My Newest Favorite Book Series

Title: The Crown Tower

Genre: Fantasy/ Action- Adventure

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

What captured my attention with this series were all the great reviews. The review of plot further intrigued me; two men as similar as oil and water are forced to be partners. Sounded to me like a good set-up for an amusing read. It did not let me down. The Crown Tower is the first of two prequels for the Riyria Revelations. Written after the Revelations trilogy, I also suspected it might be better written as the author would be more seasoned by this point.

We have Royce and we have Hadrian. Royce is our deliciously dark bad-boy and Hadrian is our noble and honorable optimist. Naturally upon meeting they distrust and hate each other instantly. Knowing these characters are in further stories together, you naturally assume they will eventually gain a respect for one another, but you also find it equally mystifying how that will eventually come to be.

The Crown Tower is stated to be an independent read from the rest of the series, but I disagree. The ending of this book leaves you, without a doubt, craving the next book to learn what happens next. It ends on more of a pause than an actual finality.

Which brings me to... . 

Title: The Rose and the Thorn

Genre: Fantasy/ Action- Adventure

Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

Ah, the gents are back. Whether they have learned how to get along is still a matter of debate.

Sadly I did not find it as enjoyable as the 2nd. Still a good story & well worth the read, but some of the writing was a little cringe-worthy and pulled me out of the story. I've seen this happen before with older books in series and I think a drain on creativity as the story gets older to the author might have something to do with it. Regardless, it'll satisfy curiosity caused by the end of #1 and has a very strong, well-written ending.