The Crown Tower
core novel 2013 Riyria / Legends of the First Empire
Record
| First published | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.33 (44,449 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 384 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780356502274 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Crown Tower is the first book of Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Chronicles, a prequel series to the Riyria Revelations. Hadrian Blackwater, a warrior with nothing left to fight for, is paired by circumstance with Royce Melborn, a thieving assassin with nothing left to lose, two men who have never met and have little reason to trust one another. An old wizard hires the mismatched pair to steal a treasure from the impregnable Crown Tower, a fortress considered unbreakable, forcing them to rely on each other's very different skills to survive the attempt. As the job forces the wary pair into uneasy cooperation, the book follows the beginning of what becomes the origin story of Hadrian and Royce's long partnership as Riyria.
Where it sits
- Universe: Riyria / Legends of the First Empire
- Series: The Riyria Chronicles core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Michael J. Sullivan
Notes
- From the series record (The Riyria Chronicles): Prequel novels/novellas, set ~9-10 years before the Riyria Revelations; internal chronology matches publication order. A 6th volume, Blythin Castle, was still being drafted by the author as of the most recent public update found and is not yet published, not registered here per Article 2.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Riyria Chronicles: position 1 of 5: next The Rose and the Thorn (2013)
- Internal chronology, within Riyria / Legends of the First Empire: position 1 of 20: next Age of Myth (2016)
Sources
← Riyria / Legends of the First Empire dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.