I really liked Blood Song and was hoping for something similar in its sequel, Tower Lord. The first book was basically Vaelin's life story in his own words. Tower Lord attempts to follow its many plots from all sides which makes it a less coherent novel. The story picks up from the end of Blood Song with Vaelin's return home. As a returning hero, or notorious warrior depending on your point of view, the new King appoints Vaelin as Tower Lord of the Northern Reaches. Vaelin would prefer to search for the missing Brother Frentis, the only dangling plotline from the previous book. Instead he finds himself dealing with aggressive tribes, petty feuds, and a woman out for revenge. One guess which is the most dangerous. Then there is Frentis who finds himself in thrall to a foreign sorceress and Princess Lyra who is determined to find him even if most people think he's dead. The Scribe Venier, who recorded Vaelin's tale in Blood Song, is now serving an Imperial General and relating events as they return the favor and invade Vaelin's country. All of this is the fallout of the traitor and Vaelin's actions in Blood Song but it leaves little room for the character development that was so engrossing in that first book.

Vaelin is the character I was most interested in, but he gets a fairly tame role this time, although his story is livened up a bit by a raider out for revenge. When remembering the first book the supporting characters barely come to mind and Frentis is the only one I could name. The disappearance of Brother Frentis was the one plot left dangling at the end of Blood Song and is both the strongest and strangest of the stories here. His captor is an alluring, but not completely human, sorceress bent on destroying his country. Vaelin and Frentis had doubts that all magic was evil and they both experienced some benevolent magic but this sorceress seems to be proving the Church's position. Neither this sorceress nor her people were mentioned in Blood Song, so this storyline came out of nowhere and seemed a bit weird. Princess Lyra has a larger role than in the first book and proves to be quite deadly for a noble lady. She has a magical knife and knows how to use it. The last POV is the scribe Venier with the Imperial army. His role in the first book was to be the guy who hated Vaelin but got drawn into his story and, of course, came to realize that he wasn't the notorious villain Venier's people thought he was. The Imperial invasion is a logical consequence of the past but its significance in the overall story is put off until book three.

I agree with the majority that Tower Lord is less compelling that Blood Song. Maybe it's the curse of the sequel or maybe Ryan intended it to be a bridge between Blood Song and Queen of Fire. It still contains plenty of action but most of the time is spent on world building the scenes for the multiple plotlines. The biggest complaint is that Vaelin's role is so much smaller but since the characters are spread apart that was inevitable. Tower Lord certainly isn't a bad book, it's just that Blood Song was very engrossing and had a very narrow POV. It turns out that the world is far larger and more complex than Vaelin imagined for us.