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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
Another amazing book by Sullivan! Though this one was a bit more violent and graphic than the others (which is why I only gave it 4 stars... sorry!!).
Having read the Revelations before this, it's so great to see the little hints thrown in for things to happen in the future!! I absolutely loved it as well as all of the characters.
Especially Gwen!! She is my queen.
Having read the Revelations before this, it's so great to see the little hints thrown in for things to happen in the future!! I absolutely loved it as well as all of the characters.
Especially Gwen!! She is my queen.
Felt like it could’ve been the first book in The Riyria Revelations. It was really really great seeing Arista and Alric again. As well as Hilfred and the Pickerings. Interesting seeing how long Soldor’s plans for the revivification of the Novron Empire has been going on for, and how Percy Braga hadn’t turned on Amrath at this point.
Read this in less than a day - I seriously couldn't put it down.
So much fun to reconnect with Hadrian & Royce again. Strong story, not very long, but with some interesting lines that tie into the main story. Very good read.
Another fantastic book. Started off a bit slower than I would have liked, esp compared to his other books, but the ending was jaw dropping for me.
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Perhaps because it moved political event in Elan while Crown Tower merely got Hardian and Royce to meet and learn to get along, this book felt more "plot relevant" than its predecessor, despite both ultimately being prequels to an already complete story that merely flesh out events referenced to have happened in the original series.
As far as prequels go, I think this one skirts the line of having the Prequel Problem of trying to fit in as many characters as possible who aren't supposed to know one another yet. There's no major retcon wherein it turns out Hadrian and Arista already met long ago and merely refrained from mentioning their history together for some contrived reason or another, but Royce and Hadrian do scrape up against some of the early stages of the conspiracy that they get entangled in at the start of Riyria Revelations, and it felt a little strange to me that they would gain as much information as they did in this book and not think about it sooner during the events of The Crown Conspiracy. While Hilfred's existence in Revelations also strongly suggested a heavy exposure to the royal family in his past, I also found it somewhat convenient that he had so many encounters with them (and Alric in particular) prior to his appointment as Arista's personal guard.
Ending spoiler:I don't even understand the point of letting Royce and Hadrian learn that Saldur was involved in setting the fire. It accomplished nothing. Their blackmail of him to get the girls exonerated was irrelevant. The king freed them based entirely on the false belief that the noble Royce killed in their name was the culprit behind the fire.t
Additionally, I felt that this book brought with it the return of my biggest gripe with some of the earlier Revelations books: too much exposition dialogue. It's almost as if writing scenes with Saldur and Braga again had Sullivan feeling nostalgic for the way characters in their time liked to over-explain themselves and go on monologues.
That aside, this was still an enjoyable book. With that main nitpick of Royce and Hadrian learning too much, everything was well paced. The whiplash the opening gave was delightful. Albert's introduction was fun, and he added so much to the story that I wish he'd been a little more involved in Revelations. I don't care as much about Hilfred, but he still managed to have a compelling plot of his own. All in all, this was a good story. I didn't even mind that, despite being a very direct sequel to Crown Tower that wraps up the plot threads the last book very much left dangling, there was a year long gap where we missed most of Royce and Gwen's early interactions. (Although that would maybe be a nice short story to get from the author one day.)
As far as prequels go, I think this one skirts the line of having the Prequel Problem of trying to fit in as many characters as possible who aren't supposed to know one another yet. There's no major retcon wherein it turns out Hadrian and Arista already met long ago and merely refrained from mentioning their history together for some contrived reason or another, but Royce and Hadrian do scrape up against some of the early stages of the conspiracy that they get entangled in at the start of Riyria Revelations, and it felt a little strange to me that they would gain as much information as they did in this book and not think about it sooner during the events of The Crown Conspiracy. While Hilfred's existence in Revelations also strongly suggested a heavy exposure to the royal family in his past, I also found it somewhat convenient that he had so many encounters with them (and Alric in particular) prior to his appointment as Arista's personal guard.
Ending spoiler:
Additionally, I felt that this book brought with it the return of my biggest gripe with some of the earlier Revelations books: too much exposition dialogue. It's almost as if writing scenes with Saldur and Braga again had Sullivan feeling nostalgic for the way characters in their time liked to over-explain themselves and go on monologues.
That aside, this was still an enjoyable book. With that main nitpick of Royce and Hadrian learning too much, everything was well paced. The whiplash the opening gave was delightful. Albert's introduction was fun, and he added so much to the story that I wish he'd been a little more involved in Revelations. I don't care as much about Hilfred, but he still managed to have a compelling plot of his own. All in all, this was a good story. I didn't even mind that, despite being a very direct sequel to Crown Tower that wraps up the plot threads the last book very much left dangling, there was a year long gap where we missed most of Royce and Gwen's early interactions. (Although that would maybe be a nice short story to get from the author one day.)
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A