The Tower of Shadows (Hardcover)

by Drew Bowling (Author)
Key Phrases: lantern watch, tidal wall, lantern chamber, Drew Bowling, One Eye, Sir Lancet (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This precocious debut from college sophomore Bowling turns on the evergreen battle of good vs. evil as embodied by Corin and Cade Starcross, brothers whose childhood loss of their parents leaves Corin's morality intact but twists Cade, the elder, with a lust for revenge. Wizard Dale calls on Wren Tident, a retired adventurer, to locate and protect Corin when Cade and his minions—Sarin, One-Eye and Damon—begin hunting down the younger brother. Cade requires the blood of his sibling and a magic dagger to summon a dreadful demon who will destroy their parents' murderers. Wren takes his teenage daughter, Kayla, along on his dangerous quest and eventually unites with Dale's bumbling but benevolent apprentice, Adriel. Bowling stocks the mystical land of Ellynrie with the talismanic trappings of most classic quests—magic medallions, wizards, pirates and, of course, a dragon—but he brings an exciting pace and his own exuberant style to a novel suitable for all ages. (Jan.)
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Review
Advance praise for The Tower of Shadows

“A fast-paced, exciting adventure that doesn’t allow you to take a breath.”
–Terry Brooks

“Drew Bowling’s The Tower of Shadows is simply elegant. This young writer doesn’t waste words; he uses just enough description to engage the reader’s imagination, inviting the reader to participate in the creation of the imagery. Reading The Tower of Shadows was a very visual experience, for me, as if I were there, or watching a movie.”
–R. A. Salvatore

“Bowling’s debut is a fast-paced, accessible fantasy epic.”
–Kirkus Reviews

“[Bowling] brings an exciting pace and his own exuberant style to a novel suitable for all ages.”
–Publishers Weekly


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (December 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345486706
• ISBN-13: 978-0345486707
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #930,989 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shows potential but definitely not there yet, March 25, 2007

By	L. S. Jaszczak "servant of the secret fire" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unfortunately, I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how this book got such good blurbs from established writers. It's basically just a series of fight scenes held together by a very thin, disjointed narrative thread, with two-dimensional characters and a very shallow backstory.

Bowling would have used his time and space much more wisely if he had spent more of it developing the characters and plot, which was basically that the survivor of a massacre (by demons?) is trying to find his brother and use his blood to gain power, supposedly to avenge their parents' murder. He couldn't even be bothered to come up with original names, filching Ariel from Shakespeare for one of the world's gods, and the name of the knight who magically appears out of nowhere whenever the characters are in a tight spot is priceless - Sir Lancet Rhymewind. The main characters are the "good" brother who is the target, a reluctant wizard with poor self-esteem, an embittered and cynical ex-warrior, and his plucky daughter. Yawn. I couldn't bring myself to really care about any of them, and what ever happened to Kayla's artistic talent, anyway? That was a promising trait that piqued some interest in me at the beginning, but then it was just dropped.

The author has some nice descriptive touches in his writing (although "the sky was the color of a clotting wound" is _not_ one of them), and perhaps he can do better in future books, but I felt that this one was just a waste of my time.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Fantasy, February 20, 2007

By	Trista Morrison (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read, September 24, 2008

By	C. E. Dunkley - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Tower of Shadows: Book One of The Tides of Fate (Mass Market Paperback)

The Tower of Shadows was an entertaining story. Its a straightforward tale:

-A man trying to keep his daughter safe from his past, while beholden to answer when that past comes calling.

-A wizard's young untried apprentice charged with carrying out the duties his master is no longer able to.

-A young man unaware of his role in terrible events that are unfolding around him.

The author is a young man, a college student. While he still has room to grow he spins a fun tale. He does have a love of similes, but he makes them interesting and rarely dull. Through most of the book each chapter is devoted to one of the various viewpoint characters until we approach the final section of the book. From this point on the author switches between all of the various viewpoints from page to page, sometimes paragraph to paragraph. While this makes the ending a little more disjointed than it should have been the author makes it clear when he is making a viewpoint switch and to which character he is switching to.

Overall, though I enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing where the author will take the story in the next installment.