Royce and Hadrian make a wonderfully uneven pair. Hadrian wants to believe there is a decent way through a bad situation; Royce would prefer to identify the nearest exit and the person most likely to betray them. Neither position is quite as simple as it first looks. Their arguments work because the affection underneath them rarely needs announcing.
What I like most is how Sullivan lets competence be enjoyable. These men already have a history, a rhythm, and different ways of reading a room. We learn who they are through the jobs they take and the trouble they refuse to walk away from. Arista also matters more than an initial glance at the setup might suggest: her intelligence pushes against a world that keeps trying to decide what she should be allowed to do.
This volume collects The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha, and the two adventures have a slightly different feel. The first is a brisk tangle of theft and political trouble; the second gives the wider world more room. The prose is straightforward and a few early turns feel familiar, but I don't need every fantasy novel to reinvent the genre. I need a reason to follow its people. Royce and Hadrian provide one almost immediately.
— Cory Lane