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subparcupcake's review against another edition
2.0
I listened to this on audio, and I fear it may have affected my opinion of it. I really wanted to like it, but found that I was underwhelmed. But a lot of that had to do with the reading of it.. The reader just wasn't my cup of tea. I tried hard to separate the story from the reader, but it was hard not to let the story become a little tainted.
Overall it was a nice little story.. But it seemed a little generic to me. Thieves, assassinations, a quest, a mysterious powerful wizard, been there and done that. That said, I'm usually a fan of plots like that. I happen to like a lot of traditional fantasy. But this one just didn't do it for me, for whatever reason.
Two stars for now (keep in mind two stars means I thought it was "ok", it's not as bad as it sounds), although I'd like to someday go back and actually read it to see if I like it more in print. I am planning on continuing on in the series, but no more audio for me.
Overall it was a nice little story.. But it seemed a little generic to me. Thieves, assassinations, a quest, a mysterious powerful wizard, been there and done that. That said, I'm usually a fan of plots like that. I happen to like a lot of traditional fantasy. But this one just didn't do it for me, for whatever reason.
Two stars for now (keep in mind two stars means I thought it was "ok", it's not as bad as it sounds), although I'd like to someday go back and actually read it to see if I like it more in print. I am planning on continuing on in the series, but no more audio for me.
vespertillio's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 really enjoyed this. Looking forward to the next book.
I read/listened to this book again almost immediately after finishing it the first time. This is very rare to me and means I enjoyed it even more than I initially thought. Now on to the second instalment!
I read/listened to this book again almost immediately after finishing it the first time. This is very rare to me and means I enjoyed it even more than I initially thought. Now on to the second instalment!
andrewdixon1000's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? No
4.0
songwind's review against another edition
4.0
This was an enjoyable fantasy adventure that I never would have encountered if I was not a user here on GoodReads.
The book centers around a pair of self-named thieves (though mercenary trouble-shooters might be a better description) who are framed for the murder of the king of the realm. Their only recourse is to accept the aid of the crown princess, who knew of the plot to kill her father and further knows that the two criminals are scapegoats. The kidnap the new king to protect him from the conspirators, and embark upon a journey that sees them tangled up in politics and struggles ancient and new.
The characters are likable and not too heavily steeped in fantasy cliche. The local power structure is nicely complex, which creates a believable political and historical landscape.
There are a few points that disappointed me, but for the most part they are minor. Esrahaddon's dialogue, for instance, was quite clumsy. Verb and subject agreement in the archaic form was haphazard, as was Esrahaddon's mastery of modern idiom. (Quite aside from the fact that after 1000 years, a living language's descendants are practically a whole new language rather than a different dialect.) The timeline for the burning of the Wind abbey was too rushed. 2 days after a fire big enough to burn everything in an abbey not made of stone, without the benefit of modern firefighting techniques, the site would still be too hot to walk around in, much less find things. There were a few more that stuck out to me at the time, but were not important enough to remain in my memory in any detail. All in all, though, these were minor quibbles and more than made up for by the rest of the book.
Hadrian and Royce remind me somewhat forcefully of another pair of thieves whose adventures I enjoy - Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser. The friends from Crown Conspiracy are considerably more moral and prone to acts of kindness than Lankmar's famous pair.
I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. In particular, I look forward to seeing what Sullivan does with the wizard Esrahaddon, the earl of Chadwick, and the monk Myron.
The book centers around a pair of self-named thieves (though mercenary trouble-shooters might be a better description) who are framed for the murder of the king of the realm. Their only recourse is to accept the aid of the crown princess, who knew of the plot to kill her father and further knows that the two criminals are scapegoats. The kidnap the new king to protect him from the conspirators, and embark upon a journey that sees them tangled up in politics and struggles ancient and new.
The characters are likable and not too heavily steeped in fantasy cliche. The local power structure is nicely complex, which creates a believable political and historical landscape.
There are a few points that disappointed me, but for the most part they are minor. Esrahaddon's dialogue, for instance, was quite clumsy. Verb and subject agreement in the archaic form was haphazard, as was Esrahaddon's mastery of modern idiom. (Quite aside from the fact that after 1000 years, a living language's descendants are practically a whole new language rather than a different dialect.) The timeline for the burning of the Wind abbey was too rushed. 2 days after a fire big enough to burn everything in an abbey not made of stone, without the benefit of modern firefighting techniques, the site would still be too hot to walk around in, much less find things. There were a few more that stuck out to me at the time, but were not important enough to remain in my memory in any detail. All in all, though, these were minor quibbles and more than made up for by the rest of the book.
Hadrian and Royce remind me somewhat forcefully of another pair of thieves whose adventures I enjoy - Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser. The friends from Crown Conspiracy are considerably more moral and prone to acts of kindness than Lankmar's famous pair.
I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. In particular, I look forward to seeing what Sullivan does with the wizard Esrahaddon, the earl of Chadwick, and the monk Myron.
is_book_loring's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful. There is just something so entertaining from stories wrote by Michael J. Sullivan. Even though the general idea is nothing sort of spectacular, but somehow the idea of two thieves as protagonists of the stories instead of usual heroes type just work out really good for me. Their characters that complimented each other created in such a wonderful way. I had such a fun read.
csdaley's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ktloureads's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
An adventurous ye olden buddy cop tale that is fun but lacks depth, especially with the main characters. I imagine we will learn more about Royce and Hadrian's backstories in later installments and I would be interested to see how they handle failure or loss. Having read most of the Legends of the First Empire series it was fun trying to pick out how those character's stories are told centuries later.
sazzyrazzy's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
felipeheld's review against another edition
5.0
What a beautiful start to this series! It's a short and such wholesome and warm book! I loved every word in it! So excited to read more about the Riyria Revelations!
kyceshep's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0