Riyria Revelations

Riyria Revelations is one of my favorite book series. It is an epic fantasy about a thief and a mercenary who unintentionally save the world from a corrupt Empire. My favorite character is Royce Melborn; he and Hadrian BlackWater are the main characters in Riyria. I love how unintentional their role in the book is, instead of saving the world for "honor" or "because it's right." They do it because they have to, because they personally don't want to deal with the rules of an empire. I love it because of how "real" it is, the reality that most people are not princesses or princes, but commoners, who have to do hard, grueling, and dangerous work. This book represents that so well; some authors try to recreate this, but they make the main characters too important and self-centered. Michael J Sullavin manages to make Hadrian and Royce so unimportant that they become important. Riyria Revelations has very little emotional fluff, and that's one of the reasons I love Riyria so much.

Theft of Swords is the first book in the series and also my favorite.