The Crown Tower

“My name is Hadrian Blackwater.”
“Congratulations.”
“Uh ... what's yours?”
“Leave me alone.”
― Michael J. Sullivan, The Crown Tower

Please give me a strong duo any day. Give me two characters that play on each other's strengths and weaknesses, that while the pair of them are lesser together, they will become unstoppable. This is, hands down, one of my favorite tropes. In this world, there is even a word for this kind of partnership, a Riyria. And this is the idea of collaboration; this companionship and partnership is the foundation for Michael J. Sullivan's The Crown Tower.

The Crown Tower is the first book of the Riyria Chronicles series. It is our first introduction to Hadrian Blackwater's and Royce Melborn's world. The Crown Tower is a book that helps lay the foundations of Royce and Hadrian's legendary relationship. It is the origin story that helps fill in some of the gaps in the later novels.

“Hadrian reeked of death. It wasn't the sort of stench others could smell or that water could wash, but it lingered on him like sweat-saturated pores after a long night of drinking.”

Much of this novel is told from the point of view of Hadrian. Hadrian is a wandering ex-soldier, war-torn, and tired. He seems so much older than his young years. Hadrian has seen so much death and destruction in his short life that he feels done with it all. Upon hearing about his father's death, Hadrian decides to meet with his father's friend Arcadius. Arcadius lets Hadrian know that he had to perform a task for him. He needs to steal a book from a tower, and he needs to do it as the partner of Royce. Royce is a man who would kill you as soon as look at you. Where Hadrian is clumsy, Royce is stealthy. Where Hadrian is loud and boisterous, Royce is taciturn. They are entirely different and would not make great partners.

Although much of the novel is around Hadrian and Royce, we are also introduced to Gwen. Gwen might be one of the best female characters in fantasy that I have ever read. Gwen, a whore at a tavern, has been waiting for the last five years for a man bloody and broken to come walking into her life. As per her mother's dying request, Gwen must wait. But as she waits, she starves or is used and beaten by the tavern owner. Her life is unsafe, and she needs to make a choice about her future.

“Holding the metal coins was like cupping summer or sunshine.”

What starts as a quest between to of the most unlikely people changes and develops across the novel's span. This development is exciting for me as a reader, and I am in a unique position because the Riyria novels are utterly unknown to me. I have a blank slate when it comes to Hadrian and Royce. I know absolutely nothing about this world. However, I can tell you from a standing start that this is a fantastic story. Firstly, the world-building is stellar but does not overshadow the characters. You have a general sense of what things look like and how everything fits into the world's pattern. The action is intense, especially the fight scenes. Hadrian is a weapons master, he carries three swords strapped to him, and it is exciting to see how fights play out. Royce is like a spider, stealthy and invisible till he strikes. Pretty much the opposite of Hadrian. Secondly, the dialog makes this book. The bantering between Royce and Hadrian is funny and realistic.

“I'm not going to kill these people,” Hadrian said. “They're nice people.”
“How do you know?”
“I talked to them.”
“You talked to me too.”
“You're not nice people.”
“I know, I know, I have those wolf eyes that good old Sebastian warned you about. Remember him? The nice man who, along with his nice lady friend, was planning to slit your throat?”
“He was right about you at least.”

Thirdly, this story feels very solid. It feels like Sullivan is setting the stage for something grand to come next; everything reads purposefully. All the details are essential, and I know that they are building to something great.

“We've planted the seeds. All we can do now is wait and see what grows.”

As I said, I did not know this story until it was recommended to me by Justine from whispersandwonders.com. Someone I think has perfect taste in novels and has not led me wrong yet. And, let me tell you this was a fun story. I can tell it is going to fabulous as I keep reading the books.

This is a buddy story of epic proportions. I am hooked, and I can't wait to read more.

There were two things I didn't like about this book. First, the pace. Maybe I got used to The Riyria Revelations' pace because I felt this book was slower in comparison. Some chapters felt unnecessary, and even though I didn't get bored, I wondered why they were so long. Second thing I didn't like about this book was Gwen. I like her, I really do, but not as a main character. It was interesting to see her side of the story and how she got to be the person she was; however, I expected this book to be more focused on Hadrian and Royce, not on her. I still want to continue the series, but I really want to see more of Riyria.

I read the Riyria Revelations, then I thought I would wait a while before reading this book. I mean, it's reasonable to take a break after six volumes in a universe, right? But I did have a sample chapter, just sitting there in the Kindle app. Just. Sitting. It wouldn't really hurt to just take a peek, would it?

I think you know what happened next. In a few minutes, there was less money in my bank account, but I had the full novel in my greedy hands, so I could get on with learning how Royce and Hadrian met. I read far more slowly this time, taking more time to savor the story. I know all too well that there's only one more novel available at the moment, and I'm trying to make myself wait for that one. Trying is the operative word, here. I enjoy Sullivan's work far too much to be very disciplined about it.

I absolutely recommend ALL of the books, but I do think it might be best to read them in the order in which they were published.

This book was amazing!! It was so fun to see how Hadrian and Royce met (and how much they didn't like each other in the beginning). Gwen was once again freaking awesome. I love her so much and her chapters were sort of sad but loved where they led to in the end. Alsoooo, loved the writing! The way Royce tried so hard in the end was heart breaking but it was nice to know the ending beforehand (thanks to Percepliquis

While I really enjoyed the Revelations series, I found this prequel novel to be somewhat lackluster. There are a lot of slow points. It provides the backstory for how Royce and Hadrian met, but it overall felt very anticlimactic. Gwen's backstory was nice. I will still read the remaining books in the Chronicles series though.

This was such a fun book. I loved both Royce, and Hadrian. I definitely have a new fictional character crush. Ugh. Didn't need another one of those. Gwen has a very special place in my heart as well. She kicks ass. Without actually kicking ass... Unlike Royce and Hadrian. The verbal exchanges between those two had me laughing out loud. Cannot wait for the next book to get to my house. If I could meet the UPS driver halfway so I could get it sooner, I totally would.

Executive Summary: This one starts slow, but ends really strong, and is a must read for any fans of the Riyria RevelationsAudio book: Mr. Reynolds once again does an excellent job with his narration. I particularly enjoyed his voices for Pickles and Staind, but all of his voices are well done as usual.Full ReviewThe book starts with a note from Mr. Sullivan covering two important things about writing a prequel to a completed series:1) Too much of a good thing/ruining a good thing by going on too long2) Reading order for new readersI want to cover both quickly at the start to give my take on them. For the first point, so far, so good. I had just devoured his original series and was eager to jump right in. This book did start slow, and had me worried a bit, but once it got going it was really enjoyable and makes for a great addition to the series.Mr. Sullivan says he made it a point to allow readers to choose their entry point, and I think he makes a good effort at it. I had a friend read this book first and he enjoyed it and wasn't confused.However, try as he will there are some things I'd consider spoilers in this book, which is pretty much inevitable with a prequel. They may only be minor things and I tend to be overly sensitive about that kind of thing. Either way I think you'll get more out of this book having read the original series first. There are definitely some subtleties and backstory that will missed by someone who starts with this book instead of [b:The Crown Conspiracy 4345290 The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1) Michael J. Sullivan https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1313141264s/4345290.jpg 21574260]So on to the book. There are two main POVs for most of this book: Hadrian and Royce Gwen? I was a bit surprised about the Gwen story as I didn't know much coming in. The start of her story is a large part of why I found the start of this book slow. It was worth it in the end however. Once her story got going I found it really interesting, and made for a nice contrast from Hadrian's story which was almost entirely devoid of woman. Gwen was an interesting minor character in the original series, and it's fun to see her promoted here.Hadrian's story starts a bit slow as well, but not as much and I did enjoy the character of Pickles a lot. Overall the book really doesn't get going until Royce and Hadrian are together though.Coming fresh from [b:Percepliquis 12174312 Percepliquis (The Riyria Revelations, #6) Michael J. Sullivan https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1312541516s/12174312.jpg 17145858], there had been a fair bit of mention of the “Crown Tower job” and I think Mr. Sullivan does a good job of fleshing that out into a full story here.The book finishes a lot stronger than it starts, and I made it a point to get some extra listening time in on the last day to make sure I'd finish.As a prequel, this really adds more detail to the back-stories of Royce, Hadrian and Gwen, and adds a lot of depth to the characters. Royce especially. I'm looking forward to reading about other past adventures of the Riyira pair. On to [b:The Rose and the Thorn 17163514 The Rose and the Thorn (The Riyria Chronicles, #2) Michael J. Sullivan https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1362121827s/17163514.jpg 23589581]!

Highly recommended to any Riyria fans. However, being a prequel to the Riyria Revelations trilogy, the characters spend a significant amount of time confused about the motivations of other characters. Anyone who has read the Revelations series already knows those motivations, so some of the many paragraphs spent on characters wondering what's going on becomes a bit of a grind to get through. It's like knowing who the murderer is at the end of the Scream movie before going into it and you're just waiting for all the characters to catch up to where you are. Still, it's a great book, and despite my concerns, I'd still recommend you start with the Revelations series as I think the characters fair better when you are thrust into the middle of their adventures. You'll stand a better chance of being “hooked” by this series.

I was ready to stop reading Riyria reading after I finished The Crown Conspiracy. I struggled through the slightly better Avempartha with the promise of better things to come. And come they did. Heir of Novron was a an amazing book (or two), and probably an all time favorite of mine. I'm pleased to find more of that amazing-ness in this book.

And I must admit nothing is cooler than watching the main characters getting manipulated into being what they are and doing what they do, by Arcadius, Rehn and Gaunt's sister(I'm starting to assume that these people are the Elderem Theoremship, considering that Arcadius knows Danbury Blackwater). Oh, and Kine put events into motion decades ago by sending Gwen and her mother to Medford, not to mention befriending Royce and giving him Alverstone.

These are the kinds of books and stories that you wish could just keep going forever and ever.

I've been procrastinating reading this series just because I don't want it to be quite over yet (while yes, I know there's more coming), but I'd hate to arrive at a point where I have no new Royce and Hadrian stories to look forward to.

As for this particular entry - Hell yeah! For some reason I always assumed the Chronicles series would interest me less than Revelations, as there's a lot of interesting development between these two (and other characters) in the latter that changes the dynamic completely, but I am also totally into this. Gwen also gets some much needed development, and I just want everyone to succeed at everything.

This is the first of a possible 8 (I think) books that detail the lives of Hadrian and Royce before the events of the Riyria Revelations series. In this first book, we learn how Hadrian and Royce are brought together and how two people so different become a team—yes, it's the Crown Tower mission and Arcadius puts them up to it. The book starts out focused on Hadrian and his return from Calis. He's making his way to Sheridan, the university, because of a letter from Arcadius about the dying wish of Hadrian's father. After disembarking from his boat into the city of Vernes, Hadrian is quickly introduced to a little man named Pickles who steals his bag, runs away, and then shows back up holding his bag and offering to help him find his way.

Later in the book Hadrian is making his way up to Sheridan and is on a barge with three other merchants, a woman, and a man wearing a hood who keeps to himself and doesn't talk much. The merchants and woman are convinced that the man wearing the hood is a killer from the city of Vernes and conspire to kill him. Hadrian, being the guy he is, implores them not to because they have no proof. After a few days of traveling Hadrian wakes up to find a barge with everyone dead or missing.Assuming it was the man in the hood—since his body is nowhere to be found—he makes his way to the nearby town, Colnora. He only stays for a few days after bringing the sheriff to where the barge with the murdered victims was, but it was missing. The sheriff was a bit suspicious of Hadrian so he had to get out of there quickly. From there he makes it to Sheridan, finds the professor and is sent on his mission to the Crown Tower. The mission goes awry the first time when stealing the book as Royce ditches Hadrian since he's _stupid_ and slow. Hadrian realizes he's been left alone and heads back to Sheridan to find Royce already back in the professor's office with the book they were supposed to steal. The professor, frustrated with Royce, asks them to return the book back to the Crown Tower as the whole point of this mission was to have Royce and Hadrian work as a _team_.Royce is furious at this point, but this is the one thing that will grant Royce his freedom from Arcadius's debt. They practice climbing, but Hadrian just can't get a hang of the hand claws that Royce uses, so in frustration they decide that climbing harnesses might be a better call. After figuring that out they head back to Crown Tower and climb it. During the climb Royce leaves Hadrian in a lot of sticky situations but he keeps getting himself out of them. At the top, Royce's internal alarms are going off and something is _different_ from the last time he was there.Royce sneaks into the hallway and sees one priest sitting there and before he can do anything Hadrian stumbles into the hallway panting. The priest sees them and starts to scream. Royce kills the priest, they put the book back, and run out of the tower—Royce running one way, Hadrian the other. Hadrian makes it back to the rope and harnesses and sees two harnesses. Royce on the other hand, runs into four guards, which is about two too many. Hadrian realizing that Royce—the man who doesn't care for Hadrian whatsoever and who has left Hadrian for dead several times—is in trouble, goes to his aid. It's at this point that Royce finally sees just how good Hadrian is with his swords. Hadrian manages to take down a few guards and Royce runs for the harnesses, but encounters a very strange looking guard in strange looking clothes with a strange looking weapon (even in a spoiler, I won't spoil who this is). Royce has no chance with this guard and takes a rather severe hit and is only saved in time by Hadrian. Hadrian's sword is destroyed by this strange guard's strange weapon, so he's forced to bring out his spadone. Fighting faster that Royce has ever seen, Hadrian is parrying and working the strange weapon and keeping the guard at bay, but he won't be able to keep it up. Royce sees that there's blood by the crenelation that's behind the guard and Hadrian must have noticed it too because Hadrian manages to shove the spadone into the guard's breastplate, not hurting the guard, but pushing him over the side of the tower.They make it down the side of the tower with little fanfare and are forced to jump into the river to stay hidden. All the while, both Hadrian and Royce are injured, with Royce being the more injured of the two. Via the river, they manage to make their way to Iberton—a town they passed through on their way to the Crown Tower—and to the inn where they went before and were welcomed and protected. Only the owner is there and they come in and start patching up once the owner lets them in. However, after a bit Royce notices that the owner is gone and presumably reporting the incident to the church, so they leave that building and make for the trees.After a bit of rest, Royce sees a pack of men with dogs on their trail so they make for a nearby house. The house happens to belong to a man who served under the noble that Hadrian befriended at the inn in Iberton, the same man who protected them when they were being looked for back then. The home's owner gives them food, while the wife is worried about the repercussions of them helping Hadrian and Royce. The soldiers eventually show up and start beating on the door. In an attempt to protect the family in the house, Royce tells the men outside that if they try to open the door, they'll kill the family—Hadrian leans over and tells them that they won't really do this, that it's just ensuring that they aren't implicated.We're then treated to a final showdown as Tom the Feather (the owner of the house) picks up his bow, Hadrian his swords, and Royce his dagger. They rush out the door, Hadrian handles the soldiers, Royce goes to cut the knight out of his horse, and Tom shoots the soldiers. Royce's job of cutting down the knight works but the horse falls on his leg in the process. The kite shield that Tom gave to Hadrian manages to protect Hadrian from most of the arrows, but he takes one from the last hidden archer, and Tom makes it out just fine killing the archers.Both of them bleeding, Hadrian and Royce seem to have given up, but a cart stumbles it's way over to them as Tom yells for the man. We know this man from the secondary storyline, it's Dixon from Medford. So, about that secondary storyline: Gwen DeLancy is a whore, she didn't realize it at first, but the only place she can get a job, food, and housing is a bar in the Lower Quarter of Medford. She originally thought she'd just be a server, but soon realizes that also means she's whored out to the customers. She tries to escape once, but with no luck. And every time she tries to escape or do something willful, Raynor Grue, the owner, hurts her and tries to keep her under his thumb. After one of the whores is killed by a frequent customer, she's afraid and runs to the sheriff who only asks that the customer pay compensation to Grue. That customer promises to come back once everything is paid off and ask for Gwen. Grue actually refuses the man, but Gwen knows the customer is going to kill one of the whores anyways.Knowing no other ways out, Gwen convinces all of the ladies to leave Grue's bar and go to the abandoned building across the street. They get some blankets and some food for the first night, but it's a cold and miserable night. They manage the night and Gwen shows that she has some gold coins which she then uses to buy the writ to operate the brothel and uses another coin to have some carpentry work on the house to fix it up. After a while, Gwen has built herself something of a place and the artisans are happy to have the work, but Raynor Grue is upset that she's making money off of his whores. He sets her up for failure saying that he'll take over the business and give a cut to the local quarter assessor, the man who can approve or deny Gwen's writ. Gwen finds this out using her _gift_ and makes the same deal Grue made with the assessor, but instead she makes the deal with the magistrate, the man above the assessor.There are two more relevant parts to Gwen in the context of these notes. Her _gift_ is the ability to see the future of people. At one point, the customer who killed one of the whores comes to their place and wants..._service_. Gwen will never let him have one of her ladies, but he's adamant and Dixon, the House's normal protector, isn't around to save them. Gwen looks into his eyes and sees his future, she sees that _he_ (a man her mother told her is in Gwen's future and must be protected at **all** costs) will end up killing this man (the customer who killed the whore) and it will be so horrible that Gwen is apologizing to him. The man is scared and leaves telling them he'll never be back. The other relevant part of her gift is when Gwen looks at Dixon, the man with the cart, and realizes Dixon will end up saving _him_ and that he'll need to take his cart, get a horse, and go to a certain spot where Gwen know's _he'll_ be. Well, if you're this far along, you might realize that _he_ is Royce and that Gwen is meant to protect him. But why?

This was an excellent book, one that I'd hardily recommend to someone who's read the Riyria Revelations already. I originally thought that I'd be better off reading the books in chronological order rather than published order, but knowing what you know from Revelations only makes the Chronicles just that much better. It gives you a feeling that you know a secret and you know more about the story then the characters. This book is definitely worth reading, just make sure you read Revelations first.

I quite enjoyed this. Origins stories can be a bit tricky but it's handled pretty well by Michael. We get a much richer understanding of our two lads but its really Gwen that is the highlight of this book. Must read for a follower of the series but it has no relation to the events that follow. Onwards