History Literature / TheRiyriaRevelations

* KickTheSonOfABitch: See BodyHorror above.

* ''The Death of Dulgath'' (September 2015)[[/folder]]

* RunningGag: In the [[spoiler: Imperial Palace]], several important people -- including [[spoiler: the empress, her secretary, a princess, a Teshlor knight, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers a monk]]]] -- visit the scullery kitchen for their meals, much to the amusement of the head cook.

A prequel series, ''Literature/LegendsOfTheFirstEmpire'', which takes place thousands of years prior to the current setting has also been released. The follow-up ''Literature/RiseAndFall'' Trilogy bridges the 2,000 year gap ''Legends'' and ''Revelations''

A prequel series, ''Literature/LegendsOfTheFirstEmpire'', which takes place thousands of years prior to the current setting has also been released.

* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler: Sentinel Thranic]], who delights in torturing Mir prisoners and attempts to arrest [[spoiler: Royce]] for his elven heritage turns out to be a Mir himself.

* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler: Sentinel Thranic]], who delights in carrying mir slaves, torturing them and attempting to arrest [[spoiler: Royce]] for his elven heritage turns out to be a mir himself.

* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler: The captain of the Emerald Storm]], who delights in carrying mir slaves, torturing them and attempting to arrest [[spoiler: Royce]] for his elven heritage turns out to be a mir himself.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Full-blooded elves are nigh-immortal, masters of magic, and incredibly badass- but they're also xenophobic and want little to do with humans [[spoiler: until they invade in the last book]]. When most people in this world think of elves, they think of ''mir'', mixes of human and elf blood who are at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

* SdrawkcabName: [[spoiler: Nilnev is backwards for Venlin, which also anagrams to Evlinn. In fact, all the "patriarchs" are just anagrams of those six letters, and all of them are actually Malwyndule]]

* TrailersAlwaysLie: The first book's tagline is "There's no orphan destined to save the world, nor ultimate evil to be slain... just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to survive." Turns out [[spoiler: one of those two guys actually IS an orphan destined to save the world.]]

* EnslavedElves: Elves (or at least, those with Elf-blood) are at the bottom of the ladder in most human kingdoms. Dwarves have it a bit better, but not by much. About the only nonhuman race that humans ''haven't'' tried to enslave are goblins, who are honestly just too mean for that to work in the first place.

* BigGood: Esrahaddon appears to be this. [[spoiler: He's not.]] [[spoiler: Empress Modina]] plays this straight.

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: Former Bishop Saldur, whose preferred method of eliminating inconvenient persons is locking them inside a burning structure, dies in a flaming building after begging for Arista's help.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Arista returns to her personal room above the tower and feels a light-headed, swaying sensation. [[spoiler: Turns out the tower is literally swaying owing to its weakened stone structure.]]

* ParanoiaGambit: An absolutely magnificent one, courtesy of [[spoiler: Merrick Marius]].

* BrickJoke: [[spoiler: Early on, Hadrian mentions to Arista how there seemed to be a stone under his bed every time he sleeps outside. Four books later, Royce reveals he placed that stone below him all this time so Hadrian wouldn't snore.]]

* InTheBack: How [[spoiler: Malwyndule]] is unceremoniously offed.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: How [[spoiler: Thrace/Modina]] takes over the New Empire.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: some throughout, but the ending especially qualifies.

A prequel series, LegendsOfTheFirstEmpire, which takes place thousands of years prior to the current setting has also been released.

* Jerkass: Degan Gaunt.
* TheHungryJungle: Most of Calais is covered in a dense canopy filled with tigers, savage sea goblins and parasitic worms that provide BodyHorror to unlucky travellers.

* TheDreaded: Royce to the Black Diamonds. He was once a member of their guild until one of his guildmates got him sent to Manzant, a HellHolePrison where inmates mine salt in horrible conditions until they die. Royce eventually got his freedom and the first thing he does is wage an absolutely vicious and bloody one-man war against his old guild, which he pretty much won after about a year's worth of killing them (that time period was named the "Year of Fear"). Now the Black Diamonds regard Royce with nothing short of abject terror. How feared is he, you ask? In one instance, a guild member who didn't recognize Royce played a con on him and Hadrien and stole their horses and everything on them. Royce wasn't fooled one bit and was just playing ignorant in the hopes of teaching Hadrien that few people share his sense of altruism. To that end, he left a note in one of the saddlebags saying that if his and Hadrien's horses weren't returned posthaste, then he was going very unhappy. The guild promptly returned the horses and supplies, even giving them a fresh shod and groom, and left a note of their own which essentially said, "this dumb guild member didn't know who you were, we're very sorry, please don't kill us."

* AdiposeRex: Both King Roswort of Glamrendor and King Vincent of Moranan are described as severely obese.

* AncientConspiracy : [[spoiler:the Nyphron church's nine hundred year plot to take over the human kingdoms and found the New Empire]]

* BrickJoke: [[spoiler: Early on, Hadrian mentions to Arista how there seemed to be a stone under his bed every time he sleeps outside. Near the epilogue, Royce reveals he placed that stone below him all this time so Hadrian wouldn't snore.]]

* BavarianFireDrill: [[spoiler: Hadrian]] makes a pretty good attempt to take command of the [[spoiler: Nationalist Army]] but eventually fails.

* Foreshadowing: Arista returns to her personal room above the tower and feels a light-headed, swaying sensation. [[spoiler: Turns out the tower is literally swaying owing to its weakened stone structure.]]

A prequel series, LegendsOfTheFirstEmpire, takes place thousands of years prior to the current setting has also been released.