Drumindor (The Riyria Chronicles #5) by Michael J. Sullivan

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Fantasy
Content: Mild language

 

HE PLANNED TO OBLITERATE AN ENTIRE CITY. HE THOUGHT NO ONE COULD STAND IN HIS WAY. BUT HE HADN'T HEARD OF RIYRIA.

When a master-craftsmen dwarf is fired, he threatens retaliation. The rogues-for-hire known as Riyria are commissioned to find and stop him. Traveling to the paradise resort of Tur Del Fur, the two are granted a lavish allowance that, along with the easy job, promises to turn the trip into a vacation. Everything would have been perfect except that the disgruntled employee’s last name is Berling and the target of his wrath is the legendary towers of Drumindor.

 

I adore the characters Royce and Hadrian and it was a nice treat to get to revisit them once again after 5 years of waiting. This is probably my least favorite of all the Riyria books. I still enjoyed, just not as much as I was epecting. This book was a bit different from the others in the series in that it goes at a slower pace, and is about Royce and Hadrian developing more as characters, instead of a faster paced fantasy adventure. It's not what I was expecting, and so I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about it in the end.

Royce and Hadrian are on a job, but it progresses slowly, and we have Albert, Gwen, and Arcadius tagging along and making it into a vacation. I'm still not sure how I feel about this aspect of the story. I wasn't really wanting a slice of life type thing to happen in the middle of it, but I think my biggest complaint is that it leaned a bit too heavily on providing little nuggets for all the past and future books set in the world. Hadrian's infatuation with a singer in the book was also annoying for me. 

The best part of the story was Royce realizing his feelings for Gwen and his reaction to that. Also, there were some good humorous moments throughout the book that I enjoyed, and I enjoyed the stuff about the Dwarfs. Will I still read more books in The Riyria Chronicles series if more are written? Of course! But I do think this may be the last one since the author is now working on a sequel series to The Riyria Revelations, and I'm fine with that.