The Tower of Shadows

By Drew C. Bowling

Book Overview

From the boundless imagination and talented pen of a young storyteller springs the fabulous first novel in a major new epic fantasy series. Steeped in the traditions of its classic forebears, yet... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345486706
• ISBN13: 9780345486707
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Del Rey
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Technically, neither of the Starcross brothers should have survived the massacre that night. The night the magician, Dale, interrupted a dark ritual, and the monsters destroyed the town. Had it not been for Wren Tident and his pregnant wife, Lori, no one would have been there to save baby Corin from the monster who devoured his parents. His older brother, Cade, is left for dead in the tower of flames that was the Starcross home. Fast-forward some sixteen years. Wren Tident is a single father. After having tragically lost his wife, he has given up adventures. He's intent only on the safety and welfare of his daughter, Kayla. Kayla finds him to be overbearing and overprotective, but distant. She's heard stories of her father from before she was born, and she has a hard time believing that the daring, exciting, almost carefree Wren Tident could be the same man she lives with. Dale has become a bit of a recluse. With the exception of the training of his apprentice, Adriel. Dale and Wren have had very little communication since they parted ways many years ago. While they were close friends once, Wren now prefers the lack of contact. Corin lives in the countryside, where he was raised by an uncle. He has lived, to this point, a simple and relatively quiet existence. Despite being an orphan and a cripple (one leg is permanently lame thanks to the events of the night he lost his parents) he is a curious and generally cheerful young man. They are all being hunted. Survival requires Wren to re-enter the dangerous lifestyle he abandoned for the sake of his daughter. And he'll have to drag Kayla in, too, not that she requires much convincing. It means that old friends, turned enemies, will have to reconnect. It means danger and loss and sacrifice and faith in each other at the darkest of moments. To save themselves, and the world around them, they will have to face the darkness that has taken over the boy who was left for dead. And Cade Starcross does not intend to lose. Such completely absorbing fantasy that you won't want to come up for air. And when you've finished, you'll want to go back and read it again to see what you might have missed. Thankfully, this is intended to be only the first book. What I'd really like to read, though, is the story of the time in between. There is a big chunk of time missing between the prologue and the beginning of this piece of the story. That was the only thing I found lacking in this book. I want to know how and why everyone got to where the story starts. I guess I just liked these people, the world they live in, and their story so much that I want to know more about all of it! Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman

Solid Fantasy

Tower of Shadows is a solid fantasy tale full of ingredients we know and love: swordfights, magicians, demons, tortured heroes, spunky heroines and yes, even a dragon. But despite these familiar fantasy elements, Bowling's descriptions make the book unique. I was particularly fond of Lantern Watch, a town created when two pirate ships and a merchant vessel crash on a rocky coast and the survivors build a village within and around the wrecked skeletons of their ships. Some of the descriptions are a little on the gory side - vaguely reminiscent of The Briar King by Greg Keyes, in my opinion. But that's not a bad thing, and I'd say the book is still appropriate for teens (even though it doesn't appear to be marketed strictly as YA). And you've got to admire Bowling for cranking out (and publishing) a novel while in school. That's no easy task!

Amazing Style

This author dazzled me with his ability to give me a sense of scene, characters and pacing that kept me enthralled to the very end. I could not find even one paragraph that became tedious or slow. I wish I could find other books by this very talented young writer.

Decent First book

Its a good start. It does what a book is supposed to do, keep you entertained and entranced until you finish the end. The only thing is the ending seems rushed and there wasn't much development of the background of the story and of some of the characters.

fine pure fantasy

In the town of Nautalia in the world of Ellynrie, Wren keeps his daughter on a very tight leash yet always goes at night to the tavern to drown away his sorrows. While there, the wizard Dale magically summons him, through the medallion he wears around his neck, to his home to call in an old debt. He wants Wren to guard Corin, the boy they saved years against his brother, who wants his blood to summon the demon Appolyon that killed their parents. In his quest for revenge, Cade has turned to the dark side and if he is successful in calling up the demon, it and his minions will destroy the world. Dale tells him that Adriel, his apprentice will also be watching over Corin. Cade's assassins kidnap Kayla in her own home to keep Wren in line but he kills them and is forced to take her on his journey. He and Adriel both search for Corin but by the time he finds him, Cade's assassins kill his best friend and Corin is making his way to his brother's home to deal with him. Kayla, Adriel and Wren follow him to head him off before the brothers meet in a confrontation that could mean death. THE TOWER OF SHADOWS is a good pure fantasy written by a college student whose debut novel is nothing short of magical. His characters are well developed, enabling readers to understand them and the author's world-building skills are nothing short of phenomenal. The author doesn't use any magical creatures in the storyline except for a minor dragon battle to invoke the fantasy elements but relies on sword and sorcery to create a magical tale. Harriet Klausner