• Tower Lord

  • Raven's Shadow, Book 2
  • By: Anthony Ryan
  • Narrated by: Steven Brand
  • Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (10,930 ratings)

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Tower Lord  By  cover art

Tower Lord

By: Anthony Ryan
Narrated by: Steven Brand
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Publisher's summary

Vaelin Al Sorna, warrior of the Sixth Order, called Darkblade, called Hope Killer. The greatest warrior of his day, and witness to the greatest defeat of his nation: King Janus' vision of a Greater Unified Realm drowned in the blood of brave men fighting for a cause Vaelin alone knows was forged from a lie. Sick at heart, he comes home, determined to kill no more. Named Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches by King Janus's grateful heir, he can perhaps find peace in a colder, more remote land far from the intrigues of a troubled Realm.

But those gifted with the blood-song are never destined to live a quiet life. Many died in King Janus' wars, but many survived, and Vaelin is a target, not just for those seeking revenge but for those who know what he can do. The Faith has been sundered, and many have no doubt who their leader should be. The new King is weak, but his sister is strong. The blood-song is powerful, rich in warning and guidance in times of trouble, but is only a fraction of the power available to others who understand more of its mysteries. Something moves against the Realm, something that commands mighty forces, and Vaelin will find to his great regret that when faced with annihilation, even the most reluctant hand must eventually draw a sword.

©2014 Anthony Ryan (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[Tower Lord] begins to realize the imagination and coherency of Tolkien, while remaining true to the heart and soul of the author. The Raven’s Shadow series is one of the best new series out there, challenging all the existing big-names to sit up and take notice, or be left behind.” (Fantasy Book Review)

“[Ryan has] proven himself as an author who can write a very diverse and convincing cast of characters...A wonderful follow-up.” (The Bibliosanctum)

What listeners say about Tower Lord

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Great Swampy Middle!

Any additional comments?

So it you are reading this then I can assume you have read Blood Song and are looking to pick up or have picked up Tower Lord and just want to get an idea of the book before you settle down to read it. Well my title says it all this book has all the trappings of the great swampy middle ground of a series, allow me to elaborate.

This book is good, I enjoyed it quite a bit and was very happy to see how well the Author branched out from the first book. The first book was great, spectacular even but it was also simple in that it had very few PoV and very few locations. In Tower Lord we get to see more. More of the world, more people and more character development of several of the secondary characters from Blood Song. That last one was critical in that it allows the story to flush out through different PoV's with different motivations and experiences. As much as people want to see and read about Vaelin this book and the story as a whole would have just plain sucked if we did that again.

PROS:
Well written, expanded story, more character development and interaction and a very enjoyable continuation of the overall story.
CONS:
Its a middle book. A lot happens in it but at the end of the day it is stage setting for the rest of the series. Plus big Ol' dangled cliff hanger at the end, I'm not partial to cliff hangers personally so this is more of a personal preference than a true con.


Oh and for the people complaining about too many PoV and all the jumping around, there is 4...... seriously 4 PoV you follow through the story and the sections titled by which PoV you will be following. No problem knowing whose head I was in during the listen here.


If you read Blood Song you are going to read Tower Lord so go away and do so, right now! If you are reading this to see if you want to pick up the series then the answer is yes, go get it, now. Stop reading this and go, now. Stop. Reading. This. Review. NOW!

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81 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Common epic fantasy mistake of too many viewpoints

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, because it is the sequel to a very good book, and there is hope for future books in the series being as good as the first. The prose is also great.

How could the performance have been better?

The reader makes absolutely zero effort at doing voices to distinguish between characters, and between characters and the narration of the plot. While his voice is pleasant, this makes it once of the worst audiobooks I've listened to. It is especially difficult as there are sections where conversations are written jumping between different characters without stuff like "said character x", "exclaimed character y". Because of this, with this narrator, it is next to impossible to know which characters are speaking which lines

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Sure

Any additional comments?

Blood Song was the breakout hit for Anthony Ryan. Unfortunately, it seems that this has gone to his head a little. In order to make sure he can pump out these novels for quite some time, the pace of the book has slowed down dramatically in comparison to the first book. Much worse though, is that we now suddenly have a million different viewpoints. This is a common trap that fantasy authors often fall into on the success of a first book, even when that success and book are based primarily around a single viewpoint.People liked the first book because Valen is an interesting character. It is a massive mistake to go from 80% Valen, 20% other in the first book to 25% Valen in this one. It's a bildungsroman, and should focus on Valen. people don't care much about the other, much less interesting characters.It's Wheel of Time/Sword of Truth all over again. The authors realise the series may be the only one people ever really read, so they need to make them much bigger and with more books than originally planned. Unfortunately this comes at the cost of quality, with so many viewpoints introduced that we barely see the characters (in this case, character) we came to see.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Different, but still awesome.

I have been waiting for this book for a while now, but I believe it was worth the wait. I have read some reviews that do not like the multiple point of views, but I could not see another way to tell his story. In this book you will receive some answers that you might of asked in the first book about things like the 7th order, and who some of the assassins were. As in all good writing though you will have a few more after you read the book.

Some of the best parts of this story are how the characters developed since the last book. In this book many of the characters go through some really bad things. Some become the better for it, others much worse. In the first book most things worked out in a way. In this one expect a little more grime and hardships throughout the story. Truly a great read.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Narrator horrid. Listening hard.

I wanted to like this - but I can't. I am an frequent audio book user and normally go thru a book in a couple days. I've been trying to get thru this for a week. The narrator is horrible. Every character voice is the same so conversations run together. He doesn't pause at all between character dialog so you end up trying to figure out who said what. I'm sure it's a good story but I can't get the story because the narrator is so dead and jumbled in the reading.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Wow, such a disappointment.. Shame on this effort

What disappointed you about Tower Lord?

How can one of the best fantasy books ever written (sorry, my opinion of Blood Song) be followed by so disappointing a story? WTH happened here? Vaelin is almost nowhere to be found, Frentiss (a character i do adore) just travels around killing everything in sight with his 'evil witch' of a lover, and the princess Lyrna is not even recognizable as the complex, interesting and formidable character in Blood Song. I can't even begin to represent the ridiculousness of our new female, killer-goddess, with lesbian tendencies - where did she come from? It's not that this character is a mistake in herself, and I started off really liking her, but geez - how long can we be interested in a character that never loses, never misses and barely even bleeds as she repels hundreds of life-long warriors? what did she have, one week of training with Vaelin? just really heartbroken and i have to wonder if Mr. Ryan may have been sabotaged by his publisher or editor, or both... I'd like to formally request that Antony Ryan send out a press release titled 'Psych! - that Tower Lord was just a joke'. and provide us with a REAL second story in the saga of Vaelin Al Sorna - one that is worthy of his name and the promise of Blood Song.I can't imagine how he will reconcile the idiocy of this book with the brilliance of his first. I'll certainly not be pre-ordering the next in the series!

Has Tower Lord turned you off from other books in this genre?

not at all. I just won't be so quick to re-order both the print and audio versions based upon a previous work. I would never have bought the print copy if i'd known how awful this would be.

What does Steven Brand bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I do really like Steven Brand as a narrator. To such an extent that, should they ever bring Tower Lord to the big screen, I would hope that the casting director finds the perfect actor for Vaelin possesses a vocal quality and similar accent to Mr. Brand.

What character would you cut from Tower Lord?

Not sure i would CUT anyone, I would just like to see Ryan work from the POV of his original, brilliant work. I would like to see Reva and Lyrna 'reworked' so to speak, where they are more than just one-dimensional caricatures.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gonna be a LONG One!

As other Reviewers have said, there are no real answers to the major questions you'll have from Book 1, in Book 2... but you DO begin to realize that this is going to be a LONG series, and the first few books are basically "Setting Up" the rest of the Series...

Before you Groan and think "48 HOURS of 'Set Up'?!?", It doesn't feel like typical "Set Up".. the Action is there through the entire Series, and you learn the Characters as you go along.. it's the PLOT that's being "Set Up", not just the Characters...

Up Front.. This seems like it's going to be a VERY long Series... Along the lines of "G.O.T.", Just don't expect all of the questions to be answered right off the bat, Although you'll probably start to get an idea of where things are headed, and "What's What" as you get further into the first two books... unless Anthony Ryan pulls "a Mind-Twist" and yanks what you THINK is going to happen out from under your feet ;)

A Very Enjoyable Series so far, especially if you like longer books and series! I just hate waiting on the next Book each time I finish the current one... but who doesn't?

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Good story but the homo mania ruins it

Starts as a good fantasy but turns into a homosexual love story that seems injected and contrivide to press some personal agenda of the author

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A bit of a letdown

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was Ok, but not brilliant the way that Blood Song was.

Would you recommend Tower Lord to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably not, as this time around the story was weaker, the main character was mostly absent, and the some of language was excessively offensive in ways that really detracted from enjoyment of the story.

Which character – as performed by Steven Brand – was your favorite?

Vaelin continues to be my favorite character, so it was a shame that we did not get to see as much of him as before. I actually like Lyrna as well - I like her growth. I always thought she was better than Vaelin gave her credit for being.

Do you think Tower Lord needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It will definitely need a follow-up, as this one leaves you dangling over a cliff. I don't want to give up on the story, but if it continues the way the second book went, I'm not sure I will stick with it.

Any additional comments?

I have been anxiously awaiting this sequel since I finished Blood Song, which was ABSOLUTELY brilliant! This, however, fell flat in comparison. I really like the "Band of Brothers" that we got to know in the first book, and was particularly invested in Vaelin, so I was looking forward to seeing how his story would develop. Instead, I saw very little of Vaelin, Canis, & Nortah (though at least we got to see a good deal of Frentis) and spent (I thought) way too much time with Reva and Lyrna. (Though it was good to get a chance to see Lyrna grow.) Also, I was OK with a few swear words popping up here and there (these are soldiers in the heat of battle, after all), but this book seems to have pushed the boundaries for crudeness WAY over the line. It felt more like it was done just for the sake of being able to do it. Some of the words and phrases are so bad that I definitely don't want my teens to read it (these are older teens - almost adults.)

I hope that Mr. Ryan will write his next book in the brilliant style of writing that made Blood Song so great!

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I can't make myself finish it....

Any additional comments?

I've made it about halfway through and I just can't finish it. The story drags, but it's the "reading" that makes it unbearable for me. I can't call it a "performance", since it just sounds like someone with a raspy voice "reading". There are no inflections, no accents, no "voices" for the different characters. If there is no "he said" or "she said", I cannot tell who is "talking" -- or even if someone IS talking. All in all, I'm very disappointed. I tried giving the "performance" NO stars, but it won't let me. I bought it after reading the positive reviews, so perhaps my expectations were too high. Oh well, I'll check out the new Star Force book.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another Masterpiece from Anthony Ryan. One

of th"e best pieces of fiction, never mind Fantasy, I have read. It may be difficult to believe but The Tower Lord" is an improvement over the superbly written first volume "Blood Song."

Told in the third person using multi- view points (differing from Blood Song which is primarily told from Vaelin's view point) the book expands the characters (some briefly met) in "Blood Song": Frentis, and Princess Lyrna. We are also introduced to Reva: a seeming secondary character who mushrooms into one of the central figures of this volume. The role of the Blood Song, one of the dark gifts, barely explored in the volume baring its name is expanded on. Dark Gifts such as the Blood Song require sacrifice, and Vaelin's pledge to forego killing and war is one such sacrifice.

Ryan continues to explore the role of religion in society- its role in conflict and providing a rallying symbol and a symbol of hope amongst people enduring hardship. Given the central role of religion in "real life" today it is refreshing to see it embedded so deeply in a fantasy novel and without condescension.

The book flows in a flawless fashion from one view (and story line) to another- from one crisis point to another. I was so enthralled I can say that I shed an additional three to four pounds whilst listening to the story- as I could not bear to end my workout on the treadmill mid story and found myself staying on the treadmill for an additional 5-10 minutes to hear what would happen next.

Thank you Anthony Ryan- this cannot possible be your first multivolume work. It is a true masterpiece that any fan of fantasy should listen to or read.

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