Book Review: The Crown Conspiracy (Theft of Swords Part One)

This series was originally self published independently, but than they were bound up in three omnibus versions, two books a piece.  The Crown Conspiracy is the first book in the series, Ryria Revelations, and also the first book in the bind-up Theft of Swords.  I'll be doing each book separately because they're rather long (I think about 300 pages each).

The description is taken from goodreads:

In the first episode, the reader is introduced to Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, who make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in the murder of the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out...and so begins this epic tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

One word: Captivating.  I read this book in small increments, a few pages every day, so that I could read many other books simultaneously.  Let me assure you that settling down to dig in a little deeper to this story was the best part of every day.  It was like sitting down for a wonderful feast made up of all my favorite foods and I never got fat from eating more than I needed.  Yeah, it was really, really good.

 

I could write praises for this book for hours.  HOURS people, and I'm not exaggerating.  While I was considering what to write in this review I had to stop myself from OVERLY praising this book.  I want to give an honest review that says more than just "this book was awesome.  so very, very awesome." although that would be completely honest, too.

 

The pace.  For the first chapter it's slow.  And then, immediately, it picks up.  It's not a whirlwind adventure, but it's fast paced, funny, and full of action.  I think the fact that it takes the characters time to get from one place to another, and that the time doesn't seem too long, makes the story that much better.  A large portion of the middle is them travelling, but unlike many authors, Sullivan manages to get the pace exactly right.  It may not be one-hundred percent accurate, but who cares?  It keeps you entertained and the story believable at the same time.

 

The characters really take the cake, though.  Right from the start I knew I was in love with Royce and Hadrian.  I didn't read more than a few sentences of their dialogue before I knew the author was, too.  They're so perfectly written you can tell they've been sitting around in Sullivan's head for a long time and that, when they came out, the transferred to the page as if they'd always been there.  In addition to our heroes there are Alric- the prince- and Myron- a monk.  At first Alric is a little hard to like, but that's on purpose.  His character is also a little shaky early on, but as soon as the story really starts moving along, that stops.  Myron, too, is amazing.  He's so sweet and reminded me of an autistic kid (in a good way, I promise).  He was, by far, my favorite, and his story made me start to cry (really cry, not just on the inside, which is a feat for any book or show or movie, because I don't tend to cry).  There's also Arista, who, while not a main character, is central to the story, and instantly likeable, if not a little too "weak" for my liking.

 

The world is fully realized and without having to go into deep explanations of the mechanics I felt fully immersed.  It's a wonderfully built world for epic fantasy fans to fall in love with.  There is a magic system, lightly touched upon, but more important is the religious system.  I feel like that's often left out of epic and high fantasy and I was impressed by it's usage in the book.

 

It's no surprise, then, that I'm giving this book 5 stars.  I just LOVE it so much and am dying to begin the next one immediately.  If you haven't picked this book up, I really recommend it.  Even if you aren't a big fan of fantasy, the story is so compelling I think anyone could like it.  And a bonus?  It's clean!  There are some suggestions and one of the characters is a prostitute, but if you're not a fan of the sexual stuff that's becoming common in the popular epic fantasy of today (I'm looking at you, GoT) you'll like this one even more.

Book Review: Storm Front

I'm here to talk to you about the other wizard name Harry.

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out that 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.

Harry is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So whenever the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. But business isn't just slow, it stinks.

So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get . . . interesting.

MAGIC - IT CAN GET A GUY KILLED.

I've wanted to read this book for quite some time but I hadn't gotten around to it for various reasons.  In fact, I hadn't even picked up a copy. Well, that all changed when I ran over to my neighborhood Half Price Books and snatched up the best edition I could.  Which just happened to be the UK version.  Which is absolutely gorgeous, by the way.  This means that (being the OCD cover person I am) when I buy the other books in the series I'll have to buy them from the UK.  Which means it could take a while for a review of another one of these books.  But there will be another review because I absolutely LOVED this one.

Harry is such a great character.  He's not easy to pin down with one word, but he's almost an anti-hero, I would say.  He has that kind of vibe to him, even though he really isn't one.  He also has a lot of weight on his shoulders, a lot of problems, and I have to give him a lot of credit for being able to function under all these things going against him.

The other character's were good, but they weren't the fleshed out.  They didn't really need to be, but with the complexity of Harry, I almost wished they were.  I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing the supporting cast in the next installments, though, so I'm not worried.

The mystery in this book is rather twisty, but not surprising.  You can see where it's going and know where it connects, to an extent, but it's not really set up for the reader to guess what exactly is going on until Harry does.  The reader gets the information with Harry, and he even chooses to keep some to himself.  I wish there were some more surprises, but it isn't necessary and the book is balanced well.  The right amount of story, mystery, action, and character.

This is an urban fantasy, through and through, and as such, all the mythology has to work in conjunction to the real world, which it shadows.  The magic used is a little scientific, a little otherworldly, and a little high-fantasy.  The laws are pretty cut and dry to magic, but they're also broad enough to allow some wiggle room.  The creatures in this book seem to range from the well known to the obscure, which is always enjoyable.  The White Council makes sense (unlike in some books where councils are just made up because they're needed and don't really carry any weight for the reader) and the way the world is set up to "hide" is believable.

I'm giving this book *****4 3/4 stars***** and look forward to continuing the series.