Age of Legend

The book opens on a massive, dragon-like creature lying atop a battlefield — Gilarabrywn. The young mystic who created it, Suri, has watched it for days, afraid to approach, because she doesn't know how it will look at her once its eyes open: with hatred, fear, or pity? This opening scene sets the book's tone immediately — this isn't the joy after victory, it's its weight.

As the author explains in his foreword, the book is deliberately split into three parts with time jumps between them — echoing the closing effect of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring": one "curtain" falls, but the story itself is far from over. Part One opens directly after the previous book, Age of War.

One parallel thread follows Persephone, Moya, and Nyphron as they lead the column east after their victory at the Battle of the High Plains. Nyphron failed to capture the feyn, whose army escaped — yet it doesn't feel like the decisive win he'd planned for; the gap between a battle being "won" and being "over" becomes one of the book's quiet themes.

In the Fhrey capital of Estramnadon, an entirely different, more quietly tense story plays out: a woman named Imaly is secretly hiding Makareta, a young Miralyith (of the sorcerer caste) — if discovered, both face execution. This thread shows how the war continues far from the front in different forms: here it isn't weapons but secrets that are dangerous.

The part's climax is the sight of feyn Lothian's army returning defeated — two thousand proud Fhrey warriors reduced to a filthy, bloodied handful limping home. Lothian refuses even to speak, withdrawing into his palace under his son Mawyndule's contemptuous stare. Imaly could use this moment to expose the feyn's weakness, but doesn't — instead she considers how to deliver a secret peace offer from the Rhunes.

Throughout the book, each chapter opens with an epigraph from a future chronicle, "The Book of Brin" — a small but effective device that reminds the reader these events are already becoming history, becoming legend, even before they've fully happened. It's a direct nod to the book's title, Age of Legend.

Throughout Part One, the author makes a risky choice: instead of fast, action-heavy scenes, he focuses on post-victory exhaustion, the reckoning of losses, and the possibility of future peace. This may feel slow to some readers, but it's a deliberate choice to deepen the characters' — especially Suri's — inner state.

The part closes with Imaly admitting she underestimated the Rhunes and vowing not to repeat that mistake — what follows (per the author's foreword) is the work of Parts Two and Three, which jump forward one year, then five more.

• The author split the book into 3 parts with time jumps between them — by his own account, because an early draft made too large a leap without them
• Distinct character threads (human leaders, Fhrey court politics, a lone mystic and the monster she created) are built in parallel, alternating between chapters
• Each chapter opens with an epigraph from a future chronicle ("The Book of Brin") — framing the story as already-legend
• Dialogue is short, sharp, and often leavened with dark humor, keeping the prose from feeling heavy despite its weighty subject matter