So what I thought was three books
turns out to be six and while that is fine, I’ve decided not to continue on
reading this series.
I’ve been reading fantasy novels
for decades and I’ve reached a point where this genre no longer surprises me; it's all the same, predictable and bland. But I'm still drawn to the field, so I'm always looking for someone, anyone to take those same tropes and give them a fresh re-telling.
If I was fourteen, fifteen and just discovering fantasy, I may have
been impressed and want to continue on, but Michael J. Sullivan is the reason
why I find this sort of fiction difficult to enjoy now: he's a talented author rolling out same old, same old. Sigh.
As mentioned in a previous post,
I had read The Crown Tower, the first
book in Sullivan’s prequel series to The
Rivria Revelations, which the author originally self-published as six books
(The Crown Conspiracy, Avempartha, Nyphron Rising, The
Emerald Storm, Wintertide,
and Percepliquis). When Orbit acquired them, they repackaged the
six books into three omnibus volumes (Theft of Swords, Rise of
Empire, and Heir of Novron) containing two books
each. While this was a fiscally responsible way to do this, I was sort of put
off by this design, if only because I would’ve liked them re-issued separately.
But that is just me.
Anyways, after reading The Crown
Tower, I decided to begin reading the original series, despite some reservations.
Those uncertainties arose due to some negative reviews I read, in particular a
2012 appraisal from the site StrangeHorizons that tore the novel(s) to shreds. And while Good Reads was filled
with positive appraisals, the doubts I had about The Crown Tower I took in after completing
that book sort of affected my views on The
Crown Conspiracy (or Theft of Swords…this
is very confusing). This is why, at times, when searching for a new writers, going to Good Reads, going to the comment section on Powell's or other e-retailers can influence me. Sad, but true.
In the first book, we are is
introduced to Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner,
Hadrian Blackwater, who make a profitable living carrying out dangerous
assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in
the murder of the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out.
Yeah, that’s about it. What I
find, and sort noted in the prequel book, was The Crown Conspiracy plays out more like a Western than a true
fantasy novel. Or, if you like, a meshing of medieval England(?) with
every trope of that genre has put to paper and film (and are the elves here supposed to be
replacements for the Native Americans or black people, or a combination of
both?). There is a wizard, though Sullivan skips on actually explaining
anything about how magic works here. At times, it seems the idea of magical
aspects in his world comes across more as a myth; it seems to have all
existed long ago and nobody is sure if the tales are true or made up children
stories.
While Sullivan skimps a lot on
the World Building themes that can bog down other books in this genre, he
tries to build up the supposed animosity between Royce and Hadrian, which if you read
anything on the series, indicates they supposedly hate each other. I mean, while they may approach
the same things in different ways, they both seem to respect each other. Of
course, The Crown Conspiracy takes
place twelve years after The Crown
Tower (which introduced the characters), so I guess they founded a mutual appreciation
society in those years.
But the biggest problem with this
book is how everything, and I mean everything, lands at the corner of
Convenience and Coincidence. Part of the problem lies within the premise to begin
with. How could two extremely smart men as Hadrain and Royce fall for the job
that gets the story going? Sullivan clearly paints them as highly intelligent thieves
and mercenaries, and the ease in which they stumble into the trap makes them astoundingly
stupid. Then, as someone aides in their
escape, they meet Myron, the lone survivor of destroyed Abbey, who also
has an eidetic memory and (conveniently) is also the son
of a rival to man who hatched this convoluted plot to begin with. With Myron in
tow, he’s now able to tell Hadrain and Royce the long history of this land in great detail. And while people with Myron’s ability exist, I found this way of
telling the story rather contrived and unbelievable. While I understand the need for exposition, the choices made here seem lazy.
Then let’s get to the villain of
this piece, which is clear from the moment he’s introduced. I never doubted for
a movement that Uncle Percy Braga (Percy!!! Yeah, beyond Percy Jackson, almost
all fictional characters named Percy turns out to be villains –or misguided
like Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter books)
was the architect of this coup. This upsets me more, because it’s so obvious. I
mean, after some 40 years of reading, it is hard to surprise me, but, as noted, the
challenge for me when finding new authors in a genre I have been reading that
long is how they take the same themes and twist them in a new direction, much
what George R.R. Martin did -even if I've not completed that series.
In the end, I came to the
conclusion that Michael J. Sullivan is going offer us nothing new here. And
while I enjoy the sometimes sitcom-style banter between Royce and Hadrain, it’s not enough to continue
on reading the other five books in this series.
And what about the prequel books?
I do have the second book eventually coming from the library, so I may end up
reading it because it needs to be transferred in. But I also now see why
Sullivan admitted he has no idea how long the prequel series will continue, as
I noticed in this book the tendency to have characters mention events that took
place in the past, but Sullivan does not go into detail with them. This
indicates to me some of those previous adventures that only got a sentence or
two, will be expanded into prequel novels, like the history between the men and
Gwen which was explained in The Crown
Tower.
But, alas, I have many, many
other things I do want to read, so this writer and this series will now end
here.
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