I decided to give this book a try even though I unfortunately didn't really enjoy the first book in her other series, The Tethered Mage. The Obsidian Tower takes place long before the events of the Tethered Mage series, and while I didn't love this book, I enjoyed it more than The Tethered Mage. Ryx is a really interesting main character, and I liked her, but I just wasn't too interested in anything that was happening.

DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!

#The Obsidian Tower by author # Melissa Caruso is her debut novel. A new fantasy trilogy. Features broken magic, and her disastrous artifact that could destroy the world.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Melissa Caruso, and # Orbit publishing for the advanced copy

The obsidian tower is about ryx a highborn royal, who has the power to destroy everything she touches, that is trying prevent a war from breaking out between two powerful nations. Ryx is fun and amazing mc to follow, I enjoyed seeing her try to control the situation while trying not to accidentally kill anyone. I loved all ryx relationships but the one that’s stood out most was her bond with her grandmother, the lady of owls. It’s unique bond that you don’t often see in adult fantasies, where the lady of owls role would fall to a older male character instead. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable bond that deals with complex emotions between grandmother and granddaughter that I can’t wait to more of in the sequels. Overall the obsidian tower is a solid and fun adult fantasy that I high recommend.

A fun political fantasy romp with crossover appeal that is sure to draw in teen and adult readers alike. Interesting magic, compelling characters, and complex politics make up for writing that, at times, felt a bit younger than the target demographic. I would primarily recommend this to adult readers of YA looking to transition into the world of adult fantasy. Many facets of this story made it feel like a “set up” novel, but the plot is intriguing enough that I’ll be checking out book two.

I love the premise of this series even more than the last one. The stakes are high as HECK. Caruso doesn’t dick around dragging out the mystery of the tower; she gets right to it with a big early reveal and then starts throwing implication after implication at her cast. It’s brutal, but also wonderful.

Like Swords and Fire, there is a strong heavy focus on politics here. But this is a fascinating turnaround from Swords and Fire which focused so heavily on the Serene Empire. Here, we get the deeper window into Vaskandar, and it’s a nice change of pace. If characters negotiating and dealing with political problems doesn’t interest you, you’re gonna struggle. That said, I never ever had a problem with the pacing. Every time I sat down to read a bit, I ended up reading at least three more chapters than I intended.

Caruso does her best to disconnect the two series as well. A lot of years have passed since The Unbound Empire, and though its events do get mentioned, Amalia doesn’t even come up. I think there was maybe one passing reference to Kathe. That’s it. So good on her for stepping away from a cheesy “child of the previous MC” kind of storyline.

The rest of the cast are a lot of fun; they really run the gamut from scene-stealers to people you love to hate. Severin is a bit of a Kathe analog, charming and sly, although I’d say he’s a little more cowardly. He’s struggling to stand up to his brother, the Witch Lord noted above, and his and Ryx’s slow-burn budding romance is so much fun to read. (coming from someone who HATES romance) Ryx’s aunt is awful but also family, a terribly real dynamic, and her grandmother the Witch Lord is terrifying in at least ten different ways as the book progresses. There’s an odd chimera that hangs about and makes cryptic and mysterious remarks. The Rookery characters are a fun addition, an ostensibly neutral group of mystery solvers and arcane experts that are very Scooby Doo but with real magic. There’s a childhood friend of Ryx’s, and a nonbinary representative of the Conclave hovering over Ryx’s shoulder. And to be honest, this barely scratches the surface of the secondary characters.

Also, props to Caruso for going somewhere I honestly wasn’t expecting at the end. I had a bad feeling I knew where things were headed and was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. It’s not a great ending — things are definitely unresolved and overall still worse than at the beginning — but there is hope yet. And also the promise of more terrible things to come.

i really enjoyed the sword and fire trilogy so I really looked forward to the new series, this book was really good. The characters were great and I really enjoyed the plot.

Review will go live on my blog on October 6th

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The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso is the debut novel of a new fantasy series. The book follows Ryx, the granddaughter of a ruler of Vaskandar, who is afflicted with broken magic. Where her family’s magic brings life, her magic only causes death and destruction. On the night of an important peace conference, she accidentally kills a snooping delegate and activates a mysterious magical artifact all in one fell swoop.

This is a story full of politics, intrigue, magic, and mayhem which made it a pretty damn engaging read. However, I found that some of the scenes and characters tended toward melodrama. I didn’t think that all of the characters reacted realistically within their circumstances. There were definitely multiple villain monologues with characters that weren’t always particularly complex (like the Shrike King).

I thought that the main plotline around the magical artifact and Ryx’s grandmother’s disappearance were interesting, but it often felt like the other plot threads interfered with the story. Some plotlines could have been better developed, while other felt unnecessary.

You often find me complaining about young characters, but I didn't have that issue in this book. I liked that Ryx had an area of expertise/experience and wasn’t magically an expert in everything. There were many scenes where Ryx didn’t know the best path forward and was out of her element. Her rag tag group of friends similarly all had unique areas of expertise. This was definitely a story about teamwork and friendship, rather than a story about one character who is ultra-smart and ultra-powerful.

However, I also think too much of the story involved Ryx being unsure and out of her element. I don’t think her expertise in politics and diplomacy shone through in her actions. It would have been interesting to see how she really worked to bring an agreement between the two states without being constantly undermined.

While I did enjoy The Obsidian Tower overall, I was not a fan of Caruso’s writing style. Some of the writing felt quite amateur. It didn’t detract from the story too strongly, but I was drawn out of the story a couple of times.
I would definitely recommend The Obsidian Tower to fans of YA fantasy looking to branch out toward adult fantasy. I think the voice and characters would appeal to an older YA audience. I wouldn’t recommend it to people looking for a more mature story.

Rep: Ryx is bisexual with a romance with a man, there is an asexual side character, a non-binary side character, and a sapphic side character (other sexualities are not referenced).

The book was a great read. I am very much into Fantasy and this book is filled with magic, both literally and figuratively!! And as a plus point, the romance did not disappoint me a bit.

This was my first Melissa Caruso read, and it was much better even than the synopsis. Fantasy, intrigue, detailed world building and characters. This is something I want in physical form for my personal library

There are two kinds of magic. There is the kind that lifts you up and fills you with wonder, saving you when all is lost or opening doors to new worlds of possibility. And there is the kind that wrecks you, that shatters you, bitter in your mouth and jagged in your hand, breaking everything you touch. Mine was the second."

The main character Ryxander or 'Ryx', like the rest of her royal family has magical powers. Unlike her family, her powers only cause death and destruction. Anything she touches dies, or is permanently damaged. This means she has to be careful around people and she is always conscious of where people are in relation to her. Only other mages, like her family, can touch her. This makes any relationships, emotional and physical, difficult. Due to this she is starved for physical affection, which is mentioned numerous times anytime a member of her family touches her.

There is a mysterious obsidian tower that must remained sealed at all costs. It is thousands of years old and Ryx' family has protected it for generations. No one knows what dangers or magic lie inside, just that it can never get out. Unfortunately through a series of events the door is opened, a dignitary is dead and Ryx is at the heart of it all. They call upon the Rooks, a group of people that investigate magical objects to help seal the door and find out what they released.

This book frustrated me. There were a lot of really interesting things about this world and the magic, but all we learn about is how insecure Ryx is. She is the Warden of Glomengard, the protector of the people, but she can barley hold conversations with people without getting flustered and second guesses her every move. At one point, during a meeting she has spent weeks preparing for, her aunt shows up and decides she is going to take lead. Ryx thinks about all of the reasons why she shouldn't let her do this, including her aunt is a hot head and may ruin negotiations but she just lets her do it.

I have been attempting to finish this for a few months, which is very unusual for me. There are elements of this that I would normally enjoy, and I'm not sure if it is just where I am in life, but coming of age stories apparently no longer appeal to me. This is well written and has interesting characters but it is just not for me. Maybe reading a book about someone who can't go anywhere or touch anyone is a bad choice for this point in time. I dnf'd at 40%. I may attempt to read this again later in the year or next year.

I hate to rate something I didn't finish because it obviously just wasn't for me, it's unfair to the book and author.

Thank you netgalley and orbit books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have never been let down by an Orbit book! The kingdom in this book is just so amazing. This book takes place in the same world as another series of hers but I haven’t read that and I didn’t feel I was lost with anything. Can’t wait for the sequel!

received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review:
This book was interesting to say the least but it didn't hold me. I couldn't find myself attached to the protagonist so I felt very detached from the story

This was a wonderful expose on world-building. I loved the magic system, the Witch Lords, and their ties to their land. Every character was well constructed and likeable, in their own way. Caruso tied the believable with the unbelievable in a magical way. There were moments where you have to pause and tell yourself, surely this couldn't happen but some nugget of information has been missing and soon revealed. Ryx is an amazing main character. Broken, sullen but with a sense of duty and honor that color her every action. I love her growth through the novel and the relationships she develops. It's not hard to see, she could be a ruler in her own right. That she'd devoured the lessons her Witch Lord grandmother had taught her. And she knows her strengths and her weaknesses well. Amazing read.

“Sometimes you have to destroy in order to protect.”

I absolutely loved this book! The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso was one I was intrigued about from the moment I heard about it. I even included it in a blog post I wrote at the start of the year, Exciting Books in 2020, about the books I was most looking forward to this year.

I hadn’t read anything by Melissa Caruso previously and this book is the first in a brand-new fantasy series which is set in the same world as her previous series, Swords and Fire.

I found you can definitely read and enjoy this one without having read her previous trilogy however I enjoyed the writing and storytelling so much that after I finished The Obsidian Tower I went back and devoured all three previous books, The Tethered Mage, The Defiant Mage and The Unbound Empire.

Honestly as I said you don’t have to have read the original trilogy to read this new book however that being said I think if you do plan to read all of them it would be better to do it chronological order.

This new book does have a different feel to it than the original series and although I loved Swords and Fire it is a lot more of a political fantasy and if that isn’t your thing you may find you enjoy The Obsidian Tower more which felt more like an epic fantasy/mystery with a touch of politics.

In The Obsidian Tower our protagonist Ryx is mage-marked and the granddaughter of a ruler of Vaskandar, this means she was destined for power and would be at the top of Vaskandar society. However, her magic is broken and anything or anyone she touches dies.

I found this story quite interesting as Ryx is a character who has been told her entire life she is broken and unfixable, she has the power of death in her hands yet despite this she has turned out to be a genuinely kind and caring person who would prefer to use words and diplomacy rather than war to solve conflict. And although the rest of her family and high society treat her poorly, she is shown great love from her Grandmother.

The story was fast paced and has a really interesting magic system, which if you have read Melissa’s previous books you will be familiar with but this story looks at it from the other side of the map which was fascinating.

As I said I loved the writing and found once I started, I could not put this one down.

I highly recommend picking this one up and I cannot wait for the next book!

I have to start by saying that I'm not a big fan of political intrigue stories, like AT ALL. Yet, I still found myself enjoying this quite a bit. There's a lot of world building here, and it takes a while to get going, but once the book kicks into gear it's a fun ride. Ryx is a great character. I enjoyed this book very much.

Amazing characters and worldbuilding! I was entranced from the start by Ryx's world and loved meeting new characters throughout the story. At times the plot was a bit slow for me, and if you aren't a big fan of political intrigue you might not like this book. However, overall it's a very strong start to Caruso's new series! Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for the review copy.

Maybe I've read too many books in this genre lately, but this one didn't click for me, something just felt off. Didn't quite hold my interest even though the world building and characters were good.

ARC via netgalley in exchange for agreement to review.

i thought this book had excellent diversity and that the characters were exceedingly developed. finding fantasy novels that introduce diversity and political themes in a way that is not too shoehorned in can be hard, and this book did an excellent job!
i thought the pacing was a bit slow at times and that it would have benefited from the inclusion of more action-driven scenes.

A long held family secret is in the tower and must be guarded at all costs. Ryx, the main character lives with her grandmother, the only one who can properly handle her mage-marked granddaughters broken magic. When she touches anything or anyone it dies. Therefore she wears gloves and is on high alert at all times. When the Obsidian Tower becomes unsealed due to a prying visitor who dies after Ryx is trying to guard the seal accidentally touches her, all things start falling apart with talk of revenge,war,demons and the one who loves Ryx most becomes changed trying to protect the tower. I enjoyed the beginning and the ending but felt a little bored with the middle portion of the book. Overall a good read but probably won’t continue with the series.