Synopsis

The gritty underworld and razor-edged found family of Six of Crows collide with the mysterious magic and sweeping intrigue of The City of Brass, all against the vivid industrial backdrop of Arcane in Michael Vadney’s nobledark fantasy debut.

Nearly a decade under the empire’s grip has left Burunt a troubled land.

Kyndel Heim knows the truth behind the Viceroy’s rise to power. After years of torture, his only goal is vengeance, but to master his powers he needs a mentor, one that won’t kill him first.

Major Jelert Egarro came to Burunt to build something better. Instead, his talents have become weapons in the wrong hands—and those hands are everywhere. He must choose between his ideals or survival.

Lady Amara Khar must renew her family’s legacy. Sharp and ruthless, she’s kept her house alive through smuggling and shadow deals, but reclaiming power means making allies as dangerous as her enemies.

In the struggle for power, justice, and survival, each of them must decide who they’re willing to become.

Quick Review

Crownfall is an ambitious debut—and it sticks the landing. A clever standalone with something for everyone.

Full Review

Crownfall is an incredibly impressive debut. Right away, I could tell that author Michael Vadney did his research and took his time with this project. He’s been very open talking about this, but it’s one thing to discuss the effort put into writing a story and another to feel that on the page.

The story itself starts well, but it took a little while to really hook me. That started around the point when the three main characters—Amara, Jelert, and Kyndel—began to affect each other’s lives and ambitions. I loved seeing how Amara’s political and financial struggles collided with Jelert’s vision of a brighter future and Kyndel’s dire need for revenge against the Viceroy.

All three make an enemy of Viceroy Gian, and that becomes a driving force behind the way their stories come together, but ousting him from power isn’t really the point of the story. Crownfall makes it very clear that what binds all these people is the need to trust somebody, sometimes only to achieve their goals, other times because they need to trust somebody in this dreary world.

There’s a lot of really fun ideas mixed in this book. The magic system, in which certain people can form and shape metals and stones, is simple but used in some really creative ways. Kyndel is one of these Draumer—he can create and shape iron at will. His training arc and eventual mastery of magic is a delight, and it’s a delight to watch Kyndel go from struggling to maintain his iron knives to… What he becomes capable of later.

The other “magic” system is essentially just engineering: machines that run on powerful orange crystals. Major Jelert Egarro is technically our lens into the military here, but really he’s much more of an engineer. His perspective shines a light on not just what the machines in this world can do, but also what they could do, if only somebody put them to good use.

There’s also just enough scheming and politics here to keep us interested in the setting and its factions, without it getting too complicated. I thought it was excellent the way Amara was from that world, but also how her family had sort of become estranged from it over time.

Now, all that said, I wasn’t always in love with the book’s pacing. The beginning feels a bit slow, as Vadney establishes the setting and characters, and the finale is extremely quick. At the very least, I wish the book had an extra chapter or two—especially considering it is meant to be a standalone. Right now, the ending reads more like the start of an epic series (though, I suppose Vadney could always come back for more, and I wouldn’t complain).

There’s also a hint of a romance between two of the main characters, which seems like it’ll be important, but never really amounts to anything. Even in the final chapter, this is hinted at again, but without any real commitment.

Overall, these are minor issues. Crownfall is great, and by the end I didn’t want to do anything but read it. This is a brilliant debut, and an ambitious one. It could have easily been a mess, with all these POV characters, magic systems, and conflicting groups… But Vadney keeps it all together and tells the story with grace.

I highly recommend Crownfall. This book is so impressive to me. The more I read it, the more I enjoyed it. The final fifth of the book leaves no breathing room, and weaves a fascinating tale of unlikely and forced alliances. Vadney’s written something really special here.