The Tower of ShadowsDrew Bowling

The Tower of Shadows - Drew Bowling

Hardcover
Page Count: 304 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: December 12, 2006
ISBN-10: 0345486706
ISBN-13: 978-0345486707

In an era where Christopher Paolini, young author of the immensely successful Eragon and Eldest, is king, one would think that a flood of young authors would hit the market. This hasn’t really been the case. One such author who did benefit from Paolini’s success is Drew Bowling and his first novel, The Tower of Shadows

First and foremost, Bowling’s biggest strength lies in his almost lyrical ability with the english language. Prose is one area in which Bowling absolutely trounces Paolini, he has an ability to string together words in a fashion that quickly made me question whether Bowling really was as young as he was being made out to be. His prose is a pleasure to read and I’m excited to watch as he and his writing matures even more.

The Tower of Shadows is a short, punchy book, something that is desperately needed in a fantasy market that is quickly becoming over saturated with door-stoppers series of books stretching over 10 volumes in length. Bowling moves the story forward at breakneck pace and keeps it up for the entirety of the novel. This can, however, be a bit of a double edged sword. While the pace keeps the reader always pushing for one more chapter it also doesn’t allow Bowling to focus as much on the development of the characters. This is especially true of Cade, the main antagonist, who could have used a deeper look into his motivations and emotions. Given another 100 or so pages, Bowling could have added much needed character depth to his short novel.

All in all, though, Bowling has put together an impressive debut novel that will appeal to fans of light, swords and sorcery fantasy. It’s full of action, moves at a very respectable clip and is written with an engaging and lyrical prose. Bowling will definitely be an author to watch as he grows and refines his storytelling abilities.

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Keep an eye out for an interview with Drew coming up in the next few days!