Michael’s answer to “I just finished Theft of Swords; it was 4+. Nice to find some newer fantasy that is not 1. Dark…” > Likes and Comments

Even if there's no chance of changing it back, I do think it needs to be recognized just how insanely generic those names are. I'd argue that they also say nothing about the books by virtue of being so vague. Sometimes you want the distinction that comes with having read the book. For instance, what's a Mistborn? I don't know if I haven't read the book, and The Final Empire as the full title still tells you nothing about the book, especially not that it's kind of a fantasy Ocean's Eleven. Elantris? meaningless. A Game of Thrones evokes a sense of what kind of book it is and it's unique. Name of the Wind makes no sense if you haven't read the book but it sounds intriguing. The Lies of Locke Lamora, well I don't know who Locke Lamora is but I guess this is a story about his lies and that could be interesting. Every one of these titles is kind of meaningless without having read the book, but are specific enough that you wouldn't get them mixed up with anything else.

The problem with the titles you've settled on is that I think I could take any fantasy novel ever written and re-title it with one of your five titles and it would make sense. You might as well name them "Fantasy Novel #1-5".

I have no doubt that the stories themselves will be far from generic, but I really don't think you're going to be grabbing lots of new readers with a giant poster that says Age of Myth. Even as a fan of yours it bores me. Even Rhune: Age of Myth would be an improvement.

So in short, by trying to make a "cohesive brand" out of the "Age of" titles it's my opinion that you're actually doing the opposite and obliterating any potential branding by using overly generic terms. "The First Empire" is interesting to your fans because you've described what it is, but again to new readers these are super generic terms that say nothing about the kind of story it is.

I still hope, for your sake not mine, that you are able to settle on something more unique that will give your books a true branding like the (totally meaningless to outsiders!) Riyria name. Heck you can't even know how to spell that properly without help, but it works because it's unique!

Love your work and want to see you succeed! The fact that so many of your fans bristle at the boring names should tell you and your publisher that maybe they're not quite right after all.

Sorry I meant to say you don't know how to pronounce Riyria properly without help. And if someone heard you say it they'd never guess at that spelling. =)

Book titles definitely have more meaning once you've read them. Name of the Wind - for instance makes a lot of sense in context, but not much outside.

Theft of Swords - is very descriptive - based not he context of that book, but Avempartha - is just as meaningless as Rhune.

I realize you think the titles are generic - but you've not read the books. I think once you do they'll make more sense.

I would argue that "The First Empire" is more descriptive to it's series than "The Riyria Revelations" is to its. We can assume it's about building and empire - which it is.

Having the "Age of" will make the books cohesive just as "City of Stairs" and "City of Blades" are related.

Yes made up words (Riyria, Rhune, Avempartha, Nyphron) are unique but they are also (a) hard to spell, (b) hard to pronounce (c) and hard to find because of (a) and (b).

I can't "settle for something more unique" once a title is set and the wheel is in motion, it is what it is. Will the book fail because of it's name? I don't think so. At the end of the day it'll either be a good book and talked about and recommend by others, or it will be a bad book and fall on its face.

The "bristling" is more because of change than what it was changed to. If I started with Age of Myth and then told them it would be called Rhune, I predict there would be the same number of objections.

Right or wrong, there is nothing I can do about it. The contract is signed, the publisher has the right to call the books, I can only control the things I have responsibility for, such as the content of the book.

Gunner said, I meant to say you don't know how to pronounce Riyria properly without help. And if someone heard you say it they'd never guess at that spelling. =)

And yet it someone survived it's really bad naming. Which you think is "because of" and I think is "in spite of" there is no way of knowing which one of us is correct.

Thanks for responding, and in reconsidering my post I think it had a disrespectful tone, so I apologize for that.

I do realize why I felt some of the titles were generic, "Age of Legends" is a term very commonly used throughout the Wheel of Time series, and it's a Kelley Armstrong series, and it's a video game, as is Age of Empires. I know you did research on the names beforehand, just trying to give some context for my feeling. But hey, if the decision is irreversible at this point then there's nothing more to say other than I have already pre-ordered the first and would have if you had called it "Snoodle-Doo and the Funky Clown Show." =)

I took no disrespect. And yes, I raised all those issues (except the Age of Legends - which I didn't know about) but Del Rey still thinks it's the way to go. Age of Empire is the only one that I thought had an issue with because the video game is so popular and will out shadow the book - but it's also the last book - and I don't think anyone who has made it through 1 - 4 will be discarding book #5 because of its name.