First of all, this is a review for both the Riyria Chronicles and the Riyria Revelations. I had already bought The Crown Tower before I realized the Chronicles were the prequels to the Revelations, so I read the series in "chronological order" and that worked just fine. I'm sure publication order would have been good too. Up to you. Now, for the actual review, in which I will try to put my many feelings into words. 
 "The battle between Good and Evil is a theme of much of fantasy. But I think the battle between Good and Evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make."- George R. R. Martin 
 Now I shall do what I should not do in a review and start comparing this to other books. I'll say that this series fulfills Mr. Martin's quote better than his own series does. I will say that I have not loved a series this much since the Harry Potter series ended. And I will say that these books felt just a bit Tolkieny. 
 I'll address that last one first because you're probably saying "Well of course it did! Doesn't all fantasy these days?" That's not what I meant. Yes, much fantasy these days is just cheap imitations of Tolkien's fine art. Some authors break the mould. Some try too hard to break the mould and forget to just tell a good story. Mr. Sullivan has told a wonderful story. 
 "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."- C.S. Lewis 
 Yes, this story has magic and elves and dwarves and goblins. Yes, it takes place in a quasi-medieval world (though I would argue that it corresponds more with our late Middle Ages/early Renaissance era) with kings and kingdoms and sword fights. Perhaps this is why the publishers of the book, trying desperately to convince readers that the book is cool, gritty and original, proclaim "There's no ancient evil to defeat or orphan destined for greatness, just unlikely heroes and classic adventure"! Which is ironic because (view spoiler)[Yes, there is and yes, there is. (hide spoiler)] And while this book is, in fact, original in many ways, I think it has an equally important quality of feeling familiar. 
 Example: For some King Arthur fans (like me) people will ask what books and movies about King Arthur they like. The answer is none of them because they all mess up the story. "So what story are you looking for?" people ask. I don't know. But I'll know it when I see it. 
 Similarly, I don't really like fantasy. I mean, I read it more than any other genre and I love everything about it (dragons, castles, swords, dragons, elves, heroes, monsters, dragons, quests, dragons) but there are very few fantasy books I truly love. (Pretty much just Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling). In one of the interviews in the back of the book, Mr. Sullivan said he tried to write the kind of book he'd like to read. I'm glad he did, because it's exactly the book I didn't know I was looking for. 
 Don't get me wrong. I didn't expect to love this series, and I didn't at first. Much like Hadrian and Royce when they first met, I had my own preconceived notions and didn't expect much. "Oh, look, the main characters are thieves, I bet the author thought that was such a novel idea, not like its already its own sub-genre or anything." Oh and Royce. I was probably visibly cringing when he introduced Royce. Of course everyone could immediately tell he was dangerous 
 I could have practically told you Royce's life story right then and there. Cliche anti-hero. Of course he was an orphan, of course he was dark and broody and sarcastic and of course he didn't believe in right and wrong, but obviously its not his fault... 
 So what changed you ask? A lot. Dynamic characters are a beautiful thing. 
 And on the subject of characters, they are amazing. I love me a good character. The first one I fell in love with was, naturally, Hadrian. A good old-fashioned hero archetype with a strong moral sense who was neither an obnoxious holier-than-thou nor a withering pansy? Oh my, were you a breath of fresh air! And then there was the friendship (*ahem* bromance! *cough cough*) between Royce and Hadrian, and this was the aspect that drew me in. 
 In fact, let me be honest, I was expecting the bromance version of smut and I would have been totally okay with it if this book had been no more than that. 
 But it was so much more! Because pretty soon I didn't just love Hadrian, or even just Hadrian and Royce, I loved a whole slough of characters that I never never expected to care about. This is one of the (many) things that Sullivan did much better than Martin. In GoT, I could only muster up enough feeling to care about two or three characters, and the book is told in about 85,000 different perspectives. I really couldn't care about those perspectives and was tempted to just skip them and get back to the people I liked (and I almost did, until I realized I'd be skipping enough of the books that it didn't really warrant continuing the series at all). In the Riyria books, I found myself caring about barely significant side characters almost as much as the two heroes (view spoiler)[which is fine because most of the barely significant side characters actually turn out to be pretty significant (hide spoiler)] 
 But none of the above ranting really explains what I meant by Tolkieny. One of the only good things Peter Jackson did in the new Hobbit movies was give Gandalf this brilliant quote: 
 "I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." 
 And doesn't that pretty much sum up Tolkien? Where the small and un-extraordinary defeat evil through means of hope and mercy? That is what I mean by Tolkieny, and this book has a bit of it. And frankly, that's the best compliment I know how to give it. You see, as far as I can tell, if the battle between good and evil is in the human heart, GRRM's characters have pretty much lost that war. These books though; yes, they are classic adventure and a rollicking good story, yes, they are quite dark at times, and yes they are original, complex and epic, but strip away all that and you have, at its core, a story about friendship, and love, and hope, and Mercy. 
 But most of all it is a story about redemption. That is why it is, in fact, a tale of Good and Evil. For that is exactly what redemption is; the victory of Good.