One Man Book Club

Book Reviews for Families

#TheCrownConspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1): This book is naked!

The Crown Conspiracy
The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

 

I call it like I see it.

This book has no clothes.

Reviewers I trust promise things get much better from here. I’m going to keep going, but honestly this book was rough.

Wooden writing, one dimensional characters, convenient plot resolutions. How this book has such a high rating is beyond me. I feel like I’m on the outside of an inside joke.

I suspect younger readers will look past my complaints and find that the story is great fun, which it is. It’s saved by the story, in fact. Wanting to know the resolution is what pulled me along and gives me hope for better things to come. I’m going to go forward with faith that the others who have read this series before me know what they’re talking about.

It’s also clean content-wise and is well suited for younger fans looking for a kings and swords, thieves and wizards, dwarfs and elves fantasy novel.

So, I’m making an exception for this poorly written book and giving this series a chance. All signs point to some cool stuff coming up.

Off I go.

Happy Reading!

Series Review:

Question:

What is the bibliophile’s dilemma?

Answer:

The books you can’t help but read as fast as possible are the same books you wish would never end.

Solutions? I’d love to hear them.

Until then, I hope to find more books that hurt as good as The Riyria Revelations.

This series is just fun. It’s fantasy with twists and red herrings. Elves, dwarves, goblins, and dragons. Thieves and nobles. Kings and queens. Swords fights. Mysteries to solve. Characters that stick with you. Lost treasures. Magic. Tragedy. Betrayal. Villains. Heroes. Sacrifice. Triumph. Happy endings.

It’s not without it’s flaws. Literary purists might not make it past the convenient plot resolutions or the entire first book (that was rough…).

But reading is about fun, and there are mountains of fun to be had here. Reading these books made me really, really happy.

Doesn’t sound good to you? Go read a biography.

It’s violent without being gory, and the language stays PG and never uses 4-letters. It’s high suspense and lots of action. The 12-and-up crowd will eat it up.

Note that the publisher took the original 6 books and make them into 3 volumes, each with 2 parts. So instead of 6 separate books you’ll likely see these three:

Theft of Swords
Rise of Empire
Heir of Novron

Happy reading!

One Man Book Club

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16 responses to “#TheCrownConspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1): This book is naked!”

      • It’s been long enough since I read it that I can’t comment on the quality. I just know that I enjoyed the heck out of reading it.
        Would probably have to read it, and the series, again to see the quality of writing.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Okay, good. If you were to take another look at it I’d be very interested in your thoughts. I keep hearing that the series as a body is fantastic, so I’m actually really looking forward to it. I’ve heard different things about the first book…for example, that he wrote it with for his daughter that had some sort of learning disability–dyslexia maybe?–and that the writing intentionally starts at a basic level and progresses to a more mature place as the series goes on. If I find this to be true, I’ll be beyond impressed.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. I love this series. I didn’t read this edition though (I could be wrong, but is that the cover from when it was self pubbed?) I wonder if they did any polishing once it got picked up by a big publisher and re-released. I thought the writing was okay, not terrific, but not bad either 🙂

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  3. YOU are the first person I’ve talked to who didn’t absolutely love this book. I also gave it a conservative “I liked it, but it was just okay” rating. Everyone in my GR group is going nuts over it, and I just keep thinking it was entertaining, but I’ve read better. I read the second book and liked it okay too, but haven’t felt any need to go on. Solidarity! Haha

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    • Isn’t it frustrating when you just can’t figure out why EVERYONE is crazy and you’re the only sane one?! Thanks for helping me feel like I’m not an island! Fist bump!

      I must say though, I’ve started book two and many of my complaints about the quality of writing in book one seem to be resolved. Jury is still out, but I would really love to love this series, so I’m not giving up.

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  4. And I thought I was the only one! I read the first part last year and thought it was just.. ‘meh’. I didn’t really have a lot to say about it, as it was nothing special. Everything was okay but nothing stood out and I definitely don’t need a second part.

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