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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
The Crown Tower has a noble mission—to entertain. Sullivan has brought together all the fun, swashbuckling and humor of the best adventure story, while remaining fresh and uniquely his own. The Crown Tower hooks you with friendly prose, interesting characters and pace, and doesn't provoke deep thought or inspire personal revelations. It's all about fun. And it delivers page-by-page with a professional consistency that makes it a pleasure—recommended for all fans of adventure, fantasy and bromance themes. And anyone else who enjoys a rollicking good time.
The Crown Tower reads like a first-class bromance action action movie, complete with antagonistic protagonists destined to become bros, one-liner zingers that amuse, action that delights and a moody sense of cinematic drama. It's pure adventure and entertainment. This is not what I'd call epic fantasy. There's no fate of the world. No quest—in fact Michael Sullivan admirably does away with the classic quest in favour of a fresher approach. He carries this to the extreme, obscuring, hiding and misdirecting us away from any sense of purpose. He wants us to believe our two protagonists are set on a nearly impossible mission--but without a clear purpose. And he does it well. It's part of the fun of this novel. The mystery.
The Crown Tower actually starts in mystery-mode. The opening third of the book is classic whodunnit. A mysterious serial killer. A cloaked and hooded man who reeks of danger. A palpable sense of fear. Who's killing off the companions of our protagonist Hadrian? Towards the midpoint of the novel, we crank it up for action adventure, complete with a goal (you could call it a quest) that apparently has no purpose. Risk your life, perhaps kill a few people along the way, but not a hint of why. More mystery. And I enjoyed that.
The prose is wondrous in its invisibility. Michael Sullivan doesn't seem to be an author out to showcase how clever he is. He wants to tell a good story. Makes it easy for the reader. Remember the characters and the story, not the writer. This subtle prose is what really allows the reader to tear through this exciting novel.
Is it the most fantastic epic fantasy ever? No. Is it the most exciting adventure novel ever? No. Is it the funniest fantasy novel? No. The Crown Tower steers the steady course between all the extremes, blending comedy, action, and fantasy. There are no flame-throwing wizards here—just a professor who some think is wizardly. There are no epic battle scenes—but plenty of swashbuckling action. There's no evil lord threatening to take over the world--just a mission that may or may not have a purpose. It's a nice, entertaining, fresh blend.
I have more to say on this novel, with detailed views on plot, prose, character and entertainment value, but didn't want to duplicate my review from Films & Books, which you can see on Films&Books
The Crown Tower reads like a first-class bromance action action movie, complete with antagonistic protagonists destined to become bros, one-liner zingers that amuse, action that delights and a moody sense of cinematic drama. It's pure adventure and entertainment. This is not what I'd call epic fantasy. There's no fate of the world. No quest—in fact Michael Sullivan admirably does away with the classic quest in favour of a fresher approach. He carries this to the extreme, obscuring, hiding and misdirecting us away from any sense of purpose. He wants us to believe our two protagonists are set on a nearly impossible mission--but without a clear purpose. And he does it well. It's part of the fun of this novel. The mystery.
The Crown Tower actually starts in mystery-mode. The opening third of the book is classic whodunnit. A mysterious serial killer. A cloaked and hooded man who reeks of danger. A palpable sense of fear. Who's killing off the companions of our protagonist Hadrian? Towards the midpoint of the novel, we crank it up for action adventure, complete with a goal (you could call it a quest) that apparently has no purpose. Risk your life, perhaps kill a few people along the way, but not a hint of why. More mystery. And I enjoyed that.
The prose is wondrous in its invisibility. Michael Sullivan doesn't seem to be an author out to showcase how clever he is. He wants to tell a good story. Makes it easy for the reader. Remember the characters and the story, not the writer. This subtle prose is what really allows the reader to tear through this exciting novel.
Is it the most fantastic epic fantasy ever? No. Is it the most exciting adventure novel ever? No. Is it the funniest fantasy novel? No. The Crown Tower steers the steady course between all the extremes, blending comedy, action, and fantasy. There are no flame-throwing wizards here—just a professor who some think is wizardly. There are no epic battle scenes—but plenty of swashbuckling action. There's no evil lord threatening to take over the world--just a mission that may or may not have a purpose. It's a nice, entertaining, fresh blend.
I have more to say on this novel, with detailed views on plot, prose, character and entertainment value, but didn't want to duplicate my review from Films & Books, which you can see on Films&Books
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun and easy read in a new fantasy setting, yay! Honestly so relaxing to read a book in a fantasy setting that doesn’t go completely overboard in its use of adjectives about perfectly mundane things. It does have a lot of common fantasy character tropes: the “young adult(s) who are prodigies,” as well as the “mysterious and wise old guy” and the “angsty loner who hates everyone.” While this was definitely something I had to roll my eyes at occasionally, it didn’t break the book for me and I plan on reading the next in the series.
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was leery of this "prequel". I greatly enjoyed the previous series, the Riyria Revelations,and did not expect the new series, the Riyria Chronicles, to add much. Instead, this book was a delight, with the characters sharper drawn, but true to themselves. The author worries about "jumping the shark" with too many books based on this pair: I would not expect that to happen for another 20 books or so.
It was fine, maybe I would've appreciated this more if I read theft of swords before it.
This "prequel" seemed a bit cookie cutter-ish to me, but then the author already knew what he was trying to accomplish. It is his after thought. I have not read the main series, "The Riyria Revelations." Nonetheless, this book held my interest, even though being somewhat predictable until the very end.
A cagey, professor/wizard we are dealing with. The Prof brings together two individuals with totally opposite character traits and coerces them to become partners. They are given a very difficult and unseemly task, which appears mundane. Can they pull it off? A sub-plot involves a "damsel in distress." At the risk of spoiling, I'll leave that as it is.
I have started the next book, [b:The Rose and the Thorn|17163514|The Rose and the Thorn (The Riyria Chronicles, #2)|Michael J. Sullivan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1362121827l/17163514._SY75_.jpg|23589581]. I'll see how this goes.
A cagey, professor/wizard we are dealing with. The Prof brings together two individuals with totally opposite character traits and coerces them to become partners. They are given a very difficult and unseemly task, which appears mundane. Can they pull it off? A sub-plot involves a "damsel in distress." At the risk of spoiling, I'll leave that as it is.
I have started the next book, [b:The Rose and the Thorn|17163514|The Rose and the Thorn (The Riyria Chronicles, #2)|Michael J. Sullivan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1362121827l/17163514._SY75_.jpg|23589581]. I'll see how this goes.
Picked this up on a whim from the local library (on audio). I didn't have high hopes because I had never heard of the author. So I knew I was taking a chance that it might be some poorly-written, trite, independently-published drivel. What a surprise.
This is definitely not "high fantasy", there aren't any monsters, non-human races and only the slightest hint of magic, which is usually a negative for me, but it was great. I really came to love and route for the characters, I was sad when people died, and impressed by plot twists I didn't expect. Also the introduction was hilarious.
This isn't a serious epic/tragedy like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, there aren't 100 characters and 500 pages of back story, it's a story about a couple of people trying to survive and I guess it's also about some heroes meeting for the first time (it's kind of a prequel to a larger series , that I will be looking into).
I would definitely suggest this book to teen readers, but that's definitely not to say older readers (like myself) wouldn't like it. There's plenty of action, lots of talk about prostitution, but not actually any detailed sex scenes. There's a strong female main character, an honorable male main character, and a not so honorable male main character and that's really what this story is about, characters.
This is definitely not "high fantasy", there aren't any monsters, non-human races and only the slightest hint of magic, which is usually a negative for me, but it was great. I really came to love and route for the characters, I was sad when people died, and impressed by plot twists I didn't expect. Also the introduction was hilarious.
This isn't a serious epic/tragedy like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, there aren't 100 characters and 500 pages of back story, it's a story about a couple of people trying to survive and I guess it's also about some heroes meeting for the first time (it's kind of a prequel to a larger series , that I will be looking into).
I would definitely suggest this book to teen readers, but that's definitely not to say older readers (like myself) wouldn't like it. There's plenty of action, lots of talk about prostitution, but not actually any detailed sex scenes. There's a strong female main character, an honorable male main character, and a not so honorable male main character and that's really what this story is about, characters.