TS Chan's Reviews > The Crown Conspiracy

After plowing through a few grimdark novels of significant size this year, I was thirsting for something less mentally exhausting and more fun to read.

Enter Riyria! And what a breath of fresh air this has been.

The Crown Conspiracy is probably the shortest in the series making it a really quick read. It is good introduction to the Riyria duo, Hadrian and Royce, who seemed to be more than what they appear to be on the surface and were complete opposites. Barely 3 chapters in and I was already having a mini crush on Hadrian, the classic warrior hero who is tall, handsome and has a cheerful demeanour - and he carries 3 swords!! I think that was the clincher for me (one does not carry 3 swords unless he really knows how to use them). Royce’s character was a bit harder to warm up to – the thief who probably grew up in harsh conditions and honed to be terribly effective in what he does (he does a dry sense of humour though). But together, the pair just seemed to work and their banter was funny and entertaining.

The plot was simple (the blurb summarises it quite succinctly), the pacing decent with adequate action and elements of danger and mystery. The book just flew by very quickly for me. I have mentioned before that I’m not particular about prose in general, and I appreciate the simple manner of storytelling that was employed by the author.

This is so far leaning more towards what I will refer to as classic fantasy although it's not exactly as traditional as, say, the Belgariad. It's lighthearted and fun, with just the right dose of action, magic and a main character that I can swoon over. What can I say, well-written fantasy tropes can be just plain fun sometimes!