Royce the thief and Hadrian the swordsman are known as Ririya -- for the right price, and given enough time, they can steal pretty much anything. 
 They are also the last people you would expect to be suddenly in the middle of a massive political and religious war, but that is what happens in "The Crown Conspiracy," the first of Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations. Rather than overstuffed mythology or dark-and-gritty realism, Sullivan crafts a tale with most of the fantasy tropes which somehow manages to feel fresh, fun and complicated. 
 A foppish noble hires Royce and Hadrian to steal a legendary dueling sword... but when they get to the place where it's hidden, they don't find a sword. They find the king's corpse instead. In a matter of minutes, the two find themselves framed for the king's murder, and the enraged Prince Alric orders them gruesomely executed the very next day. Fortunately for the pair, Princess Arista knows that someone else killed her father, and she fears that soon the same person will assassinate her brother. 
 So she is willing to free them, with the stipulation that they kidnap Alric for his own safety, and take him to someone named Esrahaddon. Given the choice between death and babysitting a bratty new king, Royce and Hadrian decide to drag the king on a road trip, but they quickly discover that they are being hunted. 
 And they also learn that this conspiracy to seize the crown has a lot more elements than a simple assassination -- an ancient magical prison for a notoriously powerful wizard, a fallen empire, a burned-down abbey and a powerful religion centered on a demigod emperor. They never asked to be national heroes, but Royce and Hadrian find themselves enmeshed in this conspiracy, struggling to keep the new king and princess alive as they try to uncover the root of the treason. 
 Most high fantasy these days falls into two basic categories: 
 - Derivative of Tolkien, where the author chokes the story on excessive worldbuilding that the story doesn't actually need. 
 - Derivative of Martin, where the author bogs down the story on grim, dark grittiness until it's no longer entertaining. 
 And what makes "The Crown Conspiracy" so charming is that it isn't like either of these. Sullivan embraces a lot of fantasy tropes and cliches (elves, dwarves, wizards, Europeanish medievalish culture), but the story he spins out of them is oddly refreshing. He weaves out a genuinely epic story, based on centuries of fictional history and complex international politics, but the story itself stays a pretty intimate affair without any fat to trim. 
 It's also pretty fun to read -- Sullivan's prose is nimble and quick-moving, with lots of clever dialogue ("It's my first day.""And already I am trapped in a timeless prison. I shudder to think what might have happened if you had a whole week"), suspenseful battles and clever traps sprung by the thieves. However, Sullivan does stumble in a few areas. He skims over things that would be better shown (the guys assaulting the monks and making their way out of the dungeon), and his grasp of Ye Olde Englyshe is very... Yodaish. 
 Hadrian and Royce have a touch of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser about them, but these are very distinct characters on their own -- one a dark, mysterious thief with a rather cruel outlook, and the other a soft-hearted mercenary who totes around three swords. They're confident, smart and spend their free time hanging out with the beautiful local madam (whom Royce clearly carries a torch for), a rough bartender, and an assortment of rogues and weirdos. 
 And the supporting characters are equally interesting -- Alric starts out as a bratty prince, but slowly matures into a good king as he realizes what must be done to save his country. The timid monk Myron provides plenty of comic relief ("They are even prettier than horses") but also a poignancy and innocence, and there's also the mysterious handless wizard Esrahaddon and the strong-willed, magic-using princess Arista. 
 While "The Crown Conspiracy" wraps itself up nicely, Sullivan leaves a few plot threads dangling for the next chapter in the Ririya Revelations series. A fun, action-packed debut, which charms simply through being a clever, well-developed story.