The Crown Conspiracy, the first book of a planned series of six novels called The Riyria Revelations, reacts against the gritty, realistic sorts of fantasy popular today and returns to the kinder, more pastoral early days of the genre that spawned the farm boy and frumpy wizard motifs. But since I'm late to the genre, I haven't actually read a high enough volume of classic fantasy to sigh wearily about the same old same old. The stories I'm used to are written by sadistic, potty-mouthed authors who devise plotlines tortuous enough to make astronauts dizzy while they gnaw on a fresh femur of a main character they recently killed off.
So when I first started reading The Crown Conspiracy, I was, ironically, a bit disarmed by the honest, straightforward style of the story. I don't mean the story's boring or flat—I mean it reads like the kind of direct, natural story someone would tell you in a tavern corner, without any rehearsal or greater agenda than to entertain. Granted, Michael Sullivan hints that the sixth book will be a doozy and socks will get knocked off. This is awesome to hear of course, but I realize,
having finished half the series already (reviews coming soon!), I don't need plot twists to keep me reading. I've grown quite fond and comfortable of the fact that when I open up one of these books, I won't get bombarded by sudden character betrayals and earth-shattering turns of events every other page. I haven't settled in and relaxed with a story for a while, if you know what I mean, and really enjoy the easy-going mood. Old, for me, is the new new.
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The Crown Conspiracy is about two rough but lovable thieves who accept the wrong sort of assignment—the sort that leaves them hanging in chains in the dungeon, charged with regicide—and their subsequent efforts in getting out of the mess and down to the bottom of things.
These two characters, Royce and Hadrian, carry the book almost effortlessly. Their banter and relationship with each other are natural and entertaining. Plus, Sullivan teases us with bare snippets about their pasts. Royce has a tattoo from a prison where no one has ever escaped from. Hadrian gives us a glimpse of just how good he is with swords by countering a
supposedly undefendable attack:
"How did you do that?" Mauvin asked. "If performed correctly, which it was, the Vi'shin Flurry has no defense!"
Hadrian shrugged. "It does now."
Love it. The second and third books reveal more about Hadrian's fighting skills, but for now, you'll just have to be tantalized.
So not only are the two guys awesome in the present, they were undoubtedly even more badass when they were younger.
The adventure that follows involves lots of familiar archetypes, all performing their established roles to the T. We have a displaced prince, a princess who needs rescuing, an old wizard trapped in a timeless prison, a scholarly monk (not the kung-fu kind unfortunately), and an unsavory dwarf who's really good at building things.
I have no patience for nobility in fantasy in general (with
exception for the inhabitants of Westeros, that is) and don't care about the prince and princess at all. I like the monk Myron a lot. He's spent almost his entire life at an abbey and has never even seen a woman before, among other things:
"There's a brown horse!" the monk said in amazement. "I didn't know they came in brown!"
His bright-eyed wonder at the world around him as he travels with the thieves is absolutely my favorite part of the book.
I'm a big lotsa magic person and wished there were more magic and sorcery about. The unscrutable wizard Esrahaddon only has a couple of nice scenes in the first half of the book before he just literally walks off the stage and is absent for the second half. I know Sullivan is saving him for pivotal moments later on in the series and having him do covert secret magic stuff in the background while everyone's not looking, but I'd love to follow him around.
Michael Sullivan wrote each book of his series to be mostly self-contained. They focus on particular episodes in the
grand arc of things and resolve their own storylines satisfyingly. This is the case here with The Crown Conspiracy, which has a definite ending, but also some interesting loose ends to lure you back. I personally don't mind stories that take multiple books to resolve, and actually dislike recaps and "Previously on The Riyria Revelations..." sort of redundant information to catch people up, but it's still a nice service Sullivan does for those who don't like lingering plotlines. (I just want to be mean here and say I don't understand people who would read the second book of a series first. I mean, why?)
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I want to point out the excellent cover art, which Sullivan drew himself. He got away with this because he owned his own graphics and layout company before he became an author and, upon seeing some dreadful covers his publisher came up with, convinced them his covers were better. He mentioned how he doesn't want to intrude on the reader's imaginings of his characters and scenes and specifically chose an evocative landscape for the cover. It's understated and handsome, and lacks the telltale frenzied ADD flash of
high-powered marketing. Also, no damned hooded figures of mystery in sight! I have very strong opinions about covers, a topic I know's been discussed ad nauseum before all over the blogs, but I can't bear not to throw in my couple turnips into the pot. This book's cover art, the whole series in fact, is very fine, and I wish more publishers would get authors involved in the cover creation process. I'll say more in a later post and stop the hijack now.
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Read this book to get the bitter taste of grit out of your mouth! It's like honey and tea after a night of cheap vodka. 
