The Obsidian Tower (Rooks and Ruin, 1)

Yes technically the main character and side characters are queer, but for some reason this author LOVES for her female identifying main characters to end up with male identifying characters. I was hyped for this series because I thought for sure this would be the one where the author would relegate that to the side line. Boy was I apparently wrong. It’s good, but I was so disappointed that once again we have to read about Lady Main Character swooning over some dude. I could read most of the rest of fantasy for that. I’ll still give the next book of the series a shot in the hopes that that changes but I don’t have my hopes up.

I highly enjoyed the previous trilogy by Melissa Caruso, "Swords and Fire", as her world and character building really hit the sweet spot for me in terms of what I'm looking for when I need some escape from reality. However, with the first book of her new trilogy, Melissa's craft has improved and the setting (in another region of the same world as her previous trilogy, more than 100 years later) is both perfect for the characters and downright fascinating. I enjoy seeing a diverse cast that is just casually so, rather than their diversity being each of their defining characteristics and they face engrossing challenges. I finished the book wanting to give the main character a supportive hug and then race off with her to save everyone. It cannot be understated how eager I am for the next book in the trilogy to arrive.

I highly enjoyed the previous trilogy by Melissa Caruso, "Swords and Fire", as her world and character building really hit the sweet spot for me in terms of what I'm looking for when I need some escape from reality. However, with the first book of her new trilogy, Melissa's craft has improved and the setting (in another region of the same world as her previous trilogy, more than 100 years later) is both perfect for the characters and downright fascinating. I enjoy seeing a diverse cast that is just casually so, rather than their diversity being each of their defining characteristics and they face engrossing challenges. I finished the book wanting to give the main character a supportive hug and then race off with her to save everyone. It cannot be understated how eager I am for the next book in the trilogy to arrive.

I highly enjoyed the previous trilogy by Melissa Caruso, "Swords and Fire", as her world and character building really hit the sweet spot for me in terms of what I'm looking for when I need some escape from reality. However, with the first book of her new trilogy, Melissa's craft has improved and the setting (in another region of the same world as her previous trilogy, more than 100 years later) is both perfect for the characters and downright fascinating. I enjoy seeing a diverse cast that is just casually so, rather than their diversity being each of their defining characteristics and they face engrossing challenges. I finished the book wanting to give the main character a supportive hug and then race off with her to save everyone. It cannot be understated how eager I am for the next book in the trilogy to arrive.

I highly enjoyed the previous trilogy by Melissa Caruso, "Swords and Fire", as her world and character building really hit the sweet spot for me in terms of what I'm looking for when I need some escape from reality. However, with the first book of her new trilogy, Melissa's craft has improved and the setting (in another region of the same world as her previous trilogy, more than 100 years later) is both perfect for the characters and downright fascinating. I enjoy seeing a diverse cast that is just casually so, rather than their diversity being each of their defining characteristics and they face engrossing challenges. I finished the book wanting to give the main character a supportive hug and then race off with her to save everyone. It cannot be understated how eager I am for the next book in the trilogy to arrive.

I love all types of genres in my reading mix but a good fantasy stands out above all else for me. I tend to remember them fondly. This was not one of those books. I couldn't wait to delve into this one. The premise and the book cover drew me in. Unfortunately, that is it. I have never read a fantasy novel this thick where nothing really happens. Oh, a couple things happened here and there but for most part all they did was talk about it. Then talk some more. Then have meetings and talk some more. I will admit that I didn't finish it. I made it three quarters of the way through before I decided I had enough. I wouldn't have stayed that long if it wasn't for the glowing reviews. Not sure what that was all about. The only redeeming quality was some of the characters. Other than that, it was a poor read.

The Obsidian Tower is a new trilogy that takes place in the the same world as the Sword and Fire trilogy (reviews for all three found in my book review index!) in the land of Vaskander. This is technically created to be a standalone trilogy so there is no necessity to read the Sword and Fire trilogy first, but I would say that if you have the time and ability to, definitely read the first trilogy! It will provide some in-depth and compelling background and world-building that will make reading The Obsidian Tower a much richer experience with greater understanding of how the world and politics of Vaskander and Raverra came to be how they are.

The story revolves around Ryx, a woman who has mostly socially isolated herself from other people due to her dangerous magic that drains the life from anything she touches, which includes not only people and animals, but also things like plants and the natural world. She spends her time living at her grandmother's castle, Gloamingard, home to a magical secret that is hidden in a strictly sealed and guarded tower that has been a part of Ryx's family for millennium. Our story kicks off when something happens to the tower that unleashes an enormous chain of reactions that ends up causing both major political tensions as well as major threats to the entire land of Vaskander.

I loved the main protagonists from Caruso's previous trilogy set in this world (as well as many of the supporting cast of characters), so I was a little concerned that I might not feel that same connection and love for Ryx, our new protagonist, and the other new characters--but of course, this concern was readily shoved aside as I realized just how much Ryx was going to be a character that I loved and absolutely root for. Ryx carries a good amount of confidence about her in regards to political dealings at the outside of this book, and she's also someone that seems to have less concern for pleasing everyone and sticking to the norms of proper etiquette and the like in serious situation when it is more important to focus on what's actually important. Ryx has a firm hand and set of leadership skills that she knows how to use and which she does employ in attempts to keep things relatively calm (or as much as they can be) after things continue to get crazier and crazier at Gloamingard. I particularly enjoyed how Caruso showcased her many conflicts, both internal and external, that encompassed serious high-stakes political issues as well as issues relating to her family's old magical secrets and her own deadly magic. Following Ryx on this journey was an experience that I couldn't have enjoyed more and that I am so glad I got to be a part of!

In addition to Ryx is an incredible cast of supporting characters that I really enjoyed. Caruso does such a great job of including a diverse cast of personalities and cultures that absolutely bring this book to life. If you love misfit groups that come together to work on a mutual problem--though with occasionally different end goals--and do so with varying degrees of success, but that also uncover many new friendships, enemies, and things about themselves and their work along the way. I loved this group of characters and how all of their unique personalities fit together in just the right ways. There are also some extra characters not directly associated with the main group that I loved and that I hope to see more of in future books.

One of the things I love most about Caruso's books is her strength in creating compelling high-stake political conflicts and discussions among various characters and groups of peoples. There are a lot more components to this book than solely the political aspect, but a lot of this book does deal with Ryx attempting to coordinate with other leaders, soothe tensions, and develop solutions that everyone can agree on--something that becomes extraordinarily difficult as events in this book progress. I found myself almost constantly on the edge of my seat wondering how each scene and critical 'did-that-really-just-happen' moment was going to play out, and I can only give credit to Caruso's deft and magical writing for keeping me so hooked.

I also absolutely love Caruso's world-building! As I mentioned, you don't technically have to the Sword and Fire trilogy before reading this book (though I highly recommend it), so Caruso doesn't skimp on creating an elaborate world that she relays the details of through her narrative and plot, with relatively little info-dump styles of world-building. This is a rich world with a unique magic system, vastly different lands and cultures and peoples, and there always seems to be something to explore within it.

If you haven't read Caruso's work yet, this is an amazing place to start: amazing political intrigue, a fascinating magical system, well-developed and engaging characters that you can't help but connect with, amazing world-building, great friendships, and some truly well-written tension and suspense--what more could you want?

This book is about a powerful family who guards a door. It's a Very Dangerous Door, and nobody can be allowed to open it, ever. The very powerful woman in charge of the door has, for some reason, selected an incompetent, untrained grandchild to be her heir but has done nothing by that grandchild's 21st birthday to make her competent or trained.

The grandchild, Ryx, who has (by her own admission) very rarely ever left the keep, has somehow become adept enough to broker peace talks between warring nations despite no experience with...anything? But these are very important talks, so the representatives will be meeting at the place where the Very Dangerous Door is kept.

Of course, the Very Powerful Witch must leave the keep, and of course, one of the peace representatives is a dangerous spy, and the Very Dangerous Door is so Very Dangerous the spy is able to walk right up to it because there's no security, no defenses, and no alarms of any kind. Oh, also because Ryx, whose task it currently is to protect the Very Dangerous Door, does nothing but basically stand there and go "No, please don't open the Very Dangerous Door."

30 pages in, the spy has opened the door. Because "No, please don't open the Very Dangerous Door," oddly enough, doesn't really work when you leave your powerful magic laying around with literally no defenses.

All of this is available in the "Look Inside" portion on Amazon, and I genuinely wish I had bothered to read the whole available snippet to see how bad it was before I paid real money for the book. This is where I stopped reading, and given some of the other reviews, this might be the only (arguably) action in most of the book.

Don't pay for this book until you've read the first 30 pages.

A diverse fantasy set in the same world as the author's other stories. With many lgbt+ characters and demons.

This was a book that sounded great from the outset, but had moments of amazingness bogged down by length and unnecessary wordiness. The story seemed to drag to the point where I was checking to see how much further I had to go; especially in the middle section once all the pieces were in play, the novel seemed to not want to reach a crescendo. It felt like the story had an editor cram most of the major plot developments into the last 20% of the book to force it to reach a conclusion. With that being said, Caruso writes well, her scenes and characters vivid and lifelike. The first in a series, I can understand worldbuilding needing to take a prominent role within the text, but even though this didn't feel like an exposition-fest, it didn't seem to flow naturally through the characters. Overall, the book was fine, but it doesn't leave me looking to pick up the next in the series.

*I received this book for free in exchange for a review from Orbit and NetGalley*