Farilane by Michael J. Sullivan – Review

Published: June 7, 2022

Publisher: Riyria Enterprises

Series: The Rise and Fall #2

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 440 (Kindle)

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

Synopsis:
Some truths are dangerous, certain secrets best concealed, and one story never should have been written at all.

Being an unwanted twin in the imperial line of succession, Farilane becomes a scholar, an adventurer, and—in a time when reading is forbidden—a hunter of books. Her singular obsession is finding the mythical Book of Brin, a tome not just lost but intentionally buried. Although she is respected and beloved by the Teshlor Knights, not even their legendary skills can protect her, for what she finds is more dangerous than what she sought.

So, this book absolutely blew me away and is possibly tied for best Michael J. Sullivan book with Heir of Novron. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster, folks. This book made me laugh, cry, and in general punch me a little in every emotion there is to feel. I did not expect to love this book quite this much, so it was a wonderful surprise to find what is most certainly a new favorite.

This book jumps 1000 years after the events of Nolyn, where we meet Princess Farilane, scholarly adventurer and lover of books. She and her loyal Teshlor knights and her dear friend Virgil are out searching for the Book of Brin in a remote area. I love that it starts off with this expedition that quickly sums up Farilane herself, her relationship with her knights and friends, and her passion for knowledge. I really don’t want to give much about the plot away because it will really spoil some of those emotional highs and lows. I can safely tell you that a few characters from Nolyn do make important appearances and Farilane spends a great deal of the book searching out the Book of Brin. She gets away with all this scarpering about because she’s the spare – her twin brother was named heir and Farilane is merely an extra. Farilane doesn’t have too many people she’s truly close with and early on in the book she’s introduced to Kile, who she surprisingly takes to almost immediately. Even the Teshlors, while she is friendly with them, aren’t truly friends because she naturally outlives all of them.

This book handles some very deep topics that really generated self-reflection and thought. The big, obvious one is how the extended life of the Frey separates them from the much shorter lived humans. With Farilane, she watches all these people she became friends with and even her mother die after comparatively short spans of years. She tries to hold herself apart and not become close with anyone because of this, at the rather harsh advice of her own father. Because of that, the Frey and humans as a whole remain separate and often it’s only the Frey who hold positions of power. So they make decisions that aren’t necessarily the best for the much shorter lived humans, thus engendering a lot of generational resentment. The second big topic is fate and because it is quite central to the latter portion of the book I won’t discuss that too much in depth. The big question is “Can you defy your fate? And “If you could, would you do it if you knew the possible outcomes?”.

This book was so well written and despite a lengthy, somewhat unexciting stint lost in the Mystic Wood, it was fascinating and kept me completely hooked. I loved the Teshlor knights and their love and dedication for their princess. I loved Virgil and Kile for their ability to ground Farilane and help keep her in touch with her human half. And Farilane herself was amazing because of her love, her passion for life and the pursuit of knowledge, and her unapologetic intelligence (even when she just couldn’t shut up). She is now one of my favorite characters of all time. I can’t wait to see what the next book, Esrahaddon, has in store.

SPOILERY DISCUSSION!!!!

Okay, so I couldn’t do a review for this book without discussing the ending in a very spoilery way. So stop now if you don’t want me to totally ruin things for you.

I absolutely wept at the end of this book and I was driving, which is a little dangerous. But I couldn’t help it because it was heartbreaking. Even more heartbreaking than a certain character’s death in Heir of Novron (which I also wept about). OMG. So, Kile is one of the gods and if you’ve read the previous books you’ll know he appears frequently and under different names. He befriends Farilane and the two of them slowly start to fall in love over the course of the book, and DAMMIT IT’S A TRAGEDY. I’m tearing up as I write this! There was a prophecy that basically there will be a princess who will do XYZ and she has to die or the empire will fall. Farilane was never told of the prophecy, but literally everyone else in her family knew and that’s why everyone always kept her at something of a distance. And Kile finally tells her when her family tries to kill her (they really didn’t want to) and explains everything. He tells her what could have been (she would have been the greatest ruler to have ever lived and Kile and Farilane would have had years and years of blissful happiness) but if she dies (and she is given a choice) the empire will continue on for centuries to come. Of course Farilane is a clever woman and understands the numerous implications and the people who would suffer if she chose her own happiness and she chooses death. And Kile is the one who kills her.

My heart will literally never be the same after reading those final chapters. I think it was literally the most emotionally moving piece of writing I have ever read. It’s such a build up of emotion and the fact that Farilane knows she could be great and find love and then selflessly chooses the better future for generations is just so beautiful.