The Tower of the Tyrant is a dark epic fantasy standalone novel, written by J.T. Greathouse published by Gollancz. A brilliant and ambitious proposal that masterfully puts together elements from the sword and sorcery genre with more profound philosophical and political implications, all inside a rich and well-fleshed world; a fusion between the classic and the modern that results in a really intelligent novel that challenges the reader, inviting them to also lose themselves inside its pages.

Fola is a sorceress from the City of the Wise, a utopia where no suffering exists; she's travelling further across the world trying to learn more about the First Folk, which she thinks is the key to expand the utopia to other places. A search that brings her to the Kingdom of Parwys, a land that fears a haunting after the death of its King; saving Parwys from the haunting and the possible invasion of the Mortal Church, a faction that opposes the City of the Wise and that tries to bring the countries under its religion, Fola will need to navigate the political intrigue among the living and confront threats from many places.
The complexity will only grow as she crosses paths with the mysterious Siwan and her protective father Llewyn; Siwan's own nature looks to be implicated in the haunting, but that's not the only secret that everybody is keeping.

Greathouse develops the story through mainly three POVs. Firstly, we have the aforementioned Fola, a sorceress from the City of the Wise; a pacifist that is learning much about the world by experiencing those terrifying sensations that are not present in the City. She's mostly driven by her genuine scholar interest, trying to understand the First Folk magic in order to bring that utopia upon other parts of the world. She's protected by a four armed mercenary, Colm; their relationship is quite interesting to see as the reader, especially as we see Fola's struggles with him, trying to balance between the patronage and her feelings. An extremely well-fleshed character that also grows as we advance in her story.
The second main point of view follows Siwan and her adoptive father Llewyn; we even get to see the really emotive moment when he promised to protect her. The communication between both is a bit difficult due to how protective Llewyn, but the intentions were pure; it's a pair of characters whose relationship fondly reminds me of Ciri and Geralt. They are accompanied by a troupe that acts as a sort of found family for them, taking care of Siwan and loving her; while those secondaries are not as relevant, Greathouse imbued all of them of deep enough to stay with you after closing the book.
Finally, the third POV follows Thorin, an inquisitor from the Mortal Church, leading their efforts to gain power over Parwys; a stubborn man who acts with his faith at the center, trying to bring what he thinks is the correct path for a nation. While he acts as the villain, or more or less, you can even get why he's acting like that, and honestly, I appreciated how well portrayed he was by the author. 
In general, Greathouse puts great care into developing the characters in this book, multifaceted pieces on the chessboard that Parwys has become.

The worldbuilding is excellent, a rich and vast world (and full of in-novel history, helping to make this novel feel as a singular moment in the vast timeline of the world) that serves as the scenario for our play; a Kingdom where multiple factions are trying to advance its agenda. With the initial premise, Greathouse takes the opportunity to explore philosophical notions such as how everything deserves to exist, independently of its appearance/nature, and the nature of history as a mutable thing that is constantly rewritten, many times hiding the truth behind lies that are used to enthrone a group; there's much to think after reading this novel. We could also say that the Mortal Church's approach is a great alegorism of how religion has been used to opress people against their own interests.
The pacing is excellent, as we are organically introduced to many of the small details of the world without ever breaking the immersion; I found myself devouring it in a few days, because you are always wanting to know more.

The Tower of the Tyrant is an excellent novel, a proposal that brilliantly mixes the epic and philosophical elements together to deliver a kind of unique mystery that encloses a bigger plot, all with deeply nuanced characters. J.T. Greathouse goes straight onto my auto-read list, and honestly, can't wait to read the next standalone set in this world.