The Servant's Tower

The Sorcerous Crimes Division #2

by Scott Warren

Over a year has passed since the Devilbone incident, and the Sorcerous Crimes Division struggles to rebuild their ranks in the wake of the destruction cause by Daishad Clayton and his Plaguestone.

In The Servant’s Tower, Commander Alcott Vulfort is forced into a medical retirement so that he can accept the role of the City of Kaharas’ new Security Councilor. He must come to terms with overseeing the safety of the entire free city day and night, and organizing the security for dangerous sorcerous contraband.

Meanwhile, a conspiracy involving the city’s migrant elf population comes to light, and newly-minted Sergeant Margo Landis finds herself constantly pulled towards a deadly artifact at its center.

While the city is in turmoil, it will have to do without Corporal Boyle Tanner and his squad of Heavyhand Raiders , who are dispatched to the Borrean Wastes south of Kaharas to address an ancient evil. But his new allies that may prove just as dangerous.

Genres: Fantasy

270 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2018

Reviews

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent a digital copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review. This book is the second book in The Sorcerous Crimes Division series. I had previously read the first book, Devilbone, giving it a 3.8 stars.

In this world, the Sorcerous Crimes Division is “a special group of constables who are defined by their ability to detect and perform sorcery and conduct investigations and armed raids against powerful sorcerers that felt themselves above the law”.

My review of the first book told how I had no major complaints about the quality of the book, but that it was too heavy handed with magic, and I wanted more character-development. This book was a better book in every way. For starters, the magic was absolutely the star of the show in Devilbone, and many of the characters were somewhat two-dimensional. Of course, the whole premise of the series means there will be a lot of magic. I get that. But it was at the expense of other aspects of the story.

In Servant’s Tower, I think the author (Scott Warren) hit a MUCH better balance. There is still plenty of magic, but it was not in every paragraph (as I commented from the first book). Fortunately in doing this, the author took the time to make the characters much more developed.

My favorite character was Margo Landis. In one passage it told how she hates sorcery with a passion, and “it made her skin crawl that she was capable of performing it”. She was actually glad that she was “inept” at sorcery. She also stands against the majority of the SCD who are very procedural and rigid in their choices and behaviors and she does whatever it takes. I liked her character the most.

I also loved how some non-human characters were more essentially involved and developed in this book. They were very prevalent in Devilbone and they were here, too, but they were more fleshed out in Servant’s Tower. I enjoyed the non-human characters of Devlin Ur (a kala’del dervish/elf), Private Marlrog (a Grenndrake), and Stinky/Stikki (a goblin). Some of the scenes with Margo and Stinky were some of the highlights in the book.

This book also explored a more defined 3-person POV approach, focusing on Margo, Tanner and Vulfort, each of which was developed much better in this book. Particularly well done was Vulfort’s engagement and all the implications with that.

Overall, the book was good, much like the first. I would suspect that anyone who liked Devilbone will like this one even more. I liked the first book but didn’t love it. I certainly liked this one even more.

Thank you, Scott, for sending these two books to me. Well done! 4.1 / 5 stars for Servant’s Tower.

[Amber Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuation of a class act

The characters I loved were back in this second instalment of the SCD series, but the adventures were definitely new. The police procedural, thin blue line style was furthered in the Kaharas-based plot but outside of the city SCD was straying into special forces territory. I guess you have to be flexible when you are all that stands between the people and magical tyrants.

I've got my husband reading the SCD books and he loves them too, even though he's neither a fantasy or police procedural fan in general. They are a great balance - both plot and character driven, both dark and heroic. Even the battles are a sweet mix of fists, steel, powder and magic as SW seamlessly blends genres.

There's a catch-up for anyone who hasn't read Devilbone in the beginning but I highly recommend reading that first. If you get sucked into it you'll certainly enjoy the Servant's Tower. Style rather than content makes these adult books, not YA. The language is sophisticated, the characters mature and the focus is on substance, not flash.

I'll be looking out for the next in the series.

[Paul Calhoun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun sequel and a good buildup to the next story in the overall plot. It seemed a little disjointed - though usually in places where it was supposed to, I'm just not a fan of the "chaos" setting. The background is well done, especially where the bigger events occur and the characters ignore them in favor of smaller, immediate crises.

[Adam Potrzebowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always entertaining, though I thought the bit in the Tower dragged a little bit

[Johnie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I recommend this book to anyone who likes magic, action, and new views on magic.