The Crown Conspiricy

4.25 out of 5 stars – See this review and others here.

Michael J. Sullivan writes some really delightful fantasy stories. Having now finished two of his novels (see my review of Age of Myth) I have a better sense of his overall writing style–charming characters, witty dialogue, swift-moving plots, adventure, humor, wizards, political intrigue, etc. I'll take that combination any day of the week.

Something else I noted in my prior reading of Sullivan was his ability to construct interesting side characters. Myron, the wide-eyed monk, is another instant classic. Similarly, Royce and Hadrian, the novel's protagonists, are a very charismatic duo. Their absence from any scene immediately makes it less compelling.

There is certainly a sense of a “long game” being set up in The Crown Conspiracy that will span the six novels of the series, and I'll certainly be following things through to the end to see how it all unfolds (assuming the books maintain this level of quality).

I really didn't think that the story would live up to the hype but I was wrong. I enjoyed the way that the “bad guy” kept flip-flopping around to be different characters depending on how the on-going events were interpreted. My only complaint would be that I wanted more time with the thieves and I guess having a whole series of books following after will have to satisfy me. (Heh!)