I really wish I could give this book more stars, but uurrrggghhfffgulk5 the writing is awful. Two parts lame sounding conversations and three parts explaining everything to death, sometimes it really insults your intelligence.

BUT there was at least one part that had my inner fangirl squealing, and even though I could see everything coming a mile away, the ending surprised me! But, well... it was in my face the whole time. *squee!* ( )

Royce and Hadrian's adventures continue in Avempartha, the second book in Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations series. These two should seriously consider not taking jobs to steal swords. They never go to plan.

A desperate young woman hires Royce and Hadrian to save her village from a monster that kills villagers every night. The catch? No one has actually seen the creature, only the destruction it leaves behind, and the beast can only be slain by a sword that is locked in a tower - a tower has no obvious way to get inside.

I admit I'm a little sad I didn't enjoy this as much as the first book. The first half of the story lays a lot of groundwork that involves the thing I disliked most in the first book: villains monologuing. It was necessary set up for what ends up happening and I have no idea how if I was a writer I'd change it. It's just not my favorite way to tell a story.

Once the story gets back to Hadrian, Royce and their current problem to solve, it is a lot more enjoyable. It also goes on a more serious tone as Hadrian stays in the village to help them organize better defense against the nightly raids while Royce works on the problem of getting into the tower. In this case having read Legends made things fairly easy to guess as I already had the background information the characters lacked and some of the historical information was a repeat. That repetition wasn't all bad though I can see how the long time between stories has changed things. Such an interesting concept. There is plenty of action and I didn't see the resolution to the monster working out in the way it ended up. I truly feel bad for Thrace as she's going to have to live with the repercussions of that. It was also great to have my suspicions about Royce confirmed.

Spoilers for Legends! I'm starting to suspect that Esrahaddon is Malcolm though I'm still on the fence. He sells only being 900 years old quite well. I also haven't figured out why he let his hands be cut off since I'm pretty sure Malcolm could've prevented it if he didn't want it which is also making me doubt. Hopefully this will be revealed by the end of the series. I love how the author is keeping me guessing.

Those quibbles aside, this was an enjoyable read. We will see where the plots the Church of Nyphron Novron has set in progress goes next as I'm sure it's going to interfere with Royce and Hadrian's future adventures. ( )

This was even better than the first, The Crown Conspiracy, and I really enjoyed that one. The third can't come fast enough for me. I like the questions raised at the end. The entire book was fast moving, action packed, and fun. I love the characters. ( )

A real page turner I never wanted to put down. I love his writing style and the depth of the characters. Nothing extra tossed in for filler. Believable and very well written. It left me yearning for more. ( )

For the first half of this book, I was a little disappointed. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - it was great to be reunited with old friends such as Hadrian, Royce, Arista, and good (or is he evil?) ole Esrahaddon. The new developments with the church of Nyphron and their schemes, plus Arista's new assignment to serve as ambassador were all nice to read about. But it just didn't have the heart pacing action I'd come to expect after reading The Crown Conspiracy.

But talk about calm before the storm. The build up was necessary to properley deliver the knockout punch that we get in the second half. Wow! I can now step back and see how it's woven together and I'm impressed. Avempartha not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. The characters were developed more in depth and some of my suspicions were confirmed. New mysteries came to pass as well. There were some great battle scenes, and a surprise casualty or two. The ending was unexpected as well, and had me wanting volume 3 immediately.

All in all, the writing is smoother and reads more comfortably than in the first book. I don't know if that is due to superior editing or simply the author finding his comfort zone and settling into it. I will say that the chapters were sectioned off much better - the first had a strange way of breaking them up that was somewhat uneven. And as far as the story itself, where Book 1 ran like a quick burst of action and plot twists, Book 2 was more epic in nature and promises so much more to come.

( )