Customer Reviews

The Seven Towers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's easy to see how some of the ideas in _The Seven Towers_ relate to Wrede's later books. Amberglas, for instance, seems to foreshadow Telemain in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. In some ways she's a more interesting character--but she can also be more annoying to read. The whole idea of the towers also comes up again, though a little differently, with the tower in _Caught in Crystal_. Any major Wrede fans will find it a worthwhile read. It took me seven years (ironic, huh) to track down a copy in a used bookstore, but now we have copies readily available here, which is nice.

If you're not a Wrede fan already, I think I'd recommend looking at one of her later novels first (the Enchanted Forest Chronicles for something humorous; or _The Raven Ring_ or _Caught in Crystal_ for a general, all-around good fantasy quest type of novel; or _Snow White and Rose Red_ if you like fairy tales; or _Sorcery and Cecelia_ for a Regency story, mixed with magic). _The Seven Towers_ is by no means a bad book, but it's a bit scattered, and it certainly doesn't meet the same standards as her later books (not that I'm complaining; it's a good sign when you like a writer's works better and better as each new one comes out).

On the other hand, the style is distinctly different from her other books--it reminds me a little of an older style of sci-fi and fantasy that we don't see much of anymore; I'm not sure how to explain it, but the tone of the book seems like it's halfway in between the Lyra books and Asimov's original Foundation trilogy. Maybe I'm crazy and my copy just has the right, slightly yellowed older-book texture; I don't know. But I think it definitely has some interesting characteristics of the now-long-gone pulp novel (which was already well on the way out by the time _The Seven Towers_ was written). There are a lot of very stereotypical fantasy characters, but the twinge of humor works there. And maybe more importantly, even if you've already heard plenty of stories with shy princes, and older princesses who'd rather be mercenaries, _The Seven Towers_ is still a really fun read. It's not Wrede's best, in a literary sense, and it's not a terribly cohesive novel in a lot of ways (I'm not talking about the multiple points of view, either). But it's an interesting change of pace. And it's still a really intreguing story. Definitely worth picking up.

I was fortunate to find this book at a used book store. I had read Wrede's Enchanted Forest cronicles,before and loved them, so I was really glad to find this.This book has a neat story. I don't really want to tell what it's about, because that would be giving away a lot of the book! It has good characters. I especially liked Amberglas, an absentminded sorceress. This is a quote from the book:

"Good morning, my lady," he said with more warmth then he had intended. "Yes, it is, isn't it? Though of course it's quite possible that it isn't nearly as good a morning elsewhere. Shula Mari, for example. I belive it quite frequently rains in Shula Mari at this time of year, which could be quite depressing, though perhaps it isn't if one lives there all the time. But then, I haven't been there yet, so I'm not entirely certain" (The one who spoke last was Amberglas) She speaks like this (almost)the entire time! I just really liked this book.

This review mainly concerns the formatting for those of you thinking of purchasing the kindle edition. In a nutshell, it's godawful. Indentation combined with huge spaces between each and every paragraph result in a choppy, unpleasant reading experience, which pretty much destroyed any enjoyment of the book for me. This looked like it had been formatted for the web by a 7th grader, rather than a professional company seeking to sell a well known author through Amazon, and it does the author a disservice.

I would say, for this book, by a paper copy, or take the time to find an ereader that can strip out ugly extra spaces.

Contrary to what is said in Amazon's product description, this is not one of Patricia C. Wrede's best. It's quirky, but not quite as quirky as I was hoping for. It's funny, but not quite as funny as I was hoping for. It's daring, but not quite as daring as I was hoping for. You get the point.
That said, this book has *7* main characters (that's right, SEVEN), and they are all well-developed with very different personalities. The plot is well-developed and intriguing and leaves the reader guessing right up to the very end.
It really is a great book, and I have trouble pinpointing WHAT exactly it is that I have to complain about; it was exciting and adventurous and not quite what I wanted it to be.
Still, though, a book worth reading!
Who Should Read It? Anyone interested in reading a cute, quirky fantasy with bad guys and big evil monsters

I was strangely dissatisfied by The Seven Towers but really couldn't figure out what exactly was the problem until I sat down to write the review. I normally start with a plot summary, and I couldn't figure out how to summarize the story. A lot of stuff happens, and a lot of characters run around and do a lot of things, but there is a fundamental disjointedness to the story that is exacerbated by the multiple points of view.

The Seven Towers is the story of one world's attempt to defeat the Matholych, a magical beast that reappears at long intervals and eats magical power. The most power is gained from killing people, so the beast wreaks havoc when it appears. The seven nations must join together to defeat the creature, but this time of turmoil is also used for various people to advance agendas of their own. The sorcerer Amberglas may be the only one who can bind the seven nations together, but she'll need Prince Eltion to figure out the secret of the seven towers scattered throughout the nations.

I had two big problems that detracted from my enjoyment of the book. First, Amberglas is an annoying character to read. Her style of dialog is so longwinded, vague, and confusing that I found myself skipping anything longer than one line that she said. As she is a major character, and a major explicator of backstory, that is incredibly problematic. Secondly, in a book entitled The Seven Towers, we only see two of the towers. If you are going to name the book after something, I want it to actually be a part of the story in a significant way.

This is a fairly standard fantasy pulp novel, and is one of Wrede's earlier books that has recently been rereleased by Firebird. There are wizards and sorcerers, wild princesses, shy princes, corrupt advisors, magical creatures, and noble nomads from the desert. Any Wrede fan will recognize the precursors of her later books, but it lacks the finesse and humor of her later books, like The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. The Seven Towers is a satisfactory book, but doesn't live up to the standards of Wrede's later work

I really liked Wrede's Enchanted Forest and Lyra books (especially the Raven Ring), but here it feels like Wrede couldn't quite make up her mind whether to make this a humorous fantasy novel, like the Enchanted Forest, or a more somber fantasy novel, like the Lyra books. So, there are these serious murders/betrayals/setups for genocide right next to cutesy insults of "squash head!", and it doesn't quite work for me. Serious evil needs some serious swearing in order to be taken seriously.
I also didn't find the characters as appealing as Wrede's usually are. Amberglas and Vandaris have downright annoying conversational styles. For instance, Vandaris can't have a conversation without a silly insult (mush mind! squirrel brain!) or some generic fantasy exclamation (dragon's teeth!). Some of the others wavered between being dynamic interesting characters and being genre stereotypes.
The book isn't bad, but I don't see many people choosing it for their favorite Wrede novel. Good for a rainy afternoon, but don't rush out and buy it.

I have read this story so many times. Every time i pick it up, i am as enchanted by the characters as i was the first time. I only wish it would be re-released, copies of this book in good condition are so hard to find!! I think i read it for the first time around 15, and at 29 I still greatly enjoy it.

Caught in Crystal was the first of her books that I read, and after reading it and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, I read all of her other books. You can definitely see her style evolve for the better. This is one of her earlier works (not the earliest, I think), and her touch as a writer isn't as delicate and is much more self-conscious, which I notice more in writers who I consider to be bad (Dan Brown) or immature (Guy Gavriel Kay's early books are excruciating). This is a fun book to read, especially if you're already a Wrede fan and interested in following her growth as a writer.

It's been a long time since ive read this book, but it has lots of elememts working together; betrayal, good vs evil, politics, love, magic, comic relif, mystery. Every element works perfectly to make a very charming whole

I had gotten a collection of stories from a friend, and the beginning of The Seven Towers was one of them. It made me want to read the rest of the book, so I went to the library and got it. The story was really good, funny, exciting, and everything else you want. I liked this book a lot because you knew each character's personality really well. A good, well-written book.