro” Brown • Ian Brown • For my dad, Josef Brown. Love, Smidget • Michael Brown • Michael J. Brown • Miranda J. Brown • Sarah M. Brown • Steven M. Brown • Brandon Browning • Doug Browning • Jana Broz • Bruce • Jaysen P. Bruno & Kenny A. Brill • Bryan, Carrie, Anneke & Leo • Michael Bryant • Joanna Brzeska • Ryan Buchanan • Michael Buckley • Danielius Buckus • Buddah & Jellybean • The Bugge Family • Tom & Tara Buhler • BunBun • Jerryn & Brittany Bunnell • S. Burch • Elwood Burgess • Joe & Marion Burke • Robert E. Burke • Jamie & Zeb Burks • William Burn • Sylas Burnett • Jennifer Burns • Benjamin Burroughs • Troy Burton • Jenny Busby • S. Busby • Janek Busch • Jeremy Busey • Nathan J. Bussey • Sabine Bussmann • Dina Butler, lover of tales • Janet Butler • Megan Butler • Nicholas Buttram • Robert Buurman • Nathan Byrd • Nicole Bywater
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Christobel C. • Erin C. • Jashana C. • Joe C. • Larry C. • Marnilo C. • Ryan C. • Justin C’ de Baca • Alec Cabrera • The Cacciamani Family • Cadius & Ramora • Anthony & Lizz Caggiano • Krishna Caitanya & Gourangi Gagda • In loving memory of Linda Rae Calamaio • Hilary Caldwell • Jeremy “Guns” Caldwell • Joshua Callahan • Tatiana Calliham • Clay Calvert • Jason Calvert • Joe Camacho • Ross Cameron • Allan Camoirano Jr. • Dustin Campbell • Lance Campbell • Rob Campbell • Clinton Canady IV • Kevin Candiloro • Candy & Justin • Maximiliaan Canik • Clay Cannon • Sean Cannon • Bryan Cantor • Michael Cantrell • Terri A. Cantrell • Captwetbeard • Eric Caraboolad • Brandon Carangi • Evett Cardwell • Alfredo R. Carella • Greg Carey • Carolyn J. Carideo • Tori Carlini • Stephanie Carlson • Dane Caro • Allison Marie Caron • Jodi Carpenter • Ines Carradice • Craig Carrigan • Alexis A. Carroll • Brandon Carter • Carolyn Carter • Troy Carter • Pedro Carvajal • Peter Casale • Tricia Cascio • CJ Case • Casey, Catherine, & Orrin • Andrew Casher • Kevin Cassidy • Tony “Fire Maestro” Cassidy • Benedict C. Cassie • Fabian Castrillon • Eddie Castro • Victor Cata • Nick Catalano • Terry Catucci • Tammie Causey • JD Cavazos • Tim “Starmarc” Caves • Jacob Cederwall • CelesteGB • David Lars Chamberlain • Wes Chamness • Jaime Chan • Kevin Chan • TS Chan • David Chanda • Paul & Shirley Chandler • Rawee Chanphakdee • Bernardo Chapar • Maya Hainze Chapman, D.V.M. • Taikeya Chapman • Julia Charlow & Martin Forbes • Justin Chasteen • Anthony Chatfield • Mike Chaussee • Jesse Chavez • Brian Cheek • Brent Chelewski • ChengCheng • Xenia Cheung • Richard Chiang • Kristopher Childress • Noel Chin • Leigh Chittum • Tim, Jess, Luke & Naomi Chitwood • J. K. Choi • Dominic Chong • Joseph S. Chong • Chopper • Chowlin • Chris & Hema • Cynthia Christensen • Nat Christenson • Mikaela Christiansson • Mia Christin • Derek Christman • Olivia Christopher • Christy, Jollin, & Abby • Danielle Chritchley • Beryl Chueh • Shanna Chugg • Lina Lulu Chung • Jim Cicchillo • Adrian Cinca • My 2 favorite readers, Claire & Paige • David Clark • Jenelle Clark • Rochelle Lee Clark • Quentin Clauwaert • David Clayton • Adam Clemens • Joanna Cow
les Cleveland • Joshua Cleveland • Mike Clougherty • CMT • Kevin Co • Peter Coates • Steve Cobb • Lisa Cockrell • Samuel Coe • Todd “El Todd” Coffey • Ben Cohen • Ryan Colbeth • The Colburn Family Riyria fans: Tasha, Jason, Elo & Molly • Mathew Colburn • Ab Colby • Jenny Colby • Antonino R. Cole • Melissa Cole • Ryan Cole • Loren L. Coleman • B. Collie • Adrian Collins • Bruce “Hoss” Collins • Josiah Collins • Justin Collins • Kevin & Alex Collins • Collin Coltman • Jordan Gwynn Colton • Todd M. Colucci • Willow Colvin • John G. Comas • CompuChip • The Michael & Robin Conley Family from NJ • Samantha Conley • Jim & Michelle Connor • Brandon Connors • Christopher Conrad • Elise Cook • Lauren Cook • Ed Cooke • Richard Cooke • Maynard James Coonan • Christine A. Cooney • Michelle N. Cooper • Anke Corbeil • Sarah Corbeil • Ashley Corbeille • For my son, Harrison P. Corey • Amy Cormier • Arletta Kelley Cortright • Kelley Cortright • Clint Corvello • Rin Corvetti-French • The Corvin Family • Sarah Cosco • Anthony Cossio • Tyson Y. Cote • Larry Couch • For my awesome step-children, Jade & Tommy Coulton, love Dad • Damon J. Courtney • Stephanie Couturier • Alyssa Covino • Carley Cowart • Andrew Cowell • Allie & Jonathan Cowles • Brian Cox • David N. Cox • Eric Cox • The Cox-Mellnik Family • Travis Coy • Jacob Crabb • Brian Crabtree • Greg Crain • Craiu Remus Armand • Jeffrey R. Crane • Jeremy Crane • Clayton Cravath • Stephen B. Crawford • Wendy Crayford • Chris Creech • Preston Creed • Rod Cressey • Hwang Crew • Nathan B. Crocker • Jens Cromheecke • Kevin Cronic • Michelle D. Crosby • PL Cross • Tim Cross • Trevor & Justina Crow • David Crumbley • Aaron “Crumpy” Crump • Cygnus Crux • Mark Cummings • Michael Cummings • The Cunningham Family • Elijha Curcie • Sam Curran • Denise Currie • Cole Currier • Chris Curry • Glenn Curry • Thomas J. Curtis • Lesley Curvers • Mary Cusick • John Cutright • Cyrus the Great
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