Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2) in /r/Fantasy Discussion Group

Aug 15, 2013 Steven rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

This was a great book reminiscent of fantasy tales of old.

Very good character development with no shortage of action.

I'll be reading all the books in this series. ...more

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Mar 14, 2023 Ashley rated it really liked it

Shelves: friendship-and-siblinghood, swashbucklers-capers-and-heists, treasure-and-adventure, espionage, fantasy, violent-and-epic, murder-most-foul, political-plots-and-maneuverings, audiobooks, witchy-witches-and-their-ilk

This was fun! It was a plot-forward fantasy adventure story, and even though we've seen many of these plots before in different configurations, I think because I haven't read a lot of plotty adventure fantasy in the past several years, it felt fresh to me. Also, it's just a really well done version of this type of story. I will definitely be continuing in the series.

Okay, but Theft of Swords! Which is a bind-up of the first two books in The Riyria Revelations (The Crown Conspiracy and Avemparth This was fun! It was a plot-forward fantasy adventure story, and even though we've seen many of these plots before in different configurations, I think because I haven't read a lot of plotty adventure fantasy in the past several years, it felt fresh to me. Also, it's just a really well done version of this type of story. I will definitely be continuing in the series.

Okay, but Theft of Swords! Which is a bind-up of the first two books in The Riyria Revelations (The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha), which the author originally self-published, and which was then picked up by Orbit, who packaged two books into one and marketed it as a trilogy. This was all over a decade ago, so I'm very behind. Our two main characters are Hadrian and Royce, a two-man thieving team (among other talents) who have been working together for years. The plot of the whole series kicks off when a man approaches them with a job, to steal a sword. Their agreement to this sets off a chain of events that makes up the rest of the story.

It was really fun to see Hadrian and Royce, who are normally on the other side of the law, caught up in larger circumstances than they expected or cared to be, and how that keeps escalating. There are assassinations both successful and not, swordfights and duels, kidnappings, political and religious conspiracies, and a quest to defeat an undefeatable monster from ages past. And there's this no-handed ancient wizard wandering around causing trouble.

None of that plot would have worked if the dialogue and the dynamics between the characters hadn't worked so well. I did the audiobook, and Tim Gerard Reynolds does a great job giving each character their own voice, and his performances enhances the already fun dialogue.

This isn't the best heisty book or adventure fantasy I've ever read, but it was a really, really good first go, and a great time, so it's getting four stars. I've heard this author's later stuff gets really good, and I'm definitely excited to get to it. This book very recently dropped on SCRIBD and the other two are set to do so in the next few weeks, so I'm sure I'll be on top of that shortly. ...more

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May 22, 2017 Diane Patterson rated it really liked it

This book was a lot of fun -- adventure, intrigue, elves, all the stuff you want in epic fantasy. The weakest bit is that in these opening books I can't really tell the two main characters apart, but I hope this gets more developed. ...more

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May 23, 2016 Ariel rated it really liked it

This book was a fun romp! I loved the main characters a lot. A great duo. May have actually shipped them a tiny bit. (Or a lot bit.) Myron was my favorite, delightful and innocent and I just wanted to be his best friend. I finished book one and liked it. I'll start book 2 eventually. ...more

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