This book was initially slow paced but then sped up as the story continued.

The story felt very high fantasy with some complex story telling - which was great - but a bit different considering I'd been mostly reading light YA fantasy over the last few months.

The characters were interesting and intriguing, at times though the overuse of conversation to provide further details felt frustrating.

I am so excited to read the next books in the series!
I'm only sad it took me so long to try this book!

I unfortunately forgot to download the e-book on my kindle before it was archived and/or lost interest in the book because it’s been on my tbr for way too long, so I wasn’t able to read and review it (on time). Since I Must give a star rating, I’ve given it 3 stars to stay neutral/in the middle. Sorry to the publisher for not having gotten around to actually read it. I never request a book without the best of intention to read it and review it, since I know how important it is to the authors in particular. But sometimes life happens and/or reading preferences change so much that you just don’t always get around to read a certain book anymore, even though at the time of requesting I was definitely planning to actually read it of course.

First of all a big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

‘“Pathetic,” I croaked, as the thorn vines slithered around me, pinning me tight to the wall ten feet off the floor. “You’re just a bully after all.”’ 🗡️

Arc Jar Review✨

I loved this book. So much so that I’ve bought the rest of the series and can’t wait to jump into the second book. This is full of magic, intrigue and politics, blended together perfectly. Once I picked this up I could not put it down. I’m so happy that I got this one and finally managed to get to it. 🗡️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

"The Obsidian Tower" is an enchanting and engrossing fantasy novel that is sure to captivate readers with its intricate world-building, engaging characters, and thrilling plot. Melissa Caruso has created a unique and intriguing magical system that is seamlessly woven into the fabric of the story, adding depth and texture to the already rich narrative.

The protagonist, Ryx, is a complex and multi-layered character who is struggling to come to terms with her own powers and the legacy of her family. Her journey is both personal and political, as she navigates the treacherous waters of court intrigue and magical politics while also confronting her own fears and doubts.

The supporting cast of characters is equally well-developed, each with their own motivations and agendas that add depth and complexity to the story. The writing is crisp and engaging, with just the right amount of humor and pathos to keep the reader invested in the story.

The only reason I'm giving this book 4/5 stars instead of 5/5 is that I felt that the pacing was a bit slow at times, especially in the middle of the book. However, this is a minor quibble in an otherwise excellent novel that is sure to delight fans of epic fantasy. Overall, I highly recommend "The Obsidian Tower" to anyone looking for a rich and rewarding reading experience.

Looked interesting but I didn’t enjoy it much. Not for me. I didn’t engage with the plot and I only finished reading as it was for a NetGalley review.

The world-building in this book was incredible and probably the most rewarding aspect of my reading experience. This was a refreshing fantasy that will engage the reader and keep them immersed until the very end.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for a review.

This was a gripping fantasy that kept me on the edge of my seat. The plot was amazingly done and I couldn’t put it down!

This is one of those books that begin gradually, but once you are in the middle of the plot, the rest of the narrative flies by. So much so that it took me much lesser time than it should have to read an almost 500-page book. This is the first and most prominent reason for the rating I am giving it. As any regular reader would know, giving a book the appropriate attention it requires and managing to stick with it till the end and feel good when setting it down is always welcome.
The plot is a reasonably standard one. We have a forbidden line, a family guarding the secret for generations and people with more nefarious purposes. Many initial beliefs will be turned on their head by the time the book ends, although the plot has a long way to go before a stable conclusion. The entire story is only told from one perspective, which is rare for this kind of tale but adds a little to the suspense of the events.
I do not want to say anything about the characters and their ways of life/magic because it is very simply put and forms much of the narrative's actual content. I liked the book and would love to read about what lies ahead for the assortment of people who end up together as a found family at the end.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review :)

This was a relaxing interesting book. You follow Ryx as the main POV - she is trying very hard to maintain peace and protect her domain. She has an interesting magical power - she drains the life of anyone and anything that touches her. I really like the way the magic is explained in this book; it felt scientific and logical. I also liked the characters in this book, even though most of them were around 20 years old (some were children/brothers of some great Witch Lord). The interactions between them was great. There is a little love interest by the end, but it didn't feel pushed and it didn't really impact the book much.

The only thing I can complain was the slow plot. The start was entertaining: magic, murder, magical creatures, magical artifacts, mystery, political intrigue. Unfortunately the middle (around 40% of the book) felt very slow - their actual discussions about this peace treaty were incredibly long and repetitive. And then you get to the last 20% that was very fast and awesome.

This started out quite well and I liked the concept of the book, but something just didn't quite work for me. I wasn't invested in the characters, so it dragged a little at times due to me not being invested. It was a good boo, just not for me.

This is an unfortunate example of a book which is conceptually brilliant, but fails in the execution. It tells the story of Ryx, a warden of Gloamingard whose inherent magic means she is unable to touch anyone or anything living without killing it. The wardens of Gloamingard have always been responsible for the black tower which lies within the castle, under the proviso that nothing must unseal the door. There was a lot to like in this story and world and I thought that the idea of the black tower was really fantastic, but it was under-served in the narrative. Rather than focusing on the dangers of the gate, we instead had several repetitive scenes dealing with the diplomacy of the realm. Political machinations, when done well, are always welcome additions to a fantasy world, but here, they just felt lacklustre and often clunky with wooden dialogue. I liked the Rookery and what they stood for, but I felt like there wasn't enough definition between the characters, so much so that the male members of the group just blurred together for me. I also thought that structurally, the narrative was poorly paced. The opening section was exciting and vibrant, and then the middle section was incredibly drawn out and slow, with a closing section that set up well for the next book, but felt a bit unearned. Overall, for me, it is a real shame that this book didn't live up to its potential, but I will still try book 2 to see if any of the issues I had here have been ironed out.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really just... did not really care for this book all that much, to be honest. I can't even really put my finger on what I didn't like, it was just dull and difficult to get through because of that

3.5 stars

Ryx is the black sheep in her family because of her magic which sucks the life from everything she touches. She has been living at her grandmother's castle of Gloamingard for several years as the Warden, but is unable to use her magic to help her homeland, unlike the rest of her family. Instead, Ryx uses her knowledge and talent for politics to try and placate neighbouring countries as she attempts to avoid war.
For as long as anyone can remember, Ryx's family has guarded a tower at Gloamingard. No one knows what is in the tower, only that the Door must never be opened.
But one day, the worst happens and Ryx finds herself with the Door open and a visitor dead.
Ryx will have to deal with the fallout of the events at Gloamingard, but what was behind the Door? Is it still contained or has it been released?

Going into The Obsidian Tower I was very intrigued to read it as it sounded like an interesting book, which it did end up being.
Ryx was a good protagonist - she was relatable and likeable, and I found her interactions with the other characters interesting and enjoyable to read. It was also good to see how she reacted in different situations.
Other than Ryx, my favourite characters were Severin and Ashe, whose personalities I liked.
The setting of Gloamingard was interesting and a bit creepy at times. I would like to find out more about the different lands that were in the book.
The magic was interesting and I liked finding out more about the different types.
The plot was enjoyable, but did take a little while to get going, and there were a couple of lulls for me. The book went in a different direction to what I thought it would, so that was unexpected but good. I have an inkling of what a big plot twist in one of the sequels could be, but I'll have to read them to see if I'm right.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

My thanks to Orbit book for the digital review copy of this novel.

I really really loved this book! If you follow me on Twitter you will probably already know this, but this book was amazing. That being said it only gets 4.5 as opposed to 5 simply because the beginning of the novel was a wee bit slow, it took a little while to actually get going. The novel has a lot to do with the politics of the world, and draws heavily on these political themes, which understandably takes some time to set up and fully explain.

This novel follows Ryx, who is the warden of her Grandmother’s Castle, and has the power to kill living things with her touch. Grass dies when she stands on it, a butterfly or midge which lands on her will be killed. Their castle guards a giant tower, and when one of the visiting dignitaries breaks the wards surrounding it and enters the tower, all hell breaks loose.

I really enjoyed the political aspects of this novel, our main character Ryx is trying to conduct peace talks with a number of dignitaries, and these are well written and very well explained by the author. They definitely add to my liking of Ryx, her exasperation and anger with the futility of the peace talks, and her annoyance at everyone’s petty arguments made me love her even more!

This novel also has the found family trope that I love oh so much. Ryx joins with a group of experts that travel around fixing/investigating magical incidents, who appear to investigate the tower. The characters in this group are perfect! They have all the winning banter and care for each other that makes me love this trope, and they welcome their new additions with open arms.

I also want to draw attention to the excellent LGBTQ+ representation this novel features. Ryx is bisexual, she has feeling for both male and females in this novel. There is also a secondary character who is non-binary and uses they pronouns, and there is a female-female romance between two secondary characters.

Overall I loved this book! It is such an excellent exciting beginning to a new high fantasy series, and I cannot wait for book 2!!

The story is narrated through a single, first-person point of view of Ryxander, the warden of Gloamingard, who is seen as an embarrassment by her own family because of her broken magic, which kills everything she touches instead of nurturing and shaping life.

The story starts with the Gloamingard castle all set to hold a peace agreement between two other domains. The first envoy arrives and things go awry when the envoy decides to unravel the secrets of the most peculiar yet confidential tower in all of Gloamingard, the black tower.

Ryx is determined to keep up the gloaming lore, that was made and kept up by her family for the past 4 millennium. And she is ready to go to any level to not break the gloaming lore, which leads her to accidentally killing the envoy.

With the envoy accidentally killed, the mysterious disappearance of her grandma who is a powerful witch lord, the rookery's investigation upon the black tower, right when we think matters cannot get worse, it surprisingly does, when Ryx and the rookery learn what the black tower has garded for 4 millennium after all.

The world building was mind-blowing, with it's unique magical system and political dramas. The character development was wonderful too and made me fall in love with almost every character. The story does feel boring at some parts but it turns out to be really captivating as we go forward.

I am really glad that this is the first book of a trilogy and I can't wait for the two books to be released!

I thank Orbit Books and NetGalley for giving me this amazing opportunity and introducing me to the wonderful world of Eruvia.

I loved Melissa's earlier books and this is more of the same things I loved - the world building, the character development, the adventure, all brilliant.

A new series for Melissa Caruso, set in the same world but separate from the first, pretty much like the whole of the first trilogy I ADORED The Obsidian Tower.

The world building is simply brilliant, a political agenda set in a magical place, that hides a dark dark secret, one that could destroy everything.

The mix of magical mayhem, unlikely relationships and a huge sense of adventure is a heady mix indeed, keeping you turning those pages to see where it all ends up.

What I love about this is the unexpected nature of it with the characters diverse and highly engaging, morally ambiguous and any could turn out to be friend or foe at any given moment.

I won't give too much away but The Obsidian Tower is a gloriously exhilarating read and I simply can't wait for the next in the series

Highly recommended

"𝓖𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓷𝓸 𝓬𝓾𝓷𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓿𝓸𝓲𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓱𝓮𝓮𝓭, 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓷𝓸 𝓫𝓪𝓻𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓻𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓰𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓭, 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮: 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓾𝓷𝓼𝓮𝓪𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝓸𝓻"

I recieved this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso. I absolutely loved this book. From the beginning I found the characters and magic system fascinating and it was straight into the action and suspense. I found the descriptions of the tower and the gloaming lore quite eerie in a good way and it gave a sense of the magic involved. I enjoyed the relationships with the Rookery and Ryx as a character was likeable, I thought she was strong and dealt with things with courage.

I am really looking forward to reading the next one in the series and reading more by Melissa Caruso.

It's a good start for a new series even if a bit boring at times.
The world building is amazing, the characters are well round and plot flows even if sometimes it drags a bit.
On a general level I liked this story and want to read the next instalment.
I recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.