A review by missgloop
Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan

4.0

A really stellar follow up to Blood Song, Tower Lord is a unique achievement in fantasy fiction in that, in my opinion, doesn't suffer one whit from the "sophomore slump" so prevalent in similar series. On the contrary, I found that the development of new (FEMALE!) characters was a blessing. This is a book that doesn't hold back in its variety of women: some are physically strong, some mentally, some terrifying, some wise, some profoundly foolish. After Blood Song, a book that was exclusively from Vaelin's point a view, a character who is so traditional in his "hero white malenss" that every other character almost existed exclusively to be fridged or complement his narrative, the multi POV chapters in Tower Lord, similar to those in ASoIAF etc were definitely a breath of fresh air. The reason it lost a star is simply because the build up to the inevitable battle at the end of the book just took a bit too long. Were I reading it instead of listening on audio, I might have skipped ahead as the endless portrayals of battles and killing leading up to the last few chapters just became a bit boring, frankly. I eagerly await the next volume in the series. Ryan has proven himself adept at both the Name of the Wind storytelling style as evidenced in Blood Song, and the multi viewpoint, epic worldbuilding from George RR Martin. He is definitely an author to watch.