Name: The Crown Tower
ISBN: 9780316243711

Michael J. Sullivan

The Crown Tower

Anyaconda

This was so much fun! Loved the dynamic between Hadrian and Royce and also loved Gwen's chapters. 
Picking up book 2 from the library today.

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Is there anything more fun that revisiting old friends? In the case of Riyria, there is. Getting said friends’ origin stories, including the birth of their epic friendship, is incredibly gratifying. I fell in love with Hadrian and Royce in Theft of Swords, and getting to see how they came together in the first place was a blast. There’s something safe about reading an origin story. Since we’ve seen their future escapades, you go in knowing that everything is going to turn out okay. While a big chunk of the book centers around Hadrian and Royce, we also get Gwen’s origin story. She’s such an awesome character. I absolutely adore all three of them. Also, both this series and its predecessor are the epitome of classic-voiced fantasy in my mind, and they’re such a cozy setting to fall into. Yes, there are bad things happening, but there’s a positivity charging the narrative that I find comforting. My only complaint is that it felt like the story ended too soon. Thankfully, I have the next book sitting on my shelf, and I’ll definitely be getting to it soon.

Jenna Kathleen

I think I'll read Theft of Swords before continuing with the prequel series, but I felt this was a great introduction to the partnership and strange friendship of Hadrian and Royce. When I read the Sampler, the constant thought I had was "how did these two even become partners?" They are so different, but they compliment each other so well and The Crown Tower shows how that came to be.
For the first time in a long time, when I got to the end, I said, "That's it?!" out loud in a room full of people. Can't wait to read more Riyria!