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Tower Lord

(Raven's Shadow #2)

Anthony Ryan (Goodreads Author)

4.17 · Rating details · 37,564 ratings · 1,678 reviews

“The blood-song rose with an unexpected tune, a warm hum mingling recognition with an impression of safety. He had a sense it was welcoming him home.”

Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior of the Sixth Order, called Darkblade, called Hope Killer. The greatest warrior of his day, and witness to the greatest defeat of his nation: King Janus’s vision of a Greater Unified Realm drowned in ...more

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Hardcover, US edition, 602 pages

Published July 1st 2014 by Ace Hardcover (first published 2014)

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May 19, 2019 Petrik rated it liked it · review of another edition

2.5/5 stars

On its own, Tower Lord is not a bad book. But as a sequel, it was disappointing.

The first time I finished reading Blood Song, it was in 2017. Since then, I honestly haven’t mustered the courage to continue past it due to the infamous negativity—I honestly never see the last installment of a series being called disappointing as often and widely as Raven’s Shadow trilogy—surrounding the sequels. I love Blood Song very much, I just finished rereading it a few weeks ago and I still think of it as one of the best fantasy debuts of ...more

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Dec 01, 2013 Faye, la Patata rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dark-and-gritty, complex-hero-heroine, epic, adult-but-no-sex, best-books-i-ve-ever-read, military, fantasy, complex

Let me tell you a story.

Around December 2012, a good friend of mine, Kureha, approached me to say that there was this book on Amazon that was getting huge attention. She told me I should check it out especially since I was starting to read more epic fantasy. Yup, you guessed it: that book was Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. I got myself a copy and read it in two sittings, and was in a huge hangover for days after that. It was one of the best epic fantasies I've ever read, and very few have come close ...more

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Jun 29, 2014 Plushie rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

Rating: 2.5/5

I was lucky to to have just finished Blood Song recently, and to my utter delight, its sequel, Tower Lord, was due for release not long after. I was excited! There would be no year long wait to see what happens to Vaelin as he journeys back home after 5 long years of absence. The book description only served to heighten my appetite as it sounded like Vaelin would have to face more hardships, tough decisions and grave responsibilities ahead.

It's unfortunate th Rating: 2.5/5

I was lucky to to have just finished Blood Song recently, and to my utter delight, its sequel, Tower Lord, was due for release not long after. I was excited! There would be no year long wait to see what happens to Vaelin as he journeys back home after 5 long years of absence. The book description only served to heighten my appetite as it sounded like Vaelin would have to face more hardships, tough decisions and grave responsibilities ahead.

It's unfortunate that after all the excitement, I couldn't but feel a bit cheated with Tower Lord. I feel deceived because the title and the inner jacket synopsis is very misleading. By reading the book description, you'd expect the book to be centered on Vaelin's exploits as the titular "Tower Lord". There isn't an inkling that the so called "Tower Lord" would in fact only be featured in a mere 25% of the book! There are also no indications that the story would turn Vaelin's story as the Tower Lord into more of a sideshow, while dividing the rest of its attention to 3 other character's stories. Nope, there's absolutely no mention of any of the other POV characters in the blurb at all. So to say I was caught off guard is putting it mildly.

Still, after the initial confusion, I continued on, hoping the different POVs would somehow converge and tie in with Vaelin's. I had hoped each story would be an individual thread that would eventually come together, with Vaelin's acting as the center, and weave a brilliant tapestry. Sadly, the flames of hope never became anything but a pitiful smoulder. Rather than using the other POVs to compliment Vaelin's story, or to do some inter-character development along side him, the POVs for the most part were separate and didn't have much to do with each other.

I have nothing against books with multiple POVs, but when the first book is written entirely in one person's point of view, a sudden change in format like this must be dealt deftly, since most people can get really attached to the main voice. Perhaps my opinions would have been different if I didn't just finish reading Blood Song and had time to distant myself from Vaelin's voice, but as it stands, I'm still very much attached to him. I wanted to see more of Vaelin, and not have him only occupy a quarter of the book. That and often doing some pretty mundane things as well. Needless to say, I felt these new POVs took away too much focus from his story. All of Vaelin's efforts and heroism from the last book felt trivialized and pushed aside for these characters I cared less about.

Also, a huge draw of Blood Song for me was the camaraderie between Vaelin and his Sixth Order brothers, but unfortunately that was barely to be found here. Caenis, for instance, was someone I was very interested to see a POV from, but he was not given one and had a relatively minor role. Not to mention, his cold attitude towards Vaelin felt abrupt. Frentis is my second favourite character from Blood Song and I was ecstatic he got his own POV. However, after a few chapters from him, I started to find myself skimming through his story, hoping he would (view spoiler)

While I appreciate Ryan's attempt to diversify his narrative by adding more female characters, and writing in two strong female POVs, they did not evoke enough empathy for me to care about them in a significant way. Princess Lyrna is one of my least favourite character from Blood Song, and her POV did nothing to change those feelings. Her story did not inspire much sympathy or interest from me. I actually like Reva, but as a new character, she had a lot ground to cover in order to catch up to characters I've already spend a lot of time with and developed affections to. Moreover, while her story does diverge later, she interacts a lot with Vaelin, which in all honesty, her POV could probably be taken out and be told from his point of view. As it is, I felt it eroded too much into his POV.

I wished Anthony Ryan kept the same POV format as Blood Song, or at least utilized the multiple POV format from the very beginning, rather than introducing it now. Due to it's singular POV focus, Blood Song was able to cover a large amount of plot over a long expanse of time, making the book feel packed and rich. On the other hand, while Tower Lord's splitting of the story into 4 POVs that runs parallel within a much shorter timeline allows readers to see the world with a wider scope, it also makes its plot feel much thinner. It also doesn't help that Tower Lord sometimes feels like an overly long 600 page set up for the next book, especially when seen in the light of its non-conclusion ending. Blood Song, while promises more to come, at least had a satisfying end. Now, I have to probably wait years before any satisfying conclusion would be met.

The new change in format is definitely going to split the opinions of the fans of the first book. Looking at the current reviews on Amazon.com will confirm this. People who want to see the story take a broader, epic scope and through different perspectives are going to love the new change. However, people who fell in love with Vaelin and expected the story to continue to focus on his journey is going to be sorely disappointed. I unfortunately fall in the second category. ...more

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Feb 06, 2018 Mayim de Vries rated it it was ok

“You know who I am,” he said. “Who are you?”
She gave a mirthless smile. “I am a songbird in a cage. And now so are you.”

On some level I do envy those who never ventured beyond the Blood Song. In spite of my reservations against this book, I thought it was in many ways and on many levels an outstanding piece of fantasy. In contrast, Tower Lord is just an average read. Whatever magic sang on the pages of the previous instalment, it is silent here. For me, the song has definitely ended.

The novel start/>On ...more

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Sep 05, 2014 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-5-stars, chick-i-want-to-hang-out-with, buddy-read, kick-ass-heroines, book-boyfriend-material, o-captain-my-captain, re-read, bro-mantic, fantastic-fantasy, super-sidekicks

Reread before the final book release

Possible Minor Spoilers for BloodSong

While Bloodsong is completely Vaelin’s journey The Tower Lord opens up more of this world by showing the story from multiple PoVs. This was good and bad for me as I am so attached to Vaelin that having to share this book with other characters meant I missed him for a lot of it. The other PoVs are good and some I liked more than others but with most books that have shifting PoV chapters it takes a while for all ...more

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Feb 11, 2018 Choko rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-grim

*** 3.75 ***

I am not exactly sure how I feel about this installment in the Raven Shadow Series. It is getting interesting, it is keeping its violent edge, and the story is a bit more spread geographically, since our heroes, Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior of the Sixth Order, Princes Lyrna, young warrior and brother of the Sixth Order Frentis, the newly introduced young bastard daughter of the Trueblade Reva, and the man who brings it all together in his chronicles, the Historian and slave Veniers ...more

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Sep 01, 2014 Gavin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

This was even better than Blood Song. Telling the story from the perspective of four POV characters was a masterstroke. It gave the book a more epic feel and added depth to characters like Lyrna and Fretis. It also introduced a great new character in Reva.

The story was a bit dark since if focused around repelling an invasion by the Valorian Empire, but there was enough humor, mystery, and romance to keep things from getting too bleak.

I really loved this and the series has become a new favorite ...more

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Jul 03, 2014 H P rated it it was ok

I was really excited for this book and have been waiting with anticipation for this to come out. Tower Lord however is but a shadow of Blood Song. While Blood Song had a tight plot and pacing with an interesting narrative, the Tower Lord is filled with pacing issues and rather uninteresting POVs. Much of the book was about traveling around, and the action when it happened was rather boring. In the first one we had a band of brothers with each being good in a specific skill. The sequel however ha ...more

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May 03, 2014 Conor rated it it was amazing

Shelves: awesome-books-are-awesome

4.5 Stars

Tower Lord is the highly anticipated follow-up to Anthony Ryan’s brilliant debut: Blood Song. Ryan was undoubtedly under a lot of pressure to produce a worthy sequel to his massively successful self-published debut and in my opinion he’s delivered in a big way. Ryan manages to retain what made Blood Song great (brilliant characters, gripping plot, an intriguing sense of mystery) while also expanding this series with some interesting new ideas (different plot structure with more POV’s, darke 4.5 Stars

Tower Lord is the highly anticipated follow-up to Anthony Ryan’s brilliant debut: Blood Song. Ryan was undoubtedly under a lot of pressure to produce a worthy sequel to his massively successful self-published debut and in my opinion he’s delivered in a big way. Ryan manages to retain what made Blood Song great (brilliant characters, gripping plot, an intriguing sense of mystery) while also expanding this series with some interesting new ideas (different plot structure with more POV’s, darker tone). While the greater amount of interweaving storylines made the story more complex and sometimes slowed it down it was still just as compelling as the first book.

One of the first thing readers of the first book will notice about this one is the new POV structure. I really liked this new structure. The different POV's allowed us to gain a broader view of events that there’s no way any one POV would have been able to cover. The change in narrative structure halfway through the series evinces Ryan hadn't really planned this series out very well but I still think he's handled the change brilliantly. I especially liked the way he used the 'Vernier's account' sections to keep some continuity and make the transition run more smoothly. I also think Ryan did a great job of creating a balance between the 4 POV characters. Unlike almost every other book I’ve read with this structure (ASOIAF, The First Law) I never found myself skipping one character’s sections to read ahead with a more interesting character.

Where Blood Song featured a more focused, fast paced story here we have many more different plot-lines and important events happening at the same time. While this book in many ways has a stronger plot than it’s predecessor I was disappointed by the simplistic good vs. evil nature of it’s central conflict. The Volarian empire was written as a 2-D, almost cartoonishly evil ‘invading empire’, complete with all the tropes that are usually found with this clichéd plot point such as an alliance with a mysterious force of pure evil, an army of brainwashed slave-soldiers, supposedly deadly elite warriors who are constantly getting poned by the protagonists (including an 18 year old girl with a few weeks of training with a sword). While the central conflict is nowhere near as complex or intriguing as Blood Song the characters in this book more than make up for it. The additional POV’s allow for the introduction of a larger cast of characters and for those characters, especially the main characters, to be explored in greater detail.

Vaelin Al Sorna has survived the bloodshed of the mad king’s war and the horrors of an Alpiran prison and now returns to the realm seeking peace. His blood song however has other ideas. Vaelin’s storyline in this book, much like in Blood Song was enjoyable and well-written. Unlike in ‘Blood Song’ however, Vaelin was rarely involved in action in this book. While some readers were disappointed by this I thought it was handled really well, with the presence of action in the other storylines (especially Reva and Frentis) preventing the book from becoming boring. This storyline reminded me of an old western with Vaelin’s careful restraint from violence building the tension leading up to the inevitable final showdown. Unfortunately the showdown itself was a disappointment. (view spoiler) Vaelin’s camaraderie with his ‘brothers’ played a smaller role in this book but his interactions with Nortah were still cool and the tension in his relationship with Caenis made for some interesting scenes. Vaelin’s sister Alornis finally got more screen time in this book, something I had hoped to see throughout Blood Song and her interactions with Vaelin were really enjoyable.

Reva was the only character not introduced in Blood Song to get a POV and as a result I didn’t expect to like her much. However she confounded my expectations and turned out to be a really cool, interesting character. Her POV provided an interesting and well thought out insight into religion and sexuality in the world Ryan has created. Her inner turmoil as she comes to realise that everything she has been taught to believe is a lie was also really gripping. I lost interest with her POV whenever she wound up in action scenes however. Having only spent a few weeks receiving half-hearted training from Vaelin in archery and swordsmanship, and after having only been taught basic knife-fighting previously, her incredible fighting abilities seemed forced, bordering on ridiculous. This manifestation of incredible fighting skill after only a short period of training is something that happens often in fantasy (Rand’s ‘blademastery’ in WoT) and usually frustrates me. Part of the reason why I loved the training section in Blood Song so much was because of how it drove home how hard-earned and deserving the heroes fighting skills were. Outside of action scenes Reva's parts were really enjoyable and her interactions with Veliss (a really cool character in her own right) were especially awesome, in turns funny, intense and touching.

I was really psyched when I saw that Princess Lyrna was a POV character in this book. She was one of my favourite characters in book 1 and I had been hoping to see more of her throughout the series. However I was ultimately disappointed with Lyrna’s sections and found her to be, albeit only by a small margin, the weakest POV character. I loved Lyrna in Blood Song when she was manipulative, ruthless and ambitious. In this one she's a generic fantasy princess having adventures, going on arduous journeys and making unlikely friends (her friendship with Davoka is pretty much exactly Elayne-Aviendha in WoT... except they've not both slept with Vaelin. Yet). That being said as much as I was disappointed by the direction her arc went in it was still a really strong example of the adventure storyline that is so popular in fantasy. Lyrna was a funny and interesting character throughout and her recollections on her last meeting with her father were intriguing and emotionally charged.

After the bloody conclusion to the Alpiran war Frentis was sold into the brutal slave-pits of the Volarian Empire. At the start of this book a mysterious woman takes him from the pits and sends him on a bloody campaign of assassination all across the world. In the first half of this book Frentis’ sections were probably my least favourite. Due to a magic spell compelling him to do whatever his master commands (a plot-point that shows up a lot in fantasy and to me always seems an example of lazy writing) Frentis does virtually nothing on his own initiative. While we received some interesting information about some of the mysteries in this series and the enigmatic ‘woman’ was a really cool character I was still frustrated by Frentis’ lack of agency. However in the second half Frentis came into his own and really stole the show. These sections were dark, intense and extremely compelling. He is also the only one of the three warrior POV characters who isn't ridiculously OP. This adds a sense of realism that makes his fight scenes all the more brutal and engaging.

Overall this was a really enjoyable sequel to a great debut. Ryan has succeeded in writing a worthy follow-up to Blood Song while also advancing the series as a whole. I’m definitely psyched for the release of Queen of Fire. ...more

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Dec 06, 2013 Mihir rated it it was amazing

Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic

ANALYSIS: Tower Lord is a book that I’ve been waiting for since 2012. Anthony Ryan really announced himself in spectacular fashion with his self-publication success, which then translated into a traditional publishing contract. Two years later, a lot of fans are waiting to see if he can repeat and build upon his success with Tower Lord. In my review for Blood Song, at the end I had written "give this book a read if you want to read a story that’s closest to
Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic

ANALYSIS: Tower Lord is a book that I’ve been waiting for since 2012. Anthony Ryan really announced himself in spectacular fashion with his self-publication success, which then translated into a traditional publishing contract. Two years later, a lot of fans are waiting to see if he can repeat and build upon his success with Tower Lord. In my review for Blood Song, at the end I had written "give this book a read if you want to read a story that’s closest to those written by David Gemmell." With Tower Lord, he not only proves that in spades by giving the readers a siege situation similar to that in Legend and also many more memorable events and characters. There will be mild spoilers in the review below so be wary before you start.

Let's begin with the story, in Tower Lord, we get three new POV characters besides Vaelin who was the sole narrator in Blood Song. Another funny aspect of the story is that this book also follows the same narrative format as Blood Song wherein the events begin in the near past and interspersed between five current accounts of the royal Alpiran chronicler Verniers Alishe Someren. As to why the story is set in such a format and what is Verniers doing will be up to the fans to RAFO. Safe to say it's quite shocking to meet Verniers who finds himself in quite stunning conditions.

We find Vaelin Al Sorna back to the Unified realm and seeks to find his relatives who might be still surviving. The second POV character is Reva a young woman with tremendous martial skills who seeks revenge on Vaelin for a past crime. She's not an Asraelian and seeks his death single-handedly, who she is and why she hates Vaelin is spoiler material and so I won’t comment on it. Safe to say for people wanting to know her identity can take guesses and I might just give you tell if you are correct or not in the comments section below. The other two POV characters are Princess Lyrna & Frentis. I, as a fan was expecting them to be POV characters and enjoyed getting to know their thoughts.

This book also magnifies the world situation by showcasing the continent east of the Alpiran & Unified realms, namely the Volarian Empire. The story begins by detailing an attack on the unified realms from many fronts. Vaelin is faced with a new responsibility when he's made Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches by King Malcius. He has to ride north and take charge which he does but not with some reluctance. Reva’s track has us focusing on how she came to hate Vaelin so much and how she tracks him to face him for a duel. Last when we met Frentis, he was aboard a strange ship heading off to lands unknown. We find him now as an Alpiran slave who’s fighting to stay alive. Lastly we also get to explore the Northern Reaches as Princess Lyrna tries to find accord with the realm’s northern neighbors.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot contents, as what happens in the story is that realm truly faces an invasion that boggles the mind. I can see why the author choose to expand the POV list as this story would have been impossible to cover from just a singular POV. Another highlight of this book is that nearly every character that made a major & minor impression in its predeceasing title is back in this one (except the dead ones). We get to see all of them & experience different shades to them; this was an extremely pleasurable to read. A couple of mysteries from Blood Song, namely who attacked Vaelin in the Test Of the Wild as well as who was behind it get clarified. Many other bigger revelations also abound like what truly happened to Vaelin when he was an Alpiran captive. Who is the Witch’s bastard and who are his allies? There’s also a fascinating exploration of the Seventh order and the magic system espoused in this trilogy.

Secondly going on to the characterization, Anthony Ryan shines brighter in his sophomore effort by giving us many brilliant characters. Besides Vaelin, Reva, Frentis and Princess Lyrna get the POV turn and I loved how different the characters were from what we read in Vaelin’s thoughts. Princess Lyrna was the character that was the most intriguing to me and in this book, she gets to shine truly. There’s also the brothers (Caenis, Sollis, the order aspect, etc) who we have met before and now have acquired different roles. You’ll be surprised to see many of them and how they feel about Vaelin. There are also some characters who make an appearance under a different name & it will be fun if you can spot them. Many of those who complained about Frentis’ cockney accent will be glad to know that it isn’t a problem in this sequel. Infact I would say he becomes a terror worthy of Vaelin’s status. The author also expands the readers on to the world by focusing on the realm and giving us fascinating insights into the various types of people and faiths that abound. This light is also shone upon the Alpiran as well as the Volarian culture.

Lastly the pace and action sequences are amplified across all the four POV sections, we get to see our favorite characters face odds that they have never thought of and the fun is reading how it all ends. Previously I talked about the siege-like conditions similar to Legend. The author displays his skills and gives us a fascinating account in to the siege via Verniers and then through the actual characters. This dual approach creates some confusion but it’s done in a way that will leave you with a smile in the end. Coming back to my original statement of this book being similar to Legend, David Gemmell's epic debut. We get a siege wherein legends are forged and this was the highlight of the story. And how does the author manage to top off such an exciting read, he cruelly ends the story with a chapter that hearkens back to the shocker that was the epilogue in A Storm Of Swords. This climatic chapter ends on such a note that you might not want to wait a whole year for Queen Of Fire.

There's so much more I want to gush about this book but I think I've said enough. Regarding the negatives about this title, the only thing I can think is that the story has kind of a slow start with all POV chapters. It takes only a while for the pace to pick up but once it does, the chapters fly by on to a rousing action-packed finale that is memorable. Your mileage may vary but this is the only drawback in an otherwise superb sequel.

CONCLUSION: This book easily is the best heroic epic fantasy of 2014 (bettering the high of City Of Stairs which is yet to be released) and now all other books will have to excel to overcome it. Tower Lord is a loud proclamation that Anthony Ryan is David Gemmell’s natural successor and epic fantasy’s best British talent. ...more

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Sep 01, 2014 Armina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, great-expectations, fantasy, buddy-reads, pending-review

10 July, 2015

Re-read time!

First attempt for review, 25 September, 2014

Easy 5 stars! I finished the book several days ago but I'm still thinking about the ending and the wait for book #3 is gonna be a torture. I think I enjoyed this second installment in the series even more! Full review later.

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Jul 11, 2014 David Sven rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, fantasy

The Tower Lord continues where Blood Song finished off. Anthony Ryan switches from the single third person POV of Vaelin Al Sorna, to add another three POVs to the story ie Princess Lyrna, Frentis, and Reva join Vaelin's POV with their own Game of Thrones style character chapters. He also abandons the framing device he employed in the last book though he still has "Vernier's account" interludes.

Like Blood Song I really enjoyed this book. I didn't know how I would take to the format with the ...more

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Feb 05, 2014 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it really liked it

Shelves: war, review-copy, fantasy, magic, epic

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2014/07/16/b...

There are a number of sequels coming out this year with big shoes to fill, and not the least of them is Tower Lord which is the follow up to the sensation that was Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song. While this second installment might not pack the kind of punch its predecessor did, I nonetheless enjoyed the book immensely. It’s a very different novel than the first book, with a shift in style, focus, and character perspectives, and yet it still has all the elem 4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2014/07/16/b...

There are a number of sequels coming out this year with big shoes to fill, and not the least of them is Tower Lord which is the follow up to the sensation that was Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song. While this second installment might not pack the kind of punch its predecessor did, I nonetheless enjoyed the book immensely. It’s a very different novel than the first book, with a shift in style, focus, and character perspectives, and yet it still has all the elements that we epic fantasy fans live for.

In book one, we met Vaelin Al Sorna, a brother of the Sixth Order and one of the greatest warriors the world has ever known. Coming home from a bloody war, he has sworn to fight no more, instead focusing his efforts on seeking any of his relatives that still might live. Named Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches by the new monarch, Vaelin has the noble yet perhaps naïve dream of living out his life in peace and quiet, for news of his exploits (and his crimes) have spread far and wide and those who know of his mysterious gift that guides him will not let him rest.

Anthony Ryan also adds several more point-of-view characters to the mix in Tower Lord, which I was glad to have been prepared for, as Vaelin no longer takes center stage. Instead, he shares the book with mainly three others: Reva, a young woman who begins this journey with hate for Vaelin in her heart and an unquenchable thirst for revenge; Princess Lyrna, sister to the new king and who possesses more strength and resolve than her brother ever would; and finally, Frentis, a familiar face from Blood Song, though he has been changed from his years of being held captive by the Untesh and being forced to fight in the slave pits.

Having been aware of this new format, with the chapters cycling through the character viewpoints, I had expected and prepared myself for the slower start. Indeed, with more characters to follow this time around, the author takes much more time to set the stage for the events in this book. And I have to confess it didn’t quite grab my attention right away. It was a pleasant journey through the first half of the novel to meet new faces or to catch up with old friends, but on the whole Tower Lord lacked a certain quality that made Blood Song the dangerously addictive and immersive read it was right off the bat.

However, I don’t think this makes Tower Lord a weak sequel. On the contrary, in fact. This second book is stronger than book one in many ways, not only because it expands the scope of the series by giving us multiple character perspectives and opening up the wider world, but it also showcases Ryan’s talents as a storyteller. He’s proven himself as an author who can write a very diverse and convincing cast of characters while maintaining a steady level of suspense and interest in all spheres of action, building intensity as he moves all the pieces into place for when things really start rolling.

Quite simply, Tower Lord is a totally different beast. And it’s just hard not to compare a sequel to what came before. It comes down to personal taste, and admittedly, Blood Song and I hit it off much faster. I had myself this experience with a couple other sequels this year; they were all excellent novels, but thematically they just worked slightly less for me. In this case, it’s hardly a surprise. Blood Song began with Vaelin Al Sorna as a young boy, entering the Sixth Order and a huge chunk of the book was dedicated to his training, the relationships he forged with his brothers, and his eventual rise to greatness. It was my favorite part of the novel. And come on, we all know how tough it is beat a good coming-of-age story.

The first book was absolutely a tough act to follow, I know. But all things considered, Tower Lord is a wonderful follow-up that might even appeal more to other readers, especially those who preferred the parts with “grown-up” Vaelin from the first book. I mentioned one of the things I liked about the “young” Vaelin’s chapters was his relationship with his fellow Sixth Order brothers, and it’s incredibly fascinating to see how those dynamics have changed over time. Brother Frentis was a huge surprise for me in this one. Thinking about all the terrible things that has been through and how they’ve affected him, it almost makes his story more interesting to me than Vaelin’s. I’m also impressed by Ryan’s female characters, and the energy and conviction he was able to put behind Reva and Lyrna, two women who are not afraid of setbacks and will fight for what they believe in.

In the end, it’s definitely the characters who made this such a great read. I absolutely adore the new additions. The characters make things happen, set things in motion, and while the first half of this book might have lagged a little, the same cannot be said about the second half, and the final quarter was pure action bliss. Does it take a bit of investment to get to this point? Yes. But totally worth it. Love the intricate magical elements and political entanglements that made the finale such an edge-of-your-seat ride. Anthony Ryan really tied things together and delivered.

I hope when we next meet Vaelin and whoever Ryan decides to let us be acquainted with next time (assuming he once again chooses this multiple POV character format) in the third book Queen of Fire, we’ll be able to jump right into the action. The slower build-up at the beginning held this book back a little, in my opinion, so I can’t say I enjoyed this book more or even as much as Blood Song, but the difference is very close. And I’m not disappointed at all. If you enjoyed the first book, there’s absolutely no reason at all not to pick this up and continue the epic journey. ...more

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Oct 05, 2014 Liz* Fashionably Late rated it it was amazing

Shelves: yes-a-thousand-times-yes, author-we-should-be-friends, amazing-heroines, read-2014, covergasm, adventure, epic-high-fantasy, awesomefest, badass-heroine, le-feels

Buddy Read with lazy Tanya <3

I apologize for the long review, it's actually meant for me instead of you, to be honest. I won't remember a thing if I don't write it down and I'm planning on reading book #3 as soon as it comes out.

Long story short? This book is amazing and more complex I had imagined. It deserves every star.

_________________________

Long review for future Liz*

"Only three, snared by the depth of their own malice. But from where does malice spring? If not from fear... and pain."

I think it's safe to say Raven's Shadow is one of tstar.
...more

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Jun 08, 2016 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-library-catalogue

Trilogy Review: [4.5 stars for Tower Lord] I thoroughly enjoyed the Raven’s Shadow Trilogy, especially the first book, Blood Song. It was easily a 5 star read and one of the best fantasies I’ve read since Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. It focused on one character – Vaelin, and his coming of age story. Taking place in the school (one of my favorite settings) it offered a combative learning environment that honestly reminded me of Harry Potter adventures meets the medieval, gritty reality of Gam Trilogy Review: [4.5 stars for Tower Lord] I thoroughly enjoyed the Raven’s Shadow Trilogy, especially the first book, Blood Song. It was easily a 5 star read and one of the best fantasies I’ve read since Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. It focused on one character – Vaelin, and his coming of age story. Taking place in the school (one of my favorite settings) it offered a combative learning environment that honestly reminded me of Harry Potter adventures meets the medieval, gritty reality of Game of Thrones. The camaraderie that Vaelin formed with his fellow “brothers” was an excellent dynamic, one which I wish had carried through the rest of the trilogy.

After finishing the first book (and fangirling about it for a few days) I quickly became aware that people weren’t loving the second and third books nearly as much. I have a few theories as to why. The sequels are very different from the first one. What an author puts forth in initially is usually a promise to the reader of what’s to come and readers expect at least a bit of consistency of storytelling (which Ryan failed to deliver because his tale took off in a completely different direction).

His story also went from a single point of view to multiple, bouncing around in a very Game of Thrones manner. I actually liked the different perspectives, each one adding a missing piece to the puzzle and written as well as Vaelin. Ironically, though, the passages involving Vaelin, the initial hero of the saga, became the least interesting… odd, right? This overall story arc remained the same, but everything built up in the first book got swept under the rug in favor of these other storylines.

While I understand how this could lead to a lot of disappointment, I admit I enjoyed Tower Lord (book 2) almost as much is the first book. Heck, I even liked about 80% of Queen of Fire (book 3) save one chunk near the end where I was incredibly bored and found it difficult to get through… once I did though, I liked the ending.

Overall, even though my personal experience with the series differs from the majority, I still think the consensus is that Blood Song is worth reading even if you don’t plan to continue on.

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.nikihawkes.com ...more

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Feb 21, 2014 Eon ♒Windrunner♒ rated it it was amazing

Was not sure if this was a 4 or a 5, but as I loved it despite.... it gets a 5.

First half of the book felt a bit slow, lots of catching up and setting up, even though it is a necessity. Only other complaint regards the lack of more Vaelin. I did not know that this would be a multiple POV book as opposed to the focus on Vaelin's POV in the 1st book, so that might be the reason this bothered me, as I was not prepared. Enjoyed the other characters and didn't really have any I disliked, ...more

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Feb 26, 2014 Monica rated it it was amazing

Though this book was structured very different than Blood Song, with several POV characters, I enjoyed it just as much. I liked that the reader got a larger sense of the world and the events that were taking place in this book, and the stakes for the characters were also considerably raised. I will definitely be reading the rest of the books in the series as soon as they become available. I would recommend this novel to anyone that likes epic fantasy.

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Feb 07, 2014 Evander rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This was on my most wanted list for 2014. Blood Song, the first in the series, is in my opinion one of the best fantasy books written in the last 10 years. It was an incredible immersing experience with great story and characters.

With this book on the other hand it’s like the publisher told him: “Now listen here Mr. Ryan, you’ve made quite the impression with Blood Song. You have lots of fans raving about it … let’s milk it … we'll introduce a couple of pointless characters stating t ...more

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Jan 13, 2014 Mike (the Paladin) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, epic-fantasy, favorites

I waited for this book with what is usually called "bated breath". The first book in the series snatched my interest and held it from almost the first line. This book, while I give it 5 stars is not quite up to the first book. I'm still involved in the series and I'm looking forward to the next book.

But not with the intensity I looked forward to this one. So let me say first that I do recommend it and it is an excellent read. Note I do go the full five stars, after thinking it over.< ...more

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Aug 04, 2013 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Review Posted from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2014/0...

I know everyone is wondering: Is this as awesome as Blood Song? I had a hard time comparing because the formats are so different. But...
Here it is, I’ll say it early for anyone with a short attention span: this is great book in its own right. For me, it may not have had quite the same addictive quality, the kind that keeps me reading way too late at night, and compels me to pick right back up too early in the morning, that I had with Blood Song, but honest/>Here Review Posted from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2014/0...

I know everyone is wondering: Is this as awesome as Blood Song? I had a hard time comparing because the formats are so different. But...
Here it is, I’ll say it early for anyone with a short attention span: this is great book in its own right. For me, it may not have had quite the same addictive quality, the kind that keeps me reading way too late at night, and compels me to pick right back up too early in the morning, that I had with Blood Song, but honestly, I read maybe two books a year that achieve that. Not to say I don’t stay up too late reading with many others (this one included), it’s just not quite as furtive of a need. And I don’t know if I have ever had it happen with a book that has multiple POVs.

That’s right. If you haven’t already heard, the book is not centered on Vaelin. He’s still a central figure in the overall story arc, but every page in the book is not devoted to solely his perspective and plights. Tower Lord is broken into five parts, each of with starts with a Verniers entry, which are all great fun. I’m honestly not sure if I appreciated Verniers as much in the Blood Song as I should have and as I did in this one. Perhaps because I was so anxious to continuously read about Vaelin, and the journal entries were the only intermissions I had from that. But this time, I definitely fully appreciated Verniers’ wry wit.

In addition to Vaelin, we get POV chapters from 2 familiar characters from Blood Song: Frentis and Lyrna. And then we also get a new character with a POV, Reva. The four POVs, paired with Vernier’s journal entries, give the reader a great opportunity to see a much clearer picture of the overall story. And understand the movement of battle from all fronts in addition to the different people and cultures involved. I think it also leant a stronger air of anticipation as you experience the trials of all involved across the land. I was also quite appreciative of the maps in Tower Lord. I don’t too often find myself referencing maps, but in this one, with the story so spread out, so many characters on the move, I often would flip to them for reference.

Reva was an interesting addition. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to like her in the beginning. I started having flashbacks of Renna from The Daylight War and was quite concerned Reva’s character might go in that direction (for those not familiar, I found Renna to be grating and a distraction). I am quite happy to say it did not. Not at all. I am actually quite a fan of Reva and really liked seeing her character growth through the book. She was faced with loyalty issues that challenged her to reevaluate her Faith as it had been taught to her versus how she believes Faith should be. In addition to that, she also becomes critical to the story in ways I’d rather you read for yourself to find out.

I remember a while back, some fellow fantasy fans, either on twitter or a forum, using the term ‘siege porn’ (probably in regard to The Red Knight by Miles Cameron). Seven hells, if you are looking for an incredible, down and dirty, gritty ‘siege porn’ fix, then look no further. Some truly great siege action in this one!

My only real disappointment in the book is that at the end of Blood Song, I was quite curious about Caenis, and am sad to say he is not really featured in Tower Lord. However, I am consoled by the fact that it seems he will be again (he is mentioned. We know he’s out there still). I would love to have Caenis POVs in future books, but since I still really enjoyed this one, I can’t really complain either. It just gives me something to look forward to.

If you enjoyed Blood Song, by all means, you have to read this. I think the strengths of this book are different than Blood Song, but it works so well. Blood Song was the coming of age story of Vaelin and setup for the grander story. This book gives you a much clearer picture of the impressive scale of the conflict, introduces you to more characters. And it has siege porn! And prepare yourself. The first thing you will want to do you finish reading this, is look to find out when the next book is going to be released! Absolutely brilliant ending that leaves you both satisfied and on the edge of your seat for what happens next. Loved it. ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Rob rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: author-male, favorites, read-2014, own, sff-audio, audio-book, fantasy

Executive Summary: Another great entry in what's quickly become one of my favorite series. The change in format may frustrating fans of the first book however.

Audio book: Stephen Brand is once again a great narrator that could stand to have his volume boosted. He does an excellent job with voices and inflections, but can be frustratingly quiet in places.

Full Review
How do you follow up a debut novel that seems to be almost universally loved by those who have read it? By writing a book that may be e/>/>Audio ...more

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Jul 12, 2014 Christopher Harju rated it it was ok

A spoiler free review.

By analyzing my own behavior after finishing this title can I best describe my "hurt" feelings. For two days now, Tower Lord has constantly been nagging around in the back of my mind, in a negative way. I just keep pondering, why? Why did Mr. Ryan change the writing style and overall direction of the story for his second installment in the series? If not for the strong, STRONG, ecstatic feelings i felt when reading Blood Song - One of the best titles the fiction A spoiler free review.

By analyzing my own behavior after finishing this title can I best describe my "hurt" feelings. For two days now, Tower Lord has constantly been nagging around in the back of my mind, in a negative way. I just keep pondering, why? Why did Mr. Ryan change the writing style and overall direction of the story for his second installment in the series? If not for the strong, STRONG, ecstatic feelings i felt when reading Blood Song - One of the best titles the fiction genre in whole has to offer, I would have not cared. Shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

Where Blood Song nailed every aspect of a brilliant book spot on, Tower Lord misses by a mile. Is this title readable? Certainly. Is it worth buying? Probably. Is it a good book? No.

I enjoy reading books that manages to captivate my full attention, reading until early morning. Books that contains characters that I care for, full with my emotional investment. Books, where my childlike wishes feel like being part of the story, even tho it's only a book. Books, satisfying my ever intellectual curiosity for a complex, deep layered and well written story. Sadly, none of these qualities can be said to describe Tower Lord.

Tower Lord, does Not continue the opening tale of Vaelin Al'Sorna, that Blood Song so masterfully laid out. Instead the reader is presented with 4 homogeneous and one dimensional main characters, of which, Vaelin is least represented. Our 4 new protagonist spends seemingly most time traveling from point A. to point B. Sometimes fighting an uninteresting battle that I find hard to care for. We're introduced with lots, Lots of new minor characters, whose names I constantly struggled to remember. And I don't think I have problems with my memory, yet! While reading, I was constantly wishing; "Soon, soon Vaelin, the bad-ass warrior, will be included in this book, doing the title some justice". To my bafflement this never happened. Instead, Vaelin is found playing a passive role of a pacifist in some far northern land.

How come such a brilliant book like Blood Song was written by the same author of Tower lord I cannot say. Is this the result of intervention by his new publishers, wanting to create a mainstream book, closely resembling the popular style of George R.R. Martin? Or was this the reason Mr. Ryan struggled long to find a publisher?

Mr. Ryan is obviously a very talented author. To recover his name, and the quality of future books, I'd sincerely recommend him seeking assistance of advanced beta readers from his fan-base, readers that don't hesitate to give constructive criticism, before publishing any more books in the series. By eyeing the constant flow of negative reviews flowing into Amazon.com by his fan-base (And some suspiciously looking 5-star reviews by first time reviewers), it is clear I am not the only one sharing this opinion!

Thanks for writing us interesting books. Good luck with your next installments. Greetings from a dedicated long time fantasy reader from Finland,
Christopher ...more

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Aug 28, 2018 Fares rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2-and-a-half-stars

Okay so... this was boring.
This was in its way to be one of the worst books I read, mainly because I couldn't care less for what happens to these characters. And. It. Was. So. Freakin. Long.
What saved it however, is that I read a summary of what this book is mainly about, and it get's a half star for that, because if you cut all the boring stuff in it's heart this is a good story.

Blood Song (book 1 in the series), was good, it wasn't the best but it had potential, Tower L Okay so... this was boring.
This was in its way to be one of the worst books I read, mainly because I couldn't care less for what happens to these characters. And. It. Was. So. Freakin. Long.
What saved it however, is that I read a summary of what this book is mainly about, and it get's a half star for that, because if you cut all the boring stuff in it's heart this is a good story.

Blood Song (book 1 in the series), was good, it wasn't the best but it had potential, Tower Lord however was a gigantic step back, a huge part of that is because of the ending of Blood Song, and maybe this is just me but when the two characters that I loved most besides Vaelin in the first book aren't present much (one is just mentioned and the other isn't there much and they are supposed to be the love interest and the MC's best friend.) I'm gonna start looking for action, and while there's much of it, it wasn't well done, which leads me to my next and most important point, this felt like an instruction manual.

In this book we get multiple POVs and not just Vaelin's as it was the case in book 1. We get to meet new characters (interesting but not much relatable, and I don't understand for the life of me why they get the upper hand over the old good characters from book 1). Add to it the Vernier's chapters (which unlike book one aren't telling Vaelin's story but adding just another POV to the book) which created a great confusion about the timeline of the events and you get a book that doesn't make you live the story but just tells you one. That's what I meant by instruction manual.
In no point during the 600 pages of this did I went "oh what's going to happen?" or "I wonder how this goes?" I felt so disengaged from what's happening in the book, and that's one of the worst things that can happen when you're reading.
I would've been better off hearing commentary of my daily life, and that's the worst insult I can give this book.

Also I think the author assumed I'd remember much of the things that happened in book 1 so he didn't reference or remind us of most events, he assumed too much in my case. if you ever want to read this make sure you don't space the books out.

Another thing I want to say is I really wanted to DNF this multiple times while I read, and I don't DNF books because I hate not knowing what happens in the end. That being said I will not read the third book, I simply cannot go thru another 600 pages of agony. It's absolutely not worth it, and that speaks volumes how boring and disappointing this book was.
...more

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Aug 09, 2014 Lee rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I have to say that book two in this series did not live up to my expectation. I would rate this about the same as I rated The Emperor's Blades, About 3.8 but expectation plays a lot in determining to use the 3 or 4 star rating. This is like a Wall St mystery. Company A makes 4 billion profit after expecting to make $6 billion and its share price plummets by 10%. Company B makes a $100 million loss instead of $200 million loss and its share prices increase by 10%.

Well, my expectation for this book was ...more

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Apr 04, 2015 Penny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magic, favourites, series, adventure, highly-recommended, fantasy

An excellent follow up to a fantastic book. The shift in story telling to a four person POV was necessary and worked really well as the story grew too large to be told from only one characters POV.

This is a fantastic series, one I'd suggest you don't miss. I am really excited for the last book in the trilogy which will be out in July :)

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Aug 24, 2014 Algernon (Darth Anyan) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014

Two years ago, I called Blood Song the best fantasy debut I’ve read in a long, long time. I probably should have curbed my enthusiasm a little, because I find myself today struggling to explain why I was disappointed in the second volume, even as I admit it is probably just as well written, as epic in scope and as fast paced as the first book. The answer lays most probably in unreasonably high expectations. I wanted to recapture the ‘wow’, the thrills of exploring a fresh secondary world, the
Two years ago, I called Blood Song the best fantasy debut I’ve read in a long, long time. I probably should have curbed my enthusiasm a little, because I find myself today struggling to explain why I was disappointed in the second volume, even as I admit it is probably just as well written, as epic in scope and as fast paced as the first book. The answer lays most probably in unreasonably high expectations. I wanted to recapture the ‘wow’, the thrills of exploring a fresh secondary world, the edge of the seat page turning rush to find out how my hero Vaelin Al-Sorna will get out of a tricky spot. I have instead ‘just’ an excelent middle of the story installment that greatly expands the worlbuilding and raises the stakes of the conflict from a personal quest for identity to another Evil Overlord bent on world domination, sending his secret minions and supernumerary armies to conquer country after country. The novel remains well above the norm of current fantasy offerings (I could name Sanderson, Weeks and a few others), but I feel it made too many safe choices and abandoned originality and nuanced characterization in favor of spectacular battles and wholesale slaughter, a move toward fashionable ‘grimdark’.

Blood Song was character driven and focused mostly on Vaelin, the small boy who goes to War School and becomes, thanks to native talent and magic superpowers, the best fighter in the land. He is still the focus in Tower Lord, but he shares the spotlight with three other POV characters : Princess Lyrna, who was at one time his intended fiancee; his former school mate Frentis who was captured in an overseas war and made a sort of gladiator slave; and Reva the newcomer, a girl trained as an assassin and unleashed against Vaelin Al Sorna by a secretive sect. I have noticed some reviewers complained about the rotating point of view but this is actually one of the author’s succesful choices for me, as it allowed for more diversity and complexity in the worldbuilding and in the plot development. The balance between the four perspectives was rather well kept, with Vaelin taking a more passive role until the final confrontation, Frentis struggling to escape both physical and magical bonds that make him an unwilling instrument in the hands of the yet unrevealed Evil Overlord, Lyrna going out of her comfort zone of books and palace manipulations to explore savage lands and to learn the ruling game literally from the bottom up ( Why couldn’t I have been more interested in physical pursuits? she grumbled, feeling every step of Verka’s hooves on the rough ground. One hour away from my books wouldn’t have killed me. But this bloody horse might. ), Reva freeing herself of years of brainwashing to become a fabled freedom fighter in her Cumbrael home city. Reva is actually the least credible character in her abrupt transformation from brat to wise teenage leader and accomplished swordmanship, the most cardboard of the four POV’s, yet her storyline was the most engaging in the whole book, which probably tells something about my predilection in epic fantasy for young baker boys or orphaned heroines with a destiny for greatness. I should probably have been more emotionally involved with Lyrna’s tragic struggle or with Frentis doomed love affair with his jailer, but for some reason I kept myself at a distance and simply followed the twists and turns of the plot with a cold eye. About Vaelin I have even less to say, as he is stagnant in development for the second book from start to finish, even as he travels with companions from one end of the continent to the other. A surprisingly interesting accolade was provided by the chronicler who introduces every major event in the story with his own account of being captured by the adversary and forced to rewrite history from the perspective of the winner.

I don’t have any quotes from the book, surprisingly because, as I already mentioned, I think it is very well written considering Ryan is still a newcomer on the scene. I have though bookmarkerd a couple of things that really ticked me off:

- Reva simply finds a legendary bow of Cumbrael by the side of the road, without any explanation whatsoever what this super rare weapon was doing there in the first place.
- Frentis, and some of the others, are surprisingly adept at using torture as a fast means of extracting information from prisoners
- I think I prefer life without prophecy exclaims one Master Monk towards the end of the volume, and I sort of agree with the feeling for the whole series. Vaelin, Reva and even Lyrna have their destiny already foretold and expressed in gnomic utterances (Diana Wynne Jones TM). I could do with a little more free will and chance in my epic fare.

I don’t want to end my review on a sour note. Some of my complaints may be a signal of my preferences shifting from epic battles to a more intimate and subtle form of fantasy (I’m reading now Patricia McKillip and love it unreservedly). I may have read the book too fast and missed some very simple explanations for the choices of characters and for the fortuitous presence of magic weapons. And regarding ethics, I probably was supposed to be discomforted and angry at war crimes and easy ways out. I’ll give the last word to Reva:

I have done things here. In defending this city I have done things ... I thought them right and just as I did them, now I don’t know. Now I wonder if I mistook rage for right and murder for justice.

I plan to read the third Raven’s Shadow book, and it is possible, with my expectations lowered, to once again enjoy it unreservedly and put it in the top spot of my fantasy reads.
...more

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Jul 20, 2018 Jarek "the Mistborn" Dąbrowski rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2018, ravens-shadow-trilogy-read

Awesome second book in the Ravens shadow trilogy. A lot of characters evolved and the plot moved forward well. A lot of action and battles. Iam really curious to see how this trilogy ends. I took away one star because at certain times it felt like it dragged a bit. It could have been a bit shorter. Overall great stuff worth 4 stars from me:)

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Aug 08, 2013 Mark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-books-i-have-read2014

Well its finished, now have wait till next year to continue the story which I may say is a treat.

can see why some readers found it slow going, its book 2, people its got to pull the begining and the end together yerr know.

some very good strong female characters who mature as the book goes along.

the last 3rd of the book the multi view points really come along and merge for 3 of the characters in a brilliantly written climax a brave ending in brave way caused a ...more

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Sep 10, 2014 Athena Shardbearer rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, buddy-read, audiobook

Buddy Read Robin, Armina, Gavin, Desinka

GAH DAMN IT!!! It wasn't as great as the first, I think the number of POV was a little too much. It worked great, but I wanted more Vaelin but enjoyed Frentis POV much more. BUT, with an ending like that I need the next book!

"Hurt," he said and enfolded her in his arms, crushing her against the hard muscle of his chest.

And she burned.

Some fantasy have a lot of magic, with spells, words and stuff but this one was like a hint of that. More like mysterious ha/> Buddy Read Robin, Armina, Gavin, Desinka

GAH DAMN IT!!! It wasn't as great as the first, I think the number of POV was a little too much. It worked great, but I wanted more Vaelin but enjoyed Frentis POV much more. BUT, with an ending like that I need the next book!

"Hurt," he said and enfolded her in his arms, crushing her against the hard muscle of his chest.

And she burned.

Some fantasy have a lot of magic, with spells, words and stuff but this one was like a hint of that. More like mysterious happenings that no one can really explain, but everyone knows its happening, but no one questions it. I like that about this book/series. There's this red shark with stripes, AWESOME, and the war cat...I want one. When I read books and can't find fan art to go along with it, makes me want to create some! Ugh..but life, you know, always gets in the way.

I think the strongest character in this book is Frentis. I think he struggled the most, and I see him as a little boy all grown up. That crazy ass bitch..ugh..I don't even want to talk about her...but she's crazy. I don't think I've met someone as psycho as her. I can't say anymore because then I will give you info that you need to read yourself. Just know that she will drive you insane, and you will hate her and want to stab her eyes out and slit her throat...sorry, I was getting a little carried away.

Now Vaelin is the new Tower Lord and is sent across the Realm to do the Kings bidding. He runs into old friends, Nortah <--I heart you!, and saves many a slaves and adds them to his ranks. Lots of happenings, some parts dragged for me, some parts were over the top and I enjoyed it very much!

Princess Lyrna, I did not like her at all in the first book. She's the Princess, spoiled, conniving, calculating and back stabbing. I know she does that to get where she wants to be, but I still did not like her. BUT, in this book I fell under her spell time and time again as she fights for what she wants and does it without second thought or hesitation. I think she has grown much and does what is needed of her and not so much of ambition.

Reva is the wild card for me. I don't know what to say about her. I like her and don't like her. I want more for her, but then don't care for her. I don't know how I should feel about her.

I have theories that I can't explain, some thoughts on certain things that will give away the book...Ugh...*hangs head*, Read this book..please...just do it. ...more

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Aug 12, 2014 Tim The Enchanter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, military, 4-5-stars, favorite-audiobooks-of-2014

Posted to The Literary Lawyer.ca

Much Better Than the First - 4.5 Stars

With all of the fanfare surrounding the first novel, I found the first instalment to be disappointing. The first focused solely on Vaelin and attempting to chronicle the creation of a living legend. It is not a new concept and has been done far better by the likes of Patrick Rothfuss in The Kingkiller Chronicles and Jack Whyte in his Camulod Chronicles. Now that Vaelin's legend has been created (although poorly) the secon ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Fantasy Buddy Reads: Tower Lord [Feb 7, 2018]	110	54	Mar 03, 2018 04:54AM
Sci-Fi/Fantasy with Romance Sub-plot	1	13	Jul 11, 2017 05:20PM
Should I bother...?	4	18	May 21, 2017 11:34AM
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Tower Lord-Finished! Spoilaway!	6	48	Oct 26, 2015 06:00AM
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Tower Lord-Raven's Shadow #2-Going to Read? First Impressions? (no spoilers)	9	33	Oct 18, 2015 08:22AM
Goodreads Librari...: Please correct page number	1	19	Sep 12, 2015 04:44PM

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About Anthony Ryan

Anthony Ryan

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Anthony Ryan was born in Scotland in 1970 but spent much of his adult life living and working in London. After a long career in the British Civil Service he took up writing full time after the success of his first novel Blood Song, Book One of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy. He has a degree in history, and his interests include art, science and the unending quest for the perfect pint of real ale.
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