A review by bibliomaineiac
The Tower of Shadows by Drew C. Bowling

3.0

I gave this three stars, mostly because of the potential it had. The basic storyline was good, if still based off the old fantasy comfort zone of "long lost young man discovers he's the needed hero" line. After all, there is a reason this has worked so well over the years. However, what could have been an epic fantasy book, or even a trilogy/series, was cut down. The overall writing was basic and rushed. The various journeys of the characters takes place in what appears to be month or so. Side quests are achieved nice and neatly in a single chapter. Battles are over in a paragraph after just a few flicks of the wrist. (The author uses that term way too much.) Also, attention to details was needed. The character "Cade" was referred to as "Cane" at least once. A village described as being northeast of the town of Merrifield is northWEST of it on the map. Small things like that, that added up over the course of the book, bothered me. The story just felt very immature and after reading about the author, I see why. He started writing it while in high school, and it feels like it. It lacks the maturity that this story deserved.