I could probably go on for ages about not only how clever the writing of The Obsidian Tower is, but also how much I loved the casual queerness of it. The Obsidian Tower is full of secrets, a story about family obligations and duty, and forbidden truths. You know when you're told you absolutely, under no circumstance, can enter that door because something dark and magical and dangerous is behind it? Well we all know that OF COURSE we want to go in. Who doesn't? Those giant red buttons that say "Do Not Touch"? If you ever wondered not only what is behind those doors, but also how the world would change if if you even touched them - then you definitely should pick up The Obsidian Tower.

But amidst a quest of magical exploration and secrets, of stories that may lead to darker truths, and casual glances that could kill, Ryx is struggling to keep the world from falling into war. The Obsidian Tower has all these complex levels - the mystical and magical mystery, the political tension, and Ryx's own powers and future. While I'm all here for the political fantasy, what I loved about The Obsidian Tower was how it explores rulership and duty, as well as power and family.

*** DNF @ 40 %

The Obsidian Tower is really interesting for the most part. I enjoyed the different take on magic. I really felt a connection to the protagonist, however at 40% I am still confused. There are a lot of new terms that I am just not used to and that combined with too many characters is making it difficult to keep up. I feel like I need a vision board with cords and notes on all the characters and their interests. I liked a lot of the characters but again, with it being a whole new world I found it was lacking ease of understanding. I am curious as to how it will all work out for Ryx, but I just cannot get over the confusion hump.
I also found it odd that the grandmother, who is the leader, disappears and yet no one takes any steps to locate her.
I hope to one day finish the book to know how it ends for all involved but for now I have to move onto other things or find myself in a reading slump.

Title: The Obsidian Tower
Author: Malissa Caruso
Pub. Date: June 2, 2020
Rating: 4.5

This will be a spoiler free review. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been almost 24 hours since I’ve finished this book and I’m still impressed. I’m pretty sure I requested this book months ago because Emily A. Duncan (author of Wicked Saints) was screaming about it on Twitter. Then time passed and my urge to read it dwindled. I read it anyways, because I needed to, and it comes out in a week.

I am so glad that I read this.

It’s one of those books that the more you think about it after finishing reading it, the more you realize like, damn, that was amazing. I was a little unsure going into this book, I wasn’t sure if it was ultimately going to be something I’d enjoy. I’ll admit I went into it a little closeminded, but it didn’t take long for it to hook me. I was invested.

I kind of got a Knives Out vibe from it. The mystery, the thrilling almost absurdity of trying to piece together everything that’s happening…it makes for a really fun read.

I mean, so much happens in this book from the very beginning. It starts off with a confrontation, and just keeps going. You’re not really sure who to trust, who to back, but you’re totally on Ryx’s side, but everyone else around her gets massive side eye.

I thought the pacing of this book was so well done and so much was packed into this story. It never felt crowded or rushed, and the world – Gloamingard in particular is so interesting. It was kind of easy to picture Gloamingard, and I loved how with each new ruler, more was added on to the castle. That it was this hodgepodge of styles and architecture.

This book hooks you from the very beginning, with a murder mystery plot, a revenge plot, magic and mayhem, characters that defy expectations all with some dark and twisty moments that will leave you wanting more.

I’m so glad that I was wrong about my expectations for this book. I’m still blown away by this book, and I really cannot wait for book 2. I want it so badly and I cannot wait to see what happens next and see what the Rookery gets up to.

Can things be any more chaotic for Ryx as she attempts to negotiate peace between two lands, de-escalate a Shrike Lord’s desire for vengeance, learn how to bring her own broken magic under control, and deal with the aftermath of unexpected guests, all the while trying to identify what a secret artifact is, the danger it possesses and identify a solution to fix it without anyone finding out and starting all-out war? That’s not to mention what I am intentionally leaving out of this list just to keep from spoiling anything.

It all begins when the Shrike Lord’s fiancee, Lamiel, unexpectedly arrives at Gloamingard Castle one day before diplomats are scheduled to arrive to negotiate a treaty. Eager to secretly discover what Gloamingard protects and keeps hidden, Lamiel trespasses where she shouldn’t and starts a chain of events with consequential outcomes.

Set in the same world as Melissa Caruso’s Sword’s and Fire series, we are introduced to Ryx who is the Warden of Gloamingard. Ryx’s bloodline is one of vivomancers, but due to an illness when she was young Ryx’s magic is broken and instead of life and creation, her magic brings death. She is the family embarrassment, except to her grandmother who believes in her.

Around 20-30%, I almost stopped reading the book. Something about where the story was at the moment wasn’t keeping me interested. I put it down for a while and then came back and the book I thought I was reading turned out to be something quite different. It becomes a political nightmare for Ryx as we watch her juggle all the different chaotic events going on around her. At one point, another unexpected event happened that took me by complete surprise. So sure was I that Ryx had enough chaos in her life at that moment that she couldn’t possibly fit one more into it. Apparently, I was wrong.

As much as I enjoyed all the disastrous events exploding around Ryx, at times in the latter portion of the book it did become a little overwhelming. This was especially true when I would pick the book back up after being away from it and had to remember all that was going on. Don’t get me wrong – I liked that there was a lot to the plot, but it still took time to remember where Severin was in his transformation or at what stage of research the Rookery was at and so forth. I also suspect there are some thinner plot moments in how some of the political maneuvering and decisions get resolved, but because it could be a little dizzying I haven’t tried to work through all that yet.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book will be available on June second.
This book was a mixed bag for me. There were things I liked, and other things that just didn’t work. You can’t please everyone all the time, you know? I’ll talk about the good, the not-so-good, and the annoying.

First of all, I liked most of the characters. The main character, Ryxander, confused me with her odd choices (if there’s something actively dangerous going on, maybe save the half-hearted attempts at diplomacy for later?), but the supporting characters were great. I really enjoyed Foxglove and Ardith. They were both so unique in their own ways. Ardith, in particular, was a blast to read. They had a devil-may-care attitude that just might have covered something far deeper. It was an intriguing thought.
The magic system in the book was fascinating. I liked that Ryxander had an incredibly strong power, but it was considered “broken” because it was so dangerous and impossible to control. Seeing how that power affected her negatively, as well as anyone else unfortunate enough to be caught in its path, was really cool.
The idea of a dangerous secret lurking deep within a castle was an interesting one, and the actuality of the secret was really cool. It was not at all what I expected. Where things went from there, though…
I felt like I spent the majority of this book waiting for something to happen, with no payoff. There were so many times where I thought, “Ah! This is it! It was all setup and now I get to see why!,” only to find more exposition, and more reiteration of the same political situation. There’s a possibility that it will all pay off in the second book, but I don’t know if I want to take that chance.
I also could not get a handle on Ryxander. She seemed to be very smart, but only in one aspect. Most of her choices left me scratching my head (metaphorically, of course). I didn’t understand why she prioritized things that were less of an immediate problem, as opposed to serious dangers.
One last thing that rankled at me: the use of the word “chimera” for creatures that were truly anything but. Now, this is a problem with me, not with the book. A chimera as I’ve always read it is a two-headed monster (one is a goat head, the other a lion head) with a snake’s head as the tail. While the chimeras in this book were incredibly creative, I wish they’d been called by any other name. Again, this is just an issue with my weird fantasy hang-ups and in no way affects the quality of the writing.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me.

The start to Melissa Caruso’s newest series, set in the same world as her debut trilogy, is not something to miss. It’s the same world, same magic, but with whole new and much higher stakes than ever before.

This series is set far enough into the future that it’s not likely we’ll get to see many characters we knew and loved from the original three books. Instead we’re introduced to a whole new cast. The story follows the granddaughter of one of the Vaskandarian Witch Lords, Ryx. Her family has guarded an ancient magical artifact for generations, one that holds immense power, the sort that can destroy the known world, and it’s now up to Ryx and her newfound allies from The Rookery, to neutralize it.

I love the continued use of political intrigue to build the tension between all of the characters, and with Vaskandar politics, you know it can get pretty tense real fast. I also love that the main character is bisexual. There’s not enough positive bi representation. Also on the topic of representation, there’s also a lesbian couple, and a gender fluid side character. All of the love. All of it!

As for things that I didn’t like, there wasn’t any Kathe outside of a small mention. I need my Crow Lord.

All in all, a very solid start and I am anxiously awaiting the next one.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The worst part is that since I received an ARC copy of this book I am going to have to wait an extra long time for the next book to get released. I need it, and I need it now! I want to see Ryx grow into her power.

I had some problems getting into the story, but that was because I have been working 10 hour shifts at work and my reading time has been super sporadic.

The Rookery is full of super fun and unique characters. I would love to know more about them and I hope in the next book we get to read about their personal histories. Severin is also an interesting person. I didn't really like him in the beginning but he grew on me pretty fast.

Warning mild spoilers below.
This book was given to me by Netgalley in return for a review.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I didn't hate this book but I didn't love it either. A lot of the choices made in the book were taking far too long to reveal and were obviously ill advised. It was like watching the movie anger management but it fantasy format. There didn't seem to be great character development other than some with Ryx and Severin. If you're looking for a fantasy book that feels like the island of misfit toys this book is for you. Almost all of the characters in this book seem like they're on their own roads to self discovery.

To be honest the first half of the book left me really frustrated. The ruler of an entire kingdom goes missing and everyone just brushes it off as a learning lesson. Leaving the just ill equiped individual to rule the kingdom. Lots of things are just left to draw out for half the book before the obvious reveals. The stars is usually the lowest I'll give it before DNFing a book, and I came close.

I didn't hate this book but I didn't love it either.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Obsidian Tower is the first in a new series by Melissa Caruso, although it is set in the same world as her previous series. While I wasn’t lost with this being my first entry into her world, and I think you can use this one as your entry point into Caruso’s work, I do wonder whether some aspects of the world building would have felt clearer quicker had I started with those previous books. And the magic, with the Witch Lords and whatnot, is fun, but I definitely wanted more explanation and am wondering if I missed something, or if it has yet to be fleshed out.

However, this book has a lot to offer in its own right, being politically focused with a mystery at the center. The strongest aspect is the intrigue and the question of the whodunnit.

Ryx is an interesting protagonist, as her powers can be fatal to those who come near her, leading to her isolation by her grandmother. Due to her situation, she’s rather socially awkward, but she’s great at navigating the political landscape.

This is a fairly solid series starter, and one that has me curious as to the direction it will go in the next book (due out next year). I recommend it to fantasy fans looking for new authors to follow, especially those looking for more political intrigue.

Caruso's Sword's and Fire trilogy is one of my favorite fantasy series ever, so I've been eagerly anticipating this since it was announced and it did not disappoint. I want to shove it at everyone I know and tell them to read it. We are back in the same world as the last trilogy, but a lot of our time is spent in Vaskander, which I love because I find that land fascinating and I'm glad we got to see more of it than we did in the last trilogy. The main character is smart and I love how Caruso writes female characters that have different kinds of strength. Not all strong heroines need a sword! (And some do kick butt in that way too and that's also excellent). Caruso also does politics really well. I'm not a huge fan of political fantasy but she executes it so well that I find myself unable to put the books down. I cannot wait for the next book!

DNF at 37%

It was a rough start, got a bit more interesting, then we hit a wall again. I don’t really want to keep feeling like I have to push my way through to find the bits I like. I found that other reviewer found that it got better at 40% in but I just don’t know if I will and at this point if I don’t enjoy it now I won’t at 40%+.

I might in the future pick it up again, because there were some aspects that I did enjoy - the characters were just starting to interest me - but at the moment this is just not for me.

This book was amazing. I was hooked from the very first page to the last. The magic system was wonderful and the pacing was fabulous! I don't read many adult fantasy but this one hit the mark!! The characters were great and man I can not get this book out of my head.

This is a solid fantasy read. It follows Ryx, the Warden of Gloamingard, granddaughter to a Witch Lord, and user of “broken” magic from a childhood illness. Her family is filled with vivomancers, who can manipulate organic materials (think make plants grow, talk with animals, etc). But Ryx does the opposite. Her magic takes the life force of anything that is alive. While she doesn’t fit into the family, she carves out a role as a diplomat and is hosting a summit between 2 other nations. But there is a dangerous secret hiding in plain sight in Gloamingard and when it is opened, a war will be the least of Ryx’s worries. With this book, you get to see several different viewpoints on magic – either it rules everything or it needs to be controlled by others (not the mage). The magic system is really fascinating. The characters are decent – some of the secondary characters are kind of flat and seem to be there to fill a need. But most of the main characters are well rounded and interesting. I would recommend if you enjoy magic filled stories with politics thrown in along with an underdog type main character. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Great book, but man was I confused. Immortal witch lords? Evil empire cabal? Can someone please explain why the cat is talking - oh look there’s been a murder.

I suspect the sheer amount of new information and terminology would be less overwhelming if I’d read the Swords and Fire trilogy, which takes place in the same world as The Obsidian Tower. I appreciate when the author doesn’t spell everything out, but there was A LOT going on here. My attention was split between getting to know Ryx and learning a political landscape it felt like I was already supposed to know.

Ryx is the granddaughter of a Witch Lord, and Warden of Gloamingard castle. Unlike all other mage-marked vivomancers, her magic doesn’t bring life, and her touch on anyone outside the family means near instant death. Still, she’s determined to protect her grandmother’s domain through intelligent diplomacy. Dead ambassadors, headstrong relatives, and a mystery killer - Ryx must somehow appease opposing diplomatic delegations to keep war from descending on Vaskandar, all while containing whatever dark magic is stirring within the sealed tower at Gloamingard.

Once I’d oriented myself to the world, I really enjoyed Ryx’s story. She’s smart, resourceful, and well-used to compensating for mistakes. Her magic inspires fear in nearly everyone around her, yet she shows great vulnerability in overcoming that distance and the fear of harming other people.

Yes, this is adult fantasy, if only because of the sheer volume of information the reader is expected to handle. Not every teen reader (or adult) is up for that. In terms of content, though, it’s a clean read and wouldn’t be entirely out of place among YA fantasy.

Recommend for lovers of fantasy politics with a side of who-dunnit mystery. But, yeah, maybe read the Swords and Fire trilogy first.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC**

In Obsidian Tower, Ryx is a young Warden of a millennia-old castle and its people, who has never fit in with her family. Instead of having the live-giving magic they're known for, her magic strikes out at those she touches - or who touch her - and often kills them. For her entire life, she's kept apart from others, separating herself from most human contact and friendships. She has always grown up with the knowledge that one of her family duties is to ensure that the mysterious Door remains sealed, though no one has told her why. When an ambassador from an aggressive neighboring state arrives to enter negotiations with the empire to the south (mediated by Ryx), everything goes to hell in a hand-basket - and Ryx finally discovers what's in the obsidian tower.

This story began slowly. I found it took a couple of chapters for me to really engage with the world and the plot and become interested in who Ryx was and in her story. I'm glad I stuck with it. Throughout the book, Ryx begins to find her voice and her place at the center of what could become an international incident if she says or does the wrong thing. She learns what it means to develop friendships and to become involved in the world instead of constantly skimming life. Tensions are running high, motives are not always clear, there's a murderer on the loose, and no one knows what happened to her grandmother. And everyone wants what's in the tower. It's set in a world with interesting magical abilities and political intrigue.

After the slow start, it picked up pace and I found myself eagerly returning to it until I finished it. Recommended for fans of new adult fantasy, who like mysterious ancient artifacts and political intrigue with their magic.

Reviewed for Shelf Awareness, so this isn't my official review :)

Really enjoyed the world-building, the queerness, the twists and betrayals. Feels like something between YA and the "Fantasy for Grown-Ups" that I thought I had to choke down for years. The world-building doesn't consist of fifty pages of info-dumping before any actual plot. Instead, you're dropped in media res, with Ryx accidentally killing a horrible person she's supposed to be negotiating with. And then everything else goes to shit.

I'm only mad that I have to wait for the next two books.


I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review via NetGalley.

4.25 stars (which is very unusual for me, but I really want to stress that this is higher caliber than my usual 4 but I wouldn't go so far as to say it could be rounded up to a 5).

Normally, I say I want a hungry protagonist. Ryx isn't hungry, she's starved: for attention, affection, touch, praise, positive feeling. She's a curse upon her own land, with a twisted, broken strain of life-magic that unravels and kills anything she touches. Including but not limited to people. With an ominous family motto that basically amounts to "don't open the goddamn door" - it was inevitable that we were, of course, going to see what's behind it. And it didn't disappoint.

Ryx is smart and capable if a bit socially inept (which she makes up for by being supremely politically savvy). When all of her careful diplomatic plans unravel and worse, she (and some new friends - which is a hot commodity for the royal mage who literally can't even stand close to people) take on every additional challenge. With a capable and diverse cast (bi/pan MC, a f/f relationship, a nonbinary character and more!), The Obsidian Tower brings the reader on a unique magical adventure.

Upon finishing the book, I discovered that it's a spin-off series from Caruso's other trilogy - but while reading it, I never had the sense that I was missing background information and, indeed, I'm now excited to go read that series while I wait for Ryx's next adventure

The Obsidian Tower is the first book in Melissa Caruso's new fantasy trilogy, "Rooks and Ruin." It is not however the first book set in this universe - this book is set in the same fantasy world as Caruso's Swords and Fire trilogy (which began with The Tethered Mage in 2017), just 150 years later.* I really liked that trilogy, which began with a novel that was solid and had potential it didn't quite reach only to then be followed up by sequels which did reach that potential, featuring an interesting contrast of magical countries and fascinating characters. So I was definitely excited to revisit this world at a later point in time for another story.

*Note: No foreknowledge of the prior trilogy is needed to enjoy or understand this novel: no characters from that trilogy appear herein, and other than a few sparse references to events/people from that trilogy within a few pages at one point, there really isn't anything that you'd miss out if you read this trilogy first - Caruso is quite clearly making it possible for anyone to read this series first if they so choose. The only clear benefit I got out of reading the prior trilogy first was to more clearly understand the setting from the start, but new readers should probably be fine.

And The Obsidian Tower is a very promising first novel in this new trilogy, with a fascinating fantasy world, a sort of locked room-esque mystery (kind-of), dueling political powers, and a heroine desperate to try to get it all - and her own dangerous powers - under control. The story doesn't quite have any particularly great characters other than the heroine herself, but she's enjoyable enough to carry the story quite nicely, with the other prominent characters showcasing potential to grow in future novels. And the story flows really nicely, being quite hard to put down once you get into it. I'll definitely be back for the sequel to see where it goes from here.

---------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------

Guard the tower, ward the stone
Find your answers writ in bone
Keep your trust through wits or war
Nothing must unseal the door

As the granddaughter of the Lady of Owls, the Witch Lord of Morgrain, Ryx should have been a powerful vivomancer, able to manipulate life in some tremendous fashion through her magic. But Ryx's magic is corrupted, killing everyone she touches and so her parents gave her to her grandmother's keeping.

Now, Ryx acts as the Warden of Gloamingard Castle, the seat where her powerful grandmother sits, and uses her political skills to try to wield power instead of her magic. But Gloamingard possesses a secret family legacy - a sealed door within that all in the family are taught must NEVER be opened. Yet when a peace conference Ryx plans brings both ambassadors of the powerful neighboring Serene Empire and the Witch Lord of Alevar, the castle soon finds itself full of dangerous ambitious persons out for blood....and all it takes is one such person for the worst to finally happen.

For what is behind the door is something far worse than Ryx could ever have imagined, and instead of having time to deal with it in peace, she has to deal with a host of scheming parties in her home, all of whom have their own agendas and plans. And with her own magic only capable of causing death, how exactly is Ryx going to somehow stave off not just the outbreak of war inside her own castle, but a danger that threatens to destroy the world as she knows it if unleashed?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Obsidian Tower features the same world as Caruso's prior trilogy (the awfully named but very good "Swords and Fire" trilogy), a fantasy world in which the world is mainly split between two powers: The Serene Empire and The Witch Lords of Vaskandar. The Serene Empire is a colonial empire reminiscent of many historical countries in our world, ruled by an oligarchy/parliament and requires those born with strong enough magic to be marked to be "Jessed", so that their magic can be turned off by a trusted third party. Vaskandar is more of a conglomerate of independent states, ruled by mages, vivomancers who have power over life, and its Witch Lord leaders have utter control over life in their domains (territories)....but often find themselves in conflict with one another.

Our heroine in this novel, who tells the story in first person, is Ryx, who has a mother from the Empire and a father from Vaskandar and is thus supposed to be a vivomancer....except her magic is corrupted, so instead of allowing useful control of life, it merely kills everything it touches. This is hardly an unusual archetype in genre (most famously perhaps held by the X-Men's Rogue), but Ryx is done particularly well in a way to make her stand out: she has opted not just to wallow in misery but to make herself useful as a diplomat - using her connections to both sides of her heritage - since she can't rely upon her powers in any useful way. Oh she still suffers as a result of her powers - and as a result, a conflict for her is the potential desire to have those powers turned off by a Jess (something which Vaskandarian pride would suggest is sort of like enslaving herself to another) so that she can actually touch other people without fear. And she can't help but look at those with human contact and potential relationships without envy. But it doesn't define her - instead what defines her is her need to try and find a solution that can satisfy all parties, even as things get more and more disastrous and more and more conflicting agendas come out of the woodwork. And Ryx isn't trying to do so from a naive point of view (to contrast her with the prior trilogy's heroine in her first book) - while she might be perhaps a little too trusting of a few people, she's still well aware of the consequences of various actions and agendas, and that everyone is hiding something. It makes her tremendously interesting to read throughout.

Which is good because Ryx is the only really strongly developed character in the novel, which features a ton of named characters all of whom are playing their own games and don't have quite nearly enough time to come into their own just here. Which is not to say they're not interesting archetypes, and Caruso plays a bit here by having a bunch of characters with similar archetypes acting in different fashions: so you have two individuals who were raised up from nothing by dangerous patrons with possibly dangerous agendas, who react very differently to the discovery of same, and the two potential love interests are both cowardly in their approach to potential love/friendship vs their own professional circumstances. Each of these characters is built well enough that I'd like to see more of them in the future - especially the Rooks, a group of neutral individuals who investigate magic in both countries, but they can't quite capture individually the same intrigue as Ryx or some of the side characters in the prior trilogy.

Moreover these characters and Ryx work well enough to set up a plot that intrigues from is very beginning and continues to get more and more complicated as things move on in this story. Caruso's prior trilogy dealt very much with the issues dealing with power and control over other people and their lives, and while those themes do exist here as well, they're less overt than in that novel - we're more dealing with a more typical fantasy novel here. But it's a really good fantasy plot, filled with twists and powers and agendas that enable the plot to take various shapes: from a locked room mystery to political intrigue to a dangerous fantasy struggle, and it all works from beginning to end into a satisfying tantalizing ending. The only part that didn't really work for me is the romance element - the attraction between Ryx and the eventual chosen love interest just seems to come mainly from nowhere until it's mentioned by a character and is from then on a thing (I reread those portions, and the setup is there just a tiny bit, but it's incredibly scant) and it didn't quite work for me. Mind you, I felt the romance in Caruso's first novel was its weakest element before additional elements came into play later to make it stronger in the rest of that trilogy, so hopefully that'll improve going on forward.

In short, The Obsidian Tower is a very good first novel in a trilogy, with a really strong heroine, a strong plot, and enough tantalizing possibilities that I could see this becoming really great. Can't wait to see if it takes that next step.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Melissa Caruso has been on my radar for some time now, so naturally I was eager to start this first book in her new Rooks and Ruin series. I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. The Obsidian Tower is truly a great deal of fun. This book takes a number of story elements I love and cleverly combines them all into one grand extravaganza.

Our pragmatic and long-suffering protagonist, Ryxander, experiences no shortage of troubles. Ryx is the Warden to her family’s massive, eclectic castle and is tasked with guarding its imposing, forbidden tower. It’s her solemn duty to ensure the gate to the tower is never unsealed and it’s one she takes very seriously. To her, this role is a purpose that can make up for her warped magic that drains the life from any living thing that touches her – and it grants her a useful place despite being the outcast in a family of vivomancers. But this important task becomes all the more daunting as she soon discovers that the tower contains an ancient mystery and dangerous secrets that could prove fatal.

In addition to this already large responsibility, she also takes on the burden of hosting a gathering of representatives from rival nations and other mutually suspicious factions for peace talks. Her family’s domain, Morgrain, lies between two hostile powers and it’s in her interest to keep them from going to war. Her guests predictably have varying competing interests to be appeased, which would be difficult enough without her also needing to curb their pointed curiosity towards the aforementioned dangerous tower. There are even a few meddlesome relatives with their own plans for the tower that keep unceremoniously interfering with Ryx’s negotiations, leading to an abundance of family drama. Add in some more deadly magic, a number of diplomatic complications and one sly chimera into the mix, then you just might get an idea of the kind headaches Ryx has to deal with.

Although the plot itself did not move especially quickly, the story nonetheless progressed at a steady pace that kept you entranced and excited to discover what happens next. There may have been more scenes focused on discussions and strategizing than there were battle or action scenes, but even readers who prefer the latter may still be won over by the interesting cast of characters. Ryx’s family members, colleagues and enemies are all an intriguing bunch in their own ways. As much as I loved Ryx herself, I think I loved some of the supporting characters even more. (I’m thinking of a certain swordswoman and another easygoing troublemaker, here!)

I’ll also note that I was initially unaware that this new series is related to the author’s completed trilogy, the Swords and Fire series. Since I haven’t had the pleasure of reading the previous trilogy, I can certainly confirm as a newcomer to the world of Eruvia that this book can be read without having done so. The compelling worldbuilding introduces new readers to the various magic systems and the rival nations of Vaskandar and Raverra seamlessly. Never once did I feel like I was missing something for having not read the other books, and it’s clear The Obsidian Tower was intended to function as an independent storyline regardless of the shared setting. But it definitely does make me want to start reading The Tethered Mage to get even more content.

I will be looking forward to the sequel.

Melissa Caruso’s Swords & Fire trilogy is one of my all-time favorite series. So when I heard we were getting another series set in the same world, I was equally excited and nervous. I’d loved the first series so much and didn’t know if this one could compare.

And it doesn’t! But that’s okay because The Obsidian Tower is just as fantastic in an entirely different way. At first, I found myself constantly trying to compare the series, looking for the Easter egg references that I knew had to be hidden there. But as I kept reading, Ryx and the other new characters stole my heart. Caruso’s writing is so immersive, I wanted to just stay in this darkly magical world forever.

The Obsidian Tower focuses pretty heavily on politics and political machinations, but considering it centers around negotiations for a peace settlement, this was to be expected. Caruso does a fantastic job of explaining everything, I never found myself confused or wondering where any one faction stood. I loved how all of the different subplots were woven together and how the tension was constantly ratcheted up. Just when I thought a situation couldn’t get worse or more complicated for poor Ryx, it did (really, Ryx deserves a nice long vacation after everything she went through in this book).

And the characters! There were complex family dynamics that felt incredibly realistic, friends turned enemies, enemies turned friends, and some excellent potential romances. There’s fantastic LGBTQ+ representation here as well. But saying any more than that would require some serious spoilers.

The Obsidian Tower is an amazing book that I would highly recommend to fantasy fans who love their potentially apocalyptic mistakes with a side of political intrigue. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series and I’ve already preordered a finished copy of this one.

*Disclaimer: I received an advance digital review copy book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.