Fantasy Aficionados discussion

Led by Chris!

I will have to see if I can buy this at the end of the month to join for September. Sounds like a good story.

Carol wrote: "Led by Chris!"

Oh no. Not that dude again...

oh wait...

Chris wrote: "Carol wrote: "Led by Chris!"

Oh no. Not that dude again...

oh wait..."

lol!

He does a good job!

I got to read the ARC of this book and thought it was amazing. It is a prequel to Riyria Revelations. Enjoy it! :)

Thanks, Carol...

I have the ARC loaded to the Nook while I wait for my pre-ordered paperback to come. Since I ordered from Amazon and got the free shipping, it will hold the book until the rest of my order comes in September. (That being The Rose and the Thorn).

So I'm set.

I started reading this last night. (Have to get a jump because classes are back in session next week.) A great indicator - I got very little sleep last night. I couldn't stop. I just had to keep meeting new people. This is my first journey into Riyria and I'm excited.

Hey all...thanks for reading The Crown Tower, feel free to leave me questions in the thread and I'll do what I can to answer them.

I love the Riyria Revelations so much and I'm really looking forward to this! I already have it and have been trying to make time to read it, so I'll join in. :)

I have my copy on my Kindle and see that audible.com has the audio version as well. I don't usually get a lot of audio books so I have some credits saved up and will get this one as well. I look forward to reading it.

I'm planning to reach this in a few days before I rejoin WOT.

I'm planning on reading this as well - can't wait!

I just finished. Another great book by Michael. I'll read anything that has Royce and Hadrian in it.

I just started Theft of Swords last week. Dangnabbit! I won't be able to catch up in time. I'll look in when I get there, tho :)

Just finished this and liked it immensely.

Michael wrote: "Hey all...thanks for reading The Crown Tower, feel free to leave me questions in the thread and I'll do what I can to answer them."

Hey Michael, do you have a FAQ somewhere? My first question -- probably asked before -- is how do you pronounce Riryria. In the four books I've read so far I've been pronouncing it 'Aria'

I plan to read this one and will probably read it before finishing Wintertide and Percepliquis

Don't know what MS will say, I got the audio books and so I pronounce it the way I heard the reader do it. LOL

I pronounce it Rye-ree-ah

As I remember Michael mentioned somewhere that the audiobooks nailed pronunciation exactly as he intended.

Anyone else besides me fence sitting as to whether to jump into Crown Tower without having read Revelations, or sit this read out and plow through the other six first? I read the first two chapters of Crown Tower and it's excellent, but I also picked up a copy of the Theft of Swords and it's also promising at first skim. Not sure I want to read the books out of order, even though Crown Tower is a prequel. Anyone else in this boat or otherwise have thoughts on the subject?

It won't matter. I've said elsewhere that if you haven't read the series this works as a prequel with a lot of foreshadowing. If you have read the series you get some background on things you've read. MS said it didn't really didn't matter if you'd read the series first.

Since this is potentially one of 12 books in a new series, I would finish the complete Revelations series first. Those books are pretty quick reads anyway. Besides, speaking just for myself, I enjoyed The Crown Tower a lot more knowing how the characters turn out in the future.

When I started it I noted how different the two characters are toward each other than they are as the series opens. But we get yo see the development and changes in them. The changes work especially with Royce. The interaction between the two of them is one of the things that sold me on the series.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "When I started it I noted how different the two characters are toward each other than they are as the series opens. But we get yo see the development and changes in them. The changes work especiall..."

Exactly! I think this is one of the things that is so appealing about these stories. I think most people crave a friendship this tight. Hadrian and Royce tie to our hope that we can find this too.

@Tina - you are not the only one who has problems figuring out how to pronounce Riyria. If I had thought this series would have "become something" I would have picked an easier word ;-)

But here you go it's rye-ear-ah
First syllable is the same as the bread, second the organ you hear with and the last is a sigh of relief.

@CR - I do think that reading in order of publication is a slightly better experience. After all you are exposed to the world and characters in the order I had originally intended. Plus there are little winks and nods to those "in the know" when reading Chronicles - this is nothing "big" and it doesn't affect the plot, but it can be fun.

That being said, it was important for me that people who prefer chronological order can read it without any spoilers, and I did have a number of beta readers who hadn't read Revelations before Chronicles - so I'm pretty confident that it works "both ways."

Michael wrote: "@CR - I do think that reading in order of publication is a slightly better experience. After all you are exposed to the world and characters in the order I had originally intended. Plus there are l..."

Thanks Michael.

Michael wrote: "@Tina - you are not the only one who has problems figuring out how to pronounce Riyria. ...But here you go it's rye-ear-ah"


Ah, thanks. That's a good way remember it.

I'm in.

I read this in a single sitting immediately after it downloaded to my Kindle. I'm looking forward to reading it a second time before "The Rose and The Thorn" comes out in September.

Based on Chris' recommendation my husband picked up the first in the series (audio). This is interesting because hubby usually doesn't do quest fantasy.

Chris. With great power comes great responsibility. :-D

Hmmm maybe I will sit this one out and read the books in publication order as Michael suggested. I can always add my thoughts later to this thread. That means going back out the Amazon.com (a very dangerous place for me!) and getting the Kindle editions of the others. I love my Kindle Fire!!!!

Ruh roh...

So far I've liked everything I've read by MS.

Guess it's almost September and the beginning of a long weekend -- perfect time to crack it open!

I zipped through this with delight and now I am waiting for Audible to give me an option to preorder The Rose & The Thorn, I would have thought it would be there by now.

Yeah, nothing yet.

Just finished the first chapter. I don't know why the author thought I'd need an introduction telling me fancy things about his wife and reading orders and such, but it was quite boring.
First chapter was nice. It felt like Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser from The First Book of Lankhmar which I read back in the 80s and have very fond memories of. I don't know if this will hold in the next couple of chapters but this is surely a good start! Especially the first sentence and scene - stolen bag given back - sucked me in.

I think the introduction is more meant for those who read the Revelations series already, and also Michael is unusually concerned about making sure the reader has a good experience with his books. But anyone reading this as your first book by him could easily skip that, or look at it later.

Since I just finished the Revelations recently, I figured this book would be kind of predictable, just filing in a few blanks - not so! That first sentence grabbed me and leads to a whole adventure for Hadrian that was never alluded to in the other books.

Yeah, MS seems very open with and to his readers. LOL. The intro addressed those who've read the series.

Like many here, I started reading the book last night, and it kept me up for several hours. Shouldn't have started so late. I didn't read all the novels of Riyria Revelations, only the first volume, Theft of Swords, but I must say that The Crown Tower reads much better. The narrative is very smooth, very professional, it flows fast and embroiders the readers in the story before they notice it. I look forward to following Hadrian on his adventures, although Royce is still unnamed. I can't wait for their introduction. Must be explosive.

So, to lead this now that it's September.

Discuss. In other words, continue as you've been doing. Heh...

I'll put up a couple more threads too. Michael is a member of this group and has offered to field questions, so I'll set him a thread for that.

^Look at him go, ladies and gentleman. You are in the hands of a master.

During of the last books discussions (Daughter of the Empire) one of the book's authors - Janny Wurts was actively involved and made very nice comments/insights about the book, its plot and writing process. I hope we can continue this tradition with Michael's participation.

I'm kinda reading both Theft of Swords and Crown Tower at the same time, still not sure if I will finish Crown now or wait till I crawl through all 6 of the revelations books. I echo Olga's thoughts that Crown's opening is more polished than Theft's, showing Michael's maturing as a writer (probably a validation for the infamous million word theorem) although I am enjoying Theft too.

I found the intro useful as a newbie to his books.

My initial impression after reading just a couple of chapters - the beginning is darker than the one of Riyria Revelations. The latter starts with the dynamic duo teaching amateur highway robbers how to do their job; this one starts with a gruesome murder (in Gwen's chapter).

Hadn't contemplated that. I'm about 85%, stayed up an hour later than should have Wednesday and gone midnight last night. Really enjoying it.

The series opens up with an already established partnership. There's already a sort of understanding and the "repartee" that makes "buddy" books (and for that matter movies, TV programs etc.) work so well. In Tower we see two individuals meeting and working said friendship out.

I already posted that I chose to start from the beginning book. I must say I really like Royce and Hadrian. The first part is read and I really loved it. On the second part now. These guys are great and I love the sarcastic humor that is being thrown around. I look forward to reading more adventures of these two!

It is an entertaining series which just keeps getting more exciting as you read on.