From the boundless imagination and talented pen of a young storyteller springs the fabulous first novel in a major new epic fantasy series. Steeped...
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reviews
Aug 08, 2008
Crystal
rated it: 
This is a debut novel, and it shows in the writing. I found the description irritating, with similes dominating almost every page, along with consistent redundancy. The setting could have been much stronger, had Bowling not relied so heavily on this type of description.
The characters, while interesting at first, all blended together after awhile. The bad guys were typical and with the majority of them being hirelings, uninspired. None of the protagonists appeared to have any faults m More...
The characters, while interesting at first, all blended together after awhile. The bad guys were typical and with the majority of them being hirelings, uninspired. None of the protagonists appeared to have any faults m More...
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Jun 08, 2011
Spryng
rated it: 
This is the kind of book I only managed to finish simply because I couldn't believe it could get any worse, then upon finishing, handed it over to a friend as an example of extremely poor writing. It's also the kind of book I relish to shudder at and bring up as an example of said bad writing. There is a plot and there are characters, but none of it is memorable. As an example, one of the characters is a young girl, but just how young is impossible to determine, since she swings between the surl
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Sep 12, 2011
Nic
rated it: 
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May 12, 2008
Jennifer
rated it: 
Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com
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.
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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.
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Apr 01, 2011
I thought it was a little dry and slow to start. Jumped around a bit much in the beginning. But towards the end it got good. It did leave you a bit hanging. Am hoping for a second book. Not too bad considering this was written be high school-er. If he kept to it I bet his other books are better.
Jan 15, 2008
Firekeeper
rated it: 
The plot of "The Tower of Shadows" is very cliche. A lot of it is. I think that I would normally give a book like this two stars--so why does this one get four?
The writing. Bowling's writing style in this book is fantastically descriptive and beautiful, and I got very strong images of what was going on while I read this. In fact, the writing was so great that I didn't notice the book's cliche-ness very much. So while I wouldn't normally recommend this book to anyone other than th More...
The writing. Bowling's writing style in this book is fantastically descriptive and beautiful, and I got very strong images of what was going on while I read this. In fact, the writing was so great that I didn't notice the book's cliche-ness very much. So while I wouldn't normally recommend this book to anyone other than th More...
Feb 02, 2012
Claire
rated it:
Suffered from poor pacing (especially the end) and was rather unoriginal and cliched. I guess it kept me interested enough though since I read the whole thing.
Aug 03, 2011
Distressed
rated it:
I was expecting sth like Eragon, but it wasn't even close. Very promising, but somehow ''lost in translation'' Could have been better.
May 25, 2011
Diane
rated it:
Slow start, great middle, abrupt end. I liked out though. Amazing story written by such a young author.
Aug 18, 2007
16AUG07 I'll let you know when I have finished reading the book.
18AUG07 I finished the book and found it to be a good read. However, it loses cohesiveness towards the end, where is becomes a series of choppy "action scenes," reminiscent of a draft screenplay for a movie, rather than a novel. As the author experiences more life (he's in his early 20's) and writes more, this tendency to describe action like a screenplay should disappear as he learns to be more descriptive.
18AUG07 I finished the book and found it to be a good read. However, it loses cohesiveness towards the end, where is becomes a series of choppy "action scenes," reminiscent of a draft screenplay for a movie, rather than a novel. As the author experiences more life (he's in his early 20's) and writes more, this tendency to describe action like a screenplay should disappear as he learns to be more descriptive.
Jun 11, 2011
Preston recommended this book to me, but he also told me it had some very dark points in it. I'm enjoying it so far - almost halfway through it - but I'm really gonna need something uplifting after this to break my streak!
Mar 28, 2008
Cindy
rated it:
For a first time writer this was a great book. It was a little hard to follow some of the events that were happening and I found myself thinking that this was just a typical fantasy book with nothing newer but in the end I enjoyed reading it.
Nov 08, 2007
Guin
rated it:
This is one of those books you regret buying once you get to the end. Common themes, common characters, this book goes over everything that's ever been done in fantasy, and adds nothing new.
Oct 27, 2008
Cindy
rated it:
Good! Can't believe it was written by a college sophomore...anyone who enjoys fantasy, Tolkien-type, would like this!
Dec 17, 2009
Started, then got into another one, its just kinda sitting on my book shelf. I really should finish it...
Dec 16, 2009
Craig
rated it:
Awful - couldn't even make it halfway through. Author started writing it in college and it shows.
Jan 31, 2012
Dec 26, 2011
Dec 14, 2011
Dec 01, 2011
