Review: Absorbing read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2013
I normally don't give reviews for books and what few I did were for science fiction books, not fantasy, which I believe is the category of this e-book. I tend to speed-read because most books bore me, but I read them anyway because they provide me with an escape from reality. To my way of thinking, the best books I have read are the ones that I read through without interruption regardless of grammatical errors, style issues, or plot issues. They are fun to read, with riveting stories. This book doesn't quite approach that level, but it is a good, absorbing read. The thing is, I wouldn't categorize it as fantasy. It seems like a coming-of-age story of a wizard, but in the end it is a subtle horror story and you will not realize it until the last few pages. Afterwards, if you had skipped pages in the middle for whatever reason, you will likely find yourself going back to those pages that you skipped searching for clues that you had missed. Most would argue with me that it is mostly fantasy. The main characters are well-described and all the characters needed for a fantasy are present - the all-powerful dragon which considers humanity as intruders to be destroyed in its domain, the boy growing up to be a wizard (the author avoids the trap of imbuing the main protagonist with ever-increasing powers that were hidden in him), the wizard's mysterious teacher, the setting of the story, and last but not least, the wizard's utterly faithful familiar. But it is not until the last few pages that the horror of it all hits you, and then you start thinking about the initial occupants of the Tower a thousand years or more ago, the Tower's unrelenting focus on maintaining a horrific cycle, and the Tower's ultimate goal - all of which remain mysterious to the end. There are also issues with causality which I hope the author will resolve in a sequel. At $2.99, this e-book is fully worth the price. Note - grammar in review corrected 01/30/2013.