I have been reading for pleasure since the early 1980s and I have not been paid or given any incentive for this review. I have confirmed purchase of each of these books on Amazon for my Kindle Paperwhite and I am writing this review for all of the Riyria novels and will post this for each. Please see the authors’ notes for reading order of this series but this review is based on reading in chronological order:The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles)The Rose and the Thorn (The Riyria Chronicles)The Death of Dulgath (The Riyria Chronicles)Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations)Rise of Empire (Riyria Revelations)Heir of Novron (Riyria Revelations)Author Michael J. Sullivan has a gift. After 20 years I have a new favorite series and Michael J. Sullivan has another dedicated reader and fan. This series, and the writing style, takes me back to the old school days of Robert E. Howard in way… Each book stands on its own. It is a very clear story/adventure that starts and concludes in a single volume so it can be read one at a time or binged all at once. The thing that differentiates it is that the series, in its entirety, is also a single epic adventure that starts in The Crown Tower and concludes in Heir of Novron. So taken individually each book is excellent and as a complete epic it more than satisfies. Like others have stated as well I was sad to read the end of it simply knowing that this particular tale was ending while at the same time that ending had enough adventure, emotion, humanity, and twists and turns that I was also happy to read the final pages. As an example the end of Glen Cook’s The Black Company ended poetically and perfectly so too does the story of Riyria.What I took away from this series was a story following the two main characters, Hadrian and Royce, and was about humanity, morality, pain and loss, redemption, family and brotherhood. The two main protagonists and nearly opposite sides of the same coin but that coin is an old tarnished, beaten, and used coin with its faces faded from the wear of life in a medieval fantasy world. There is no typical heroes journey, no larger than life heroics, no immortality of characters that often plagues the genre. These are characters who are nuanced and believable, so much so that some have complained it is not realistic that the two protagonists would be together at all. To any who thought that I say just read on… there is no mystical fate forcing them together or any overused fantasy tropes, there is just strong character design and development, written by an author with a gift for bringing his imagination to the printed page.The author starts the seeds of the story in the first book and nothing is wasted or filler. Small scenes in one book, with characters you may or may not think to ever see again, but can have an impact further down the road. This is like real life. If you help someone on the street or donating to charity, you may just be doing something that will change the world someday. You will meet an excellent cast of secondary and supporting characters who may come and go in the story but while they are there they are real characters and create real moments in time. Whether you see the impact or the characters again I will not say anything to spoil the story but as far as the characters development and the story itself Michael J. Sullivan did not waste your time with stand-in or generic stereotypical filler roles.The individual stories each touched upon different adventures… breaking into an impregnable tower, a high seas adventure, a dungeon crawl, etc, giving each book its own unique feel and never a retread. This works well with the overall storyline for the entire series as well and in the end the payoff is well worth your time and money spent.In regards to reading order, the author suggests publishing order, and I can understand why, but I hate prequels. I do not like knowing where the end is before I read something, so I read in chronological order and I am glad that I did. Seeing the beginning gave me, personally, a better feel for where the characters came from to where they were when the final volume concluded. I am sure these books can be enjoyed either order so use your personal preference when choosing. I cannot rate these books in any kind of order of enjoyment because overall I have come to look at it as one volume or one story. There were no weak books or weak stories to my taste so I will not try to critique it down to arbitrary ratings based on personal preferences… you cannot judge the arts technically… only how they impact you and your enjoyment.Give this series a try if you are looking for something a little different from the glut of current fantasy out there today.