Tower Lord tells a story from four perspectives. That being said, though, I do feel as if Tower Lord is the book most similar in structure, execution, and style to Tolkien’s magnum opus. Often compared to David Gemmell, and an author who draws inspiration from Robin Hobb, Anthony Ryan is not “the next Tolkien” – I dislike such statements. My first ever fantasy book was The Lord of the Rings, and I think that I can finally say for the first time that I have found an author who may one day manage to attain the same level of magic I found the first time I read Tolkien. Finding a book that has these ingredients mixed together in equal portion is difficult – finding a book that mixes them in large quantities even more difficult.

The recipe requires an equal mix of strong characters, strong world-building, a well-conceived story, and beautiful writing. I have spent a lot of time reading fantasy books trying to recover the magic of the first book fantasy book I ever read. However, I am pleased to say that not only has Anthony Ryan not stumbled with his second book, ‘Tower Lord’, but he has improved. I’ve also been a pretty harsh judge of second books in a series – so many authors seem to stumble at this point of the race. I ended up reviewing ‘Blood Song’ 8/10 and I wrote in summary īeautifully written, wonderfully cast and populated, Anthony Ryan does indeed seem to be placing himself as one of the next master storytellers Earlier this year I had the opportunity to binge through a batch of new books that had come out throughout 2013 and very early-2014, and ended up finding some new favourite authors – names such as Miles Cameron, Brian Stavely, Brian McClellan, and the topic of today’s review, Anthony Ryan.

Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan