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The Aldoran Chronicles #1
The White Tower
Alternate cover edition for B01MA3CMIM
Winner 2017 National IE Award for Fantasy.
Winner 2017 Readers Favorite for Epic Fantasy.
Winner 2017 Beverly Hills Book Awards for Fantasy.
RunnerUp 2017 Kindle Book Awards for Fantasy/SciFi.
Magic is outlawed.
Those caught wielding it are taken to the White Tower. They are never heard from again.
After the chaos of the great Wizard Wars nearly a thousand years ago, the people turned their backs on magic. It was deemed evil. Those born with it will stop at nothing to remain hidden.
In the north, a young boy is hunted by the Black Watch. Desperate to survive, he turns to the one thing he fears most. Magic. A young girl's affection for him forces her to pick up the sword. Her life may never be the same. In the east, a tortured prisoner vows to escape the White Tower. His sister’s life depends on it. And in the west, a captain fights to protect his king while shielding the woman he loves from the king's son.
The world balances on the edge of a blade.
Can a handful of wielders manage to change it?
The first installment in the Aldoran Chronicles, a new epic fantasy saga filled with magic and monsters, sword and scorcery, heroes, villains, and those in between.
Winner 2017 National IE Award for Fantasy.
Winner 2017 Readers Favorite for Epic Fantasy.
Winner 2017 Beverly Hills Book Awards for Fantasy.
RunnerUp 2017 Kindle Book Awards for Fantasy/SciFi.
Magic is outlawed.
Those caught wielding it are taken to the White Tower. They are never heard from again.
After the chaos of the great Wizard Wars nearly a thousand years ago, the people turned their backs on magic. It was deemed evil. Those born with it will stop at nothing to remain hidden.
In the north, a young boy is hunted by the Black Watch. Desperate to survive, he turns to the one thing he fears most. Magic. A young girl's affection for him forces her to pick up the sword. Her life may never be the same. In the east, a tortured prisoner vows to escape the White Tower. His sister’s life depends on it. And in the west, a captain fights to protect his king while shielding the woman he loves from the king's son.
The world balances on the edge of a blade.
Can a handful of wielders manage to change it?
The first installment in the Aldoran Chronicles, a new epic fantasy saga filled with magic and monsters, sword and scorcery, heroes, villains, and those in between.
645 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 26, 2016
5134 people are currently reading
6995 people want to read
About the author
Michael Wisehart
22 books614 followersLATEST RELEASES:
1. The Tunnels Beneath (The Aldoran Chronicles: Book 4) Releasing December 6th, 2022 on ebook and paperback.
2. Wildfire (Street Rats of Aramoor: Book 5) on Pre-Order. It releases April 5th on ebook.
3. The Four-Part Key (The Aldoran Chronicles: Book 3) Released October 5th, 2021 on ebook.
For more information on my work, visit: https://michaelwisehart.com/
If you're interested in signed copies of my books or collecting in-world merchandise, feel free to stop by Aramoor Market: https://store.michaelwisehart.com/
I don't spend a lot of time writing blog posts, but I do spend a good deal of time keeping up with my readers on Facebook. Feel free to pop in and say hello: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelWiseh...
Or if you prefer video: I've just opened a new YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCw...
ABOUT ME:
I graduated with honors in Business Accounting, but instead of pursuing this field, I returned to school to study film. I spent the next several years honing my visual craft, which I put to good use as I took what I’d learned behind the camera and applied it to the written word.
On April 14, 2014, I opened my laptop and began typing what would become two multiple award-winning series: The Aldoran Chronicles, and Street Rats of Aramoor (both set within the same world, but twenty years apart). By the time my second book released, I had quit my day job, walking away from production altogether, to pursue my writing career.
You can get The White Tower's FREE prequel: (Shackled) by copying and pasting this link in your browser: www.michaelwisehart.com/shackled-wt
1. The Tunnels Beneath (The Aldoran Chronicles: Book 4) Releasing December 6th, 2022 on ebook and paperback.
2. Wildfire (Street Rats of Aramoor: Book 5) on Pre-Order. It releases April 5th on ebook.
3. The Four-Part Key (The Aldoran Chronicles: Book 3) Released October 5th, 2021 on ebook.
For more information on my work, visit: https://michaelwisehart.com/
If you're interested in signed copies of my books or collecting in-world merchandise, feel free to stop by Aramoor Market: https://store.michaelwisehart.com/
I don't spend a lot of time writing blog posts, but I do spend a good deal of time keeping up with my readers on Facebook. Feel free to pop in and say hello: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelWiseh...
Or if you prefer video: I've just opened a new YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCw...
ABOUT ME:
I graduated with honors in Business Accounting, but instead of pursuing this field, I returned to school to study film. I spent the next several years honing my visual craft, which I put to good use as I took what I’d learned behind the camera and applied it to the written word.
On April 14, 2014, I opened my laptop and began typing what would become two multiple award-winning series: The Aldoran Chronicles, and Street Rats of Aramoor (both set within the same world, but twenty years apart). By the time my second book released, I had quit my day job, walking away from production altogether, to pursue my writing career.
You can get The White Tower's FREE prequel: (Shackled) by copying and pasting this link in your browser: www.michaelwisehart.com/shackled-wt
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 435 reviews
February 16, 2024
Watch my video review by clicking here.
A good book with a solid plot and interesting characters, that is hampered by the desperate need for edits to trim this book down to take out the unnecessary parts.
A good book with a solid plot and interesting characters, that is hampered by the desperate need for edits to trim this book down to take out the unnecessary parts.
September 25, 2017
A thousand years ago after the Wizards Wars, people outlawed the use of magic. People caught wielding magic are rounded up by the Black Watch, taken to the White Tower, and are never seen again. Unfortunately people don't choose to have magic, they are born with magical ability. The remaining magic users do their best to hide their powers. A dark practitioner of magic is amassing his forces and anyone who does not serve him is in danger in the days to come.
I had high expectations for The White Tower after reading the prequel Shackled. Shackled was so strong and simple that immediately after finishing it, I started reading The White Tower. I had to know what happened to Ferrin. When I started reading I realized it may take a while to learn Ferrin's fate because unlike Shackled with a single point of view character, The White Tower had a whopping 21 point of view characters.
Despite the many point of view characters the story revolves around four of them. The chosen one Ty, the Guardian Protector Ayrion, the weapon smith Ferrin, and the Dark Wizard Valtor. Ty has grown up hidden with a family of wielders and doesn't know who he really is as the story begins. Ayrion is an exiled young man from a famous warrior clan. He has a magical power to see slightly in the future, a sort of spider-sense against danger. Ferrin has magical power over metal which has allowed him to become an outstanding weapon smith. Unfortunately for him his notoriety and use of magic led to him being imprisoned at the White Tower. Valtor is the main antagonist of the book. Despite being a Wizard, Valtor clawed his way to becoming the leader of the White Tower. His machinations are grand and he won't allow anyone to stand in his way.
The White Tower suffers a bit because of the authors love of his world and work. He loves it all so dearly that he wants to talk through each part of everything. He can't seem to let his many tiny details go. This leads to many chapters that seem desperate for some hard edits.
Another thing that bothered me is Valtor's actions at the White Tower. He captures the magic users who are known as wielders and tortures them. He either turns them to his side or takes their powers through purging. Valtor is a wielder though. He's torturing and tormenting people like him rather than figuring out a better way. One of the characters even questions it aloud saying, "Why in the Defiler's name are you hunting down, torturing, and murdering the very people you should be protecting?" Why indeed? It seems as though some sort of false rescue could sway the wielders to his side without the threat of physical harm or death. Valtor could literally accomplish the same goal in a different, less devastating, manner.
With all that being said there were some enjoyable parts to the story. I enjoyed Ferrin's tale from start to finish. Ayrion's precognitive magical powers made him interesting in the battle sequences. I thought most of the characters stories ended in exciting ways that left me interested in what would happen to them next.
The White Tower was a promising story that could have benefited from more careful editing and removing a bunch of point of view chapters from support characters.
I had high expectations for The White Tower after reading the prequel Shackled. Shackled was so strong and simple that immediately after finishing it, I started reading The White Tower. I had to know what happened to Ferrin. When I started reading I realized it may take a while to learn Ferrin's fate because unlike Shackled with a single point of view character, The White Tower had a whopping 21 point of view characters.
Despite the many point of view characters the story revolves around four of them. The chosen one Ty, the Guardian Protector Ayrion, the weapon smith Ferrin, and the Dark Wizard Valtor. Ty has grown up hidden with a family of wielders and doesn't know who he really is as the story begins. Ayrion is an exiled young man from a famous warrior clan. He has a magical power to see slightly in the future, a sort of spider-sense against danger. Ferrin has magical power over metal which has allowed him to become an outstanding weapon smith. Unfortunately for him his notoriety and use of magic led to him being imprisoned at the White Tower. Valtor is the main antagonist of the book. Despite being a Wizard, Valtor clawed his way to becoming the leader of the White Tower. His machinations are grand and he won't allow anyone to stand in his way.
The White Tower suffers a bit because of the authors love of his world and work. He loves it all so dearly that he wants to talk through each part of everything. He can't seem to let his many tiny details go. This leads to many chapters that seem desperate for some hard edits.
Another thing that bothered me is Valtor's actions at the White Tower. He captures the magic users who are known as wielders and tortures them. He either turns them to his side or takes their powers through purging. Valtor is a wielder though. He's torturing and tormenting people like him rather than figuring out a better way. One of the characters even questions it aloud saying, "Why in the Defiler's name are you hunting down, torturing, and murdering the very people you should be protecting?" Why indeed? It seems as though some sort of false rescue could sway the wielders to his side without the threat of physical harm or death. Valtor could literally accomplish the same goal in a different, less devastating, manner.
With all that being said there were some enjoyable parts to the story. I enjoyed Ferrin's tale from start to finish. Ayrion's precognitive magical powers made him interesting in the battle sequences. I thought most of the characters stories ended in exciting ways that left me interested in what would happen to them next.
The White Tower was a promising story that could have benefited from more careful editing and removing a bunch of point of view chapters from support characters.
December 5, 2018
3 1/2 stars. If you like big, meaty, epic fantasies, this could be just what you're looking for.
I wanted to rate it higher, as I really enjoyed this one. But where it scratched the surface of being something great, it never really got there. As a first book in a series, I don't have any worries that the overall story will click into place and be satisfying, but at this stage in the game I find myself wanting more. That is a good thing too, as I'm intrigued enough to want to continue...
The execution was pretty good and the characters were interesting. It just felt a bit long winded at times and I did get confused by the sheer volume of characters and side stories going on. Still, I'm looking forward to the second book, and to the side/prequel series that's already been started.
I will also add here that the audio as read by Tim Gerard Reynolds makes the story more enjoyable, helping the length of it not seem so daunting. He's definitely one of my favorite narrators, and getting him signed on for this book was a great decision.
I wanted to rate it higher, as I really enjoyed this one. But where it scratched the surface of being something great, it never really got there. As a first book in a series, I don't have any worries that the overall story will click into place and be satisfying, but at this stage in the game I find myself wanting more. That is a good thing too, as I'm intrigued enough to want to continue...
The execution was pretty good and the characters were interesting. It just felt a bit long winded at times and I did get confused by the sheer volume of characters and side stories going on. Still, I'm looking forward to the second book, and to the side/prequel series that's already been started.
I will also add here that the audio as read by Tim Gerard Reynolds makes the story more enjoyable, helping the length of it not seem so daunting. He's definitely one of my favorite narrators, and getting him signed on for this book was a great decision.
November 22, 2017
This debut fantasy book by Michael Wisehart totally took me off guard in the best possible way. I wasn't expecting such a tight and engaging story from a relatively new author but that is exactly what it is. If you are looking for a fantasy that is very reminiscent of Michael J. Sullivan's Ryria series, then this one would be right up your alley. It had that feel to it while still managing to seem totally original. I read this in about four days even though it clocks in at around 600 pages. This book catapulted michael Wisehart into my favorite author list and an author to definitely watch in the future. Can't wait for book 2!
June 13, 2018
I'll be honest, I was expecting more.
This is a very well-reviewed, impressively selling, award-winning fantasy title.
That said, I do not believe it deserves the hype.
Let's start with the technical stuff. There are a lot of repetitive "filler" words on almost every page. In most cases, the combination of "was" and a word ending in "ing" is a poor choice as it is both a bit of a tense violation as well has being both passive and a bit clunky to read. Plus it adds extra words for no good reason.
Now, let's talk about points of view (POV). This book has A LOT of them. I don't normally complain about this, so long as they are deftly handled. And therein lies the problem. There are a few ongoing POVs that I have to wonder... why? These POVs add nothing to the story other than extra words and more unneeded backstory. And speaking of backstory, pretty much every POV character has a whole lot of it that is told mostly all at once. Even the one-off (a one chapter POV character that never returns to POV) POVs have considerable backstory and really, only one or two of them are needed for the story, the others simply kill what otherwise could have been suspenseful scenes.
Words Vs action. Much of this book suffers from the same malady as the mid-late books of the Wheel of Time. We spend a ton of time with characters, but nothing really happens. No forward movement of the plot, no real character development. Later, things do start moving, though.
However, without spoilers, let's talk about the ending for a moment. I think this is an ending that even George RR Martin would be embarrassed by. Yes, I admit that the end does follow a couple of decent climaxes, but we're still right smack in the middle of at least three major plots with no resolutions. This is not what I would call a satisfying ending at all.
And finally, scope. This is a big issue. This book feels like it's trying to be LotR, WoT, and ASoIaF (with a little Dragon Age) all wrapped into one. There are even direct quotes and a few less than subtle references to each series in the text. The problem? This book just doesn't pull it off. Too much (reading) time passes between characters and what should come off as an epic story is muddied by the details and time spent in the wrong places.
I think the author has tremendous potential and I hope he spends time honing his skills before continuing this story. It's a big story, one which could truly be called epic by the time it's finished. But based on this book, I do not believe the author is ready to tell it yet.
This is a very well-reviewed, impressively selling, award-winning fantasy title.
That said, I do not believe it deserves the hype.
Let's start with the technical stuff. There are a lot of repetitive "filler" words on almost every page. In most cases, the combination of "was" and a word ending in "ing" is a poor choice as it is both a bit of a tense violation as well has being both passive and a bit clunky to read. Plus it adds extra words for no good reason.
Now, let's talk about points of view (POV). This book has A LOT of them. I don't normally complain about this, so long as they are deftly handled. And therein lies the problem. There are a few ongoing POVs that I have to wonder... why? These POVs add nothing to the story other than extra words and more unneeded backstory. And speaking of backstory, pretty much every POV character has a whole lot of it that is told mostly all at once. Even the one-off (a one chapter POV character that never returns to POV) POVs have considerable backstory and really, only one or two of them are needed for the story, the others simply kill what otherwise could have been suspenseful scenes.
Words Vs action. Much of this book suffers from the same malady as the mid-late books of the Wheel of Time. We spend a ton of time with characters, but nothing really happens. No forward movement of the plot, no real character development. Later, things do start moving, though.
However, without spoilers, let's talk about the ending for a moment. I think this is an ending that even George RR Martin would be embarrassed by. Yes, I admit that the end does follow a couple of decent climaxes, but we're still right smack in the middle of at least three major plots with no resolutions. This is not what I would call a satisfying ending at all.
And finally, scope. This is a big issue. This book feels like it's trying to be LotR, WoT, and ASoIaF (with a little Dragon Age) all wrapped into one. There are even direct quotes and a few less than subtle references to each series in the text. The problem? This book just doesn't pull it off. Too much (reading) time passes between characters and what should come off as an epic story is muddied by the details and time spent in the wrong places.
I think the author has tremendous potential and I hope he spends time honing his skills before continuing this story. It's a big story, one which could truly be called epic by the time it's finished. But based on this book, I do not believe the author is ready to tell it yet.
October 18, 2017
I was really debating whether to give this 4 or 5 stars. It's really about a 4.25 - 4.5 for me, longer review to come. I really, really enjoyed this one but there were just a few small problems which is keeping me from 5 stars.
January 26, 2024
I enjoyed this at the start but it got a bit too long and tedious for me, full of stereotypes and clichés.
The story begins with a wizard taking charge of a unique orphan baby - obviously destined to save the world. The baby gets left with a family who raise it as their own, but when the child is older they realise they're 'different' and have special powers unique even amongst those who also have special powers. But an evil villain is searching for this specific child. Ooooooh.
Yes, that does sound like the same plot of almost any fantasy ever.
I listened to this one, and the narrator was not for me. He read so slow that I had it on 1.75x (I usually ma out at 1.5x) speed and it was STILL slow. Also, he seemed to struggle with female voices. Yikes.
Aside from that, the story was okay at the start but just trope after familiar trope meant my attention started wandering and I just kinda lost interest by the end.
There were some cool characters - okay, actually I liked Ferrin and that was about it. And maybe also that guy that worked for the King. I lost track of the names very easily.
Even the giant monsters that crept in towards the end of the book didn't really save it for me, though there were some dramatic deaths that caught my attention.
I think, at the end of the day, this was just too long to have such an unoriginal story. It needed a unique hook to keep me guessing and there was nothing.
Mostly mediocre. But cheap, so there's that, I guess.
The story begins with a wizard taking charge of a unique orphan baby - obviously destined to save the world. The baby gets left with a family who raise it as their own, but when the child is older they realise they're 'different' and have special powers unique even amongst those who also have special powers. But an evil villain is searching for this specific child. Ooooooh.
Yes, that does sound like the same plot of almost any fantasy ever.
I listened to this one, and the narrator was not for me. He read so slow that I had it on 1.75x (I usually ma out at 1.5x) speed and it was STILL slow. Also, he seemed to struggle with female voices. Yikes.
Aside from that, the story was okay at the start but just trope after familiar trope meant my attention started wandering and I just kinda lost interest by the end.
There were some cool characters - okay, actually I liked Ferrin and that was about it. And maybe also that guy that worked for the King. I lost track of the names very easily.
Even the giant monsters that crept in towards the end of the book didn't really save it for me, though there were some dramatic deaths that caught my attention.
I think, at the end of the day, this was just too long to have such an unoriginal story. It needed a unique hook to keep me guessing and there was nothing.
Mostly mediocre. But cheap, so there's that, I guess.
September 30, 2024
Audiobook (21 hours) narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds.
The narration and audio are excellent, without distortion, erroneous noise, or obvious edits.
This is the second book in the series that I've read, with the first being a short story prequel, Shackled. that I liked very much. Unfortunately The White Tower is a bloated mess, in which the author has decided to tell everyone's story, making the character, who should be front and center, fade so far into the pages that he is barely visible.
There is so much story that Michael Wisehart wants to tell, and there's some good stuff in there. I feel like perhaps he should have told the story by the perspective of one or two characters. One review that I read said that they counted the points of view and there were well over a dozen, 21 if I remember correctly, although I cannot recall whose review it was to give them credit. If I run back over it, I will edit it in. Ohhhh, voila!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Had the author gone with two perspectives, the main character and one other, we would have seen and met all of the characters but the focus would have been more concise.
I have no issue with spending 21 hours in this world, what I have issue with is jumping from place to place to place, visiting all of these people, wondering when we will find out why the child rescued at the beginning is so important to magic. When we finally, finally, finally get a beautifully written chapter dedicated to Ty, we are swiftly jettisoned into someone else's story. Seriously?!?!
Ugh!
The moments of grandeur keeps the reader interested, at least it did for me, while our distracted author chases after another squirrel. I continued reading amidst all of the squirrel chasing due to this being the authors debut novel and I purchased it planning on picking up the entire series, each book being between 23 and 36 hours long.
36 hours long in the midst of epicness is awesome. 36 hours long with an author who really wrote a 6 hour long novel and then daydreamed through another 30? Yeah, no.
Michael Wisehart can definitely spin a tale. The short story prequel was a teaser taste, in more ways than one! When the focus was on one character, everything flowed. Had the series continued on like Shackled, once Wisehart had completed this story, he could have told another story from the same realm or done what some authors do and wrap up the series with a novel of short stories, or create mid novels, like 1.5, 2.5, etc. that aren't necessary for the main story, but contain different perspectives for more hard core fans who want more, more, more! Not only do that extra books help bring the focus into the main novels, but the author can either release the mid stories on their site for free or publish them, for another bag.
I will not be continuing on this journey, however if he were to release a stand alone novel or when he begins a new series I would definitely consider picking it up to see if after writing for a few years, he caught enough squirrels to stay on the path, and if that's the case, I am in.
The narration and audio are excellent, without distortion, erroneous noise, or obvious edits.
This is the second book in the series that I've read, with the first being a short story prequel, Shackled. that I liked very much. Unfortunately The White Tower is a bloated mess, in which the author has decided to tell everyone's story, making the character, who should be front and center, fade so far into the pages that he is barely visible.
There is so much story that Michael Wisehart wants to tell, and there's some good stuff in there. I feel like perhaps he should have told the story by the perspective of one or two characters. One review that I read said that they counted the points of view and there were well over a dozen, 21 if I remember correctly, although I cannot recall whose review it was to give them credit. If I run back over it, I will edit it in. Ohhhh, voila!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Had the author gone with two perspectives, the main character and one other, we would have seen and met all of the characters but the focus would have been more concise.
I have no issue with spending 21 hours in this world, what I have issue with is jumping from place to place to place, visiting all of these people, wondering when we will find out why the child rescued at the beginning is so important to magic. When we finally, finally, finally get a beautifully written chapter dedicated to Ty, we are swiftly jettisoned into someone else's story. Seriously?!?!
Ugh!
The moments of grandeur keeps the reader interested, at least it did for me, while our distracted author chases after another squirrel. I continued reading amidst all of the squirrel chasing due to this being the authors debut novel and I purchased it planning on picking up the entire series, each book being between 23 and 36 hours long.
36 hours long in the midst of epicness is awesome. 36 hours long with an author who really wrote a 6 hour long novel and then daydreamed through another 30? Yeah, no.
Michael Wisehart can definitely spin a tale. The short story prequel was a teaser taste, in more ways than one! When the focus was on one character, everything flowed. Had the series continued on like Shackled, once Wisehart had completed this story, he could have told another story from the same realm or done what some authors do and wrap up the series with a novel of short stories, or create mid novels, like 1.5, 2.5, etc. that aren't necessary for the main story, but contain different perspectives for more hard core fans who want more, more, more! Not only do that extra books help bring the focus into the main novels, but the author can either release the mid stories on their site for free or publish them, for another bag.
I will not be continuing on this journey, however if he were to release a stand alone novel or when he begins a new series I would definitely consider picking it up to see if after writing for a few years, he caught enough squirrels to stay on the path, and if that's the case, I am in.
June 18, 2017
Originally, I was going to give this 3.5 stars. Since GR does not permit half stars, I was going to round it down. Now I'm giving it 2.5 stars and rounding it down.
At first, I thought some of my distaste for this book stemmed from my anxiety over something irl. When I pushed past this, I realized that there are some very real problems with this book. For one thing, it's verbose. This novel could've easily been pruned with good editing. Moreover, this novel needs editing to remedy the grammatical errors, incorrect words, punctuation issues, and missing words that it is rife with. Even ARCs I've encountered have never had this many errors. I assume that this novel was self-published, which probably explains that. I also assume that if the author is picked up, this book will be revised and that will be remedied. Still, I'm taking off for it because it was excessive and detracted from the story.
As someone else pointed out, there are too many POVs. This falls under "could have been pruned" territory. I don't care about all of these characters. Hell, I couldn't connect with Ty and he's supposed to be the Chosen One of this novel. The only character I really cared about was Ferrin (he has an affinity for iron, so his name is derived from "ferrous"--get it? Ugh). And even then, it was like the build up to something more important with Ferrin, because he sure as hell didn't do much of anything important aside from being tortured and then .
I was hoping for a Kell and Rhy feel (see A Darker Shade of Magic series by V.E. Schwab) with Aldorin and Dakaran. That didn't happen. In fact, the reverse transpired, which was disappointing. I felt like the villains in here did not ascribe to the idea that "in everyone's mind, they're the hero of their own story". They were one-sided.
Oh god, this is another case of "the more I talk about this book, the less I like it". I was going to talk about this first, but it'll end up here. The battle scenes are contrived. Just in the nick of time, someone is rescued. They narrowly avoid death and even the ones who die are not main characters (of the few who perish). Oh, c'mon. You can't be afraid to kill characters. You also can't be afraid to let bad things happen and continue happening. There were other scenes that seemed contrived in here, including Ty's and Ferrin's arcs.
It was so contrived that I ended up skimming the last thirty minutes. I've never done that before. On the plus side, I received this book for free from Kindle Unlimited. As for any other positives...I've got nothing.
At first, I thought some of my distaste for this book stemmed from my anxiety over something irl. When I pushed past this, I realized that there are some very real problems with this book. For one thing, it's verbose. This novel could've easily been pruned with good editing. Moreover, this novel needs editing to remedy the grammatical errors, incorrect words, punctuation issues, and missing words that it is rife with. Even ARCs I've encountered have never had this many errors. I assume that this novel was self-published, which probably explains that. I also assume that if the author is picked up, this book will be revised and that will be remedied. Still, I'm taking off for it because it was excessive and detracted from the story.
As someone else pointed out, there are too many POVs. This falls under "could have been pruned" territory. I don't care about all of these characters. Hell, I couldn't connect with Ty and he's supposed to be the Chosen One of this novel. The only character I really cared about was Ferrin (he has an affinity for iron, so his name is derived from "ferrous"--get it? Ugh). And even then, it was like the build up to something more important with Ferrin, because he sure as hell didn't do much of anything important aside from being tortured and then .
I was hoping for a Kell and Rhy feel (see A Darker Shade of Magic series by V.E. Schwab) with Aldorin and Dakaran. That didn't happen. In fact, the reverse transpired, which was disappointing. I felt like the villains in here did not ascribe to the idea that "in everyone's mind, they're the hero of their own story". They were one-sided.
Oh god, this is another case of "the more I talk about this book, the less I like it". I was going to talk about this first, but it'll end up here. The battle scenes are contrived. Just in the nick of time, someone is rescued. They narrowly avoid death and even the ones who die are not main characters (of the few who perish). Oh, c'mon. You can't be afraid to kill characters. You also can't be afraid to let bad things happen and continue happening. There were other scenes that seemed contrived in here, including Ty's and Ferrin's arcs.
It was so contrived that I ended up skimming the last thirty minutes. I've never done that before. On the plus side, I received this book for free from Kindle Unlimited. As for any other positives...I've got nothing.
December 1, 2016
Fantasy fiction has a limited number of tropes. heroes in exile, villains in disguise, undeveloped magic, etc. Most regular readers of fantasy have seen it in myriad forms. So what can you expect out of yet another fantasy story? Excellence, innovation of these tropes, and a fresh look at what the genre can provide.
Michael Wisehart has managed to to hit all those marks and more. The major players are engaging, you learn to like or dislike the characters for who and what they are, not how the author has written them. Land and Cityscapes are well thought out, making it easy to imagine where these characters are, from dank sewers to gorgeous meadows. Magic has explanations of how it works, something I haven't encountered very often in my readings.
The White Tower is the first of a fantasy epic called the Aldoran Chronicles. And epic is what is has potential to be. If one were to ask if it has compelling story, a popular quote comes to mind. "Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..."
Little bit of back cover synopsis. Imagine, if you will, a world where magic is actively outlawed and its users are hunted down. Now imagine that same world in which magic is returning in strength with multiple groups vying for how it should return. Then introduce characters that make you care about them and the outcome of this magical resurgence. Finally, mix in a bit of battle, death, and loss for and of those characters you care about. Now imagine that for an entire book. That is what The White Tower does to you.
I strongly recommend this book and with something only vaguely resembling patience await the next installment of The Aldoran Chronicles.
Michael Wisehart has managed to to hit all those marks and more. The major players are engaging, you learn to like or dislike the characters for who and what they are, not how the author has written them. Land and Cityscapes are well thought out, making it easy to imagine where these characters are, from dank sewers to gorgeous meadows. Magic has explanations of how it works, something I haven't encountered very often in my readings.
The White Tower is the first of a fantasy epic called the Aldoran Chronicles. And epic is what is has potential to be. If one were to ask if it has compelling story, a popular quote comes to mind. "Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..."
Little bit of back cover synopsis. Imagine, if you will, a world where magic is actively outlawed and its users are hunted down. Now imagine that same world in which magic is returning in strength with multiple groups vying for how it should return. Then introduce characters that make you care about them and the outcome of this magical resurgence. Finally, mix in a bit of battle, death, and loss for and of those characters you care about. Now imagine that for an entire book. That is what The White Tower does to you.
I strongly recommend this book and with something only vaguely resembling patience await the next installment of The Aldoran Chronicles.
June 11, 2018
Rating 2.5
I knew at the end of this book I was going to give it a 2.5 rating. The debate I was having with myself was if I should give it 3 star and round down or 2 stars and round up. (this is where half stars would really be helpful GoodReads....hint, hint). Overall while it wasn't a bad story, there were too many components that triggered my personal pet peeves to ignore.
The story is pretty simple, there is magic in the world and for the most part it has become outlawed (if not blatantly then magic users are severely limited and they are in hiding). The white tower is the power behind the campaign against the magic users and they are the ones that hunt down and imprison the magic users. Here is the twist though, the white tower is hunting down magic users in order to secretly recruit them and use them for the white towers purposes. Overall, this was an interesting premise and I had high hopes for this book.
In order to understand why I did not like the story that much you need to understand my personal pet peeves. For the most part I like complicated story lines. I like when the magic system is explained in great detail so I can understand the limits and boundaries of the magic being used. On top of that I like practical/logical stories. I like the who, what, when, where and why to make sense. If the character does something (what), the reason behind that (why) should make sense. Also, there should be continuity with the magic system. If a character does some piece of magic (what), the how should also be explained. If someone says they used up all their magic and has no strength left, they can't all of a sudden find more magic without an explanation. For me that goes for non magical books as well. If a swordfighter explains that he can only handle 3 opponents at a time, he can't all of a sudden fight his way through 20 people. And, if someone is so severely hurt they can't fight one day, they can't be okay to fight the next day.
I felt that this story was too simplistic and at the same time too long. I listened to the audiobook and it was 25 hours long. While having a simple story is not that big of a problem, I found myself getting more and more frustrated the longer it when on. If it was only 8-10 hours of listening, I probably would have given it 3 stars. ( would anyone ever read a 500 page pop-up children's book? I feel the complexity/depth of the story should correlate with its length). The longer I am exposed to things I don't like, the more frustrated I become. I have found this with series in the past as well. Things I did not like that much in the first book didn't affect my view of the story that much, but by the 5th book , the negative parts of the story were the only thing I could think about.
Another thing that hurt this story is that it had 21 different narrators ( I have to give credit to my Goodreads friend Terence for counting them all for me). With such a long story and so many different points of view, it got hard to keep track of everyone. There where times when I was listening that I had to ask myself if this narrator was a new character or someone who had already been introduced in the story.
Along with the story being somewhat simplistic, I felt the characters where not very well developed. The best example would be the Crown Prince who was jealous of everyone, was constantly drunk, did absolutely nothing for his people or his government and yet still thought he could do a better job at being King. I did not find any complexity to his character at all. The most complex character was Ferrin, but even he did and said some stupid things.
By far my biggest gripe is how logistically what happened in the story did not make sense.
Going along with the logistical aspects that did not make sense, there were character decisions (or non decisions) that I felt did not make sense either.
I am definitely not going to read the rest of the series.
I knew at the end of this book I was going to give it a 2.5 rating. The debate I was having with myself was if I should give it 3 star and round down or 2 stars and round up. (this is where half stars would really be helpful GoodReads....hint, hint). Overall while it wasn't a bad story, there were too many components that triggered my personal pet peeves to ignore.
The story is pretty simple, there is magic in the world and for the most part it has become outlawed (if not blatantly then magic users are severely limited and they are in hiding). The white tower is the power behind the campaign against the magic users and they are the ones that hunt down and imprison the magic users. Here is the twist though, the white tower is hunting down magic users in order to secretly recruit them and use them for the white towers purposes. Overall, this was an interesting premise and I had high hopes for this book.
In order to understand why I did not like the story that much you need to understand my personal pet peeves. For the most part I like complicated story lines. I like when the magic system is explained in great detail so I can understand the limits and boundaries of the magic being used. On top of that I like practical/logical stories. I like the who, what, when, where and why to make sense. If the character does something (what), the reason behind that (why) should make sense. Also, there should be continuity with the magic system. If a character does some piece of magic (what), the how should also be explained. If someone says they used up all their magic and has no strength left, they can't all of a sudden find more magic without an explanation. For me that goes for non magical books as well. If a swordfighter explains that he can only handle 3 opponents at a time, he can't all of a sudden fight his way through 20 people. And, if someone is so severely hurt they can't fight one day, they can't be okay to fight the next day.
I felt that this story was too simplistic and at the same time too long. I listened to the audiobook and it was 25 hours long. While having a simple story is not that big of a problem, I found myself getting more and more frustrated the longer it when on. If it was only 8-10 hours of listening, I probably would have given it 3 stars. ( would anyone ever read a 500 page pop-up children's book? I feel the complexity/depth of the story should correlate with its length). The longer I am exposed to things I don't like, the more frustrated I become. I have found this with series in the past as well. Things I did not like that much in the first book didn't affect my view of the story that much, but by the 5th book , the negative parts of the story were the only thing I could think about.
Another thing that hurt this story is that it had 21 different narrators ( I have to give credit to my Goodreads friend Terence for counting them all for me). With such a long story and so many different points of view, it got hard to keep track of everyone. There where times when I was listening that I had to ask myself if this narrator was a new character or someone who had already been introduced in the story.
Along with the story being somewhat simplistic, I felt the characters where not very well developed. The best example would be the Crown Prince who was jealous of everyone, was constantly drunk, did absolutely nothing for his people or his government and yet still thought he could do a better job at being King. I did not find any complexity to his character at all. The most complex character was Ferrin, but even he did and said some stupid things.
By far my biggest gripe is how logistically what happened in the story did not make sense.
Going along with the logistical aspects that did not make sense, there were character decisions (or non decisions) that I felt did not make sense either.
I am definitely not going to read the rest of the series.
March 2, 2017
I enjoyed this book and it really should receive better than a 3 star rating simply because of its premise and scope. However I did find myself skimming, walking away simply not to doze off a couple of times, and I frequently forgot the relevance of a character after the author finally chose to revisit them. Like a roller coaster with too many level and straight segments, the sharp curves and dips, while a lot of fun, lost some of their luster.
I preferred the authors focus in his prequel Shackled.
I preferred the authors focus in his prequel Shackled.
December 14, 2017
It seemed to me the author was a bit too much in love with the world he created as he tends to give a little too much detail at times, thus creating an imbalance in the story and not to the benefit of character development. All in all it was enjoyable, an interestingly built world, but somehow it did not grip me as I would have expected. Recommend it though.
December 9, 2021
4 Stars!
A solid 1st book in the series. I'm looking forward to starting the next one soon.
A solid 1st book in the series. I'm looking forward to starting the next one soon.
September 3, 2022
I’ve found a worthy successor to Shannara - finally!
What a great read this is.
Fast pace.
Great characters.
Wonderful world.
Interesting characters.
A story that sucks you in to the point you actually feel part of the adventure.
It’s got a bit of everything and what’s more it’s a comfortable read. No obscenity or foul and abusive language just good, and very well written fantasy.
A must read and I don’t say that very often.
What a great read this is.
Fast pace.
Great characters.
Wonderful world.
Interesting characters.
A story that sucks you in to the point you actually feel part of the adventure.
It’s got a bit of everything and what’s more it’s a comfortable read. No obscenity or foul and abusive language just good, and very well written fantasy.
A must read and I don’t say that very often.
January 1, 2020
When I read the first edition, I was decidedly less than impressed. Especially for a book with the awards backing this one, it had a lot of problems.
I'm pleased to say that with the second edition release, this book is vastly improved!
It still has a few problems, but with the changes and cuts made to the text the majority of my criticisms are gone, leaving this as an enjoyable story that doesn't take itself too seriously.
As always, Tim Gerard Reynolds gives us an only slightly less than stellar audio performance. His voices are varied and distinct, his tempo shifts are impeccable, and his vocal inflections are 100% on point. My one critique is his oh-so-common problem of being unable to produce believable opposite-gender voices.
Now, right off the bat we are introduced to Nialis, an aging wizard saving a child from a (presumably) horrific fate. These first few chapters are full of action and magic and battles and can't help but draw you in.
Unfortunately, the next POV character we meet is 16 years later with no section break or other notification to tell us that. I think the Nialis chapters would be more accurately labeled as a prologue.
Following is an introduction to numerous POV characters, and at times it does get tricky trying to keep them straight. Especially as we don't see the same character in a second chapter until about 4 hours into the audiobook.
My major complaint about the POV switching from the first edition is still present: there are several (at least 5, by my count) characters who have just a single POV chapter and either aren't seen again or at the least don't get another POV chapter. And in my opinion, none of their chapters add anything vital to the story.
Also, it's a little strange to see POV shifts being denoted by chapter breaks while still having consecutive chapters from the same character's POV. At a few points, there are a many as 3 or possibly 4 chapters without a POV shift.
Secondarily, there is an issue with the various POVs feeling perhaps a bit too disparate. Yes, especially by the end, it's not too hard to see how these different stories interrelate, but earlier in the book those connection points are not so clear.
That said, each character does feel distinct, with their own drives, goals, quirks, and mannerisms. Characterization is skillfully done, and I couldn't help caring for the fates of these characters.
And blessedly, the over-emphasis on back story from the first edition was largely eliminated, allowing me to get to know these characters in the present of their stories without being bogged down by boring life stories.
My favorite character, by leaps and bounds, is most definitely Ferrin. Just like in the prequel, Shackled, he has a fantastic sense of humor that I strongly identify with and I love the way his personality comes out throughout the story.
The prose itself is quite good. Although there are still a number of cases of passive voice that felt unnecessary (and didn't add anything to the story), and a few POV violations (the author occasionally tells another character's thoughts or gives details the current POV character couldn't possibly know), in all other ways the writing is practically flawless.
Without spoilers (particularly because I'm not 100% certain I'm right, I could be remembering incorrectly), there does seem to be a minor inconsistency regarding the nature of Kellen's father's magic.
I've talked about this before, but I feel it bears repeating: I'm really not a fan of just one aspect of the magic system, that being the transferrals. I have major personal issues with magic being 99% reliant on an object. It might as well be that it isn't really the wielder who has magic, but rather the object (yes, that is addressed somewhat in the book, but it doesn't change how I feel about it).
And yes, I have the same issue with the Harry Potter universe.
In other regards, however, I love the magic system the author has created. My only real complaint, as other reviewers have noted, is that magic is supposed to be exceedingly rare, yet almost every character in the book is secretly a wielder.
Now, the ending.
Between the different storylines, there are several great twists and reversals. There are some awesome character moments, several cheer worthy victories and more than one heart-wrenching tragedy. It all comes together quite brilliantly.
If the next book is as much of an improvement over this one as this edition was over the first, then Mr. Wisehart will have earned a lifelong fan.
I'm pleased to say that with the second edition release, this book is vastly improved!
It still has a few problems, but with the changes and cuts made to the text the majority of my criticisms are gone, leaving this as an enjoyable story that doesn't take itself too seriously.
As always, Tim Gerard Reynolds gives us an only slightly less than stellar audio performance. His voices are varied and distinct, his tempo shifts are impeccable, and his vocal inflections are 100% on point. My one critique is his oh-so-common problem of being unable to produce believable opposite-gender voices.
Now, right off the bat we are introduced to Nialis, an aging wizard saving a child from a (presumably) horrific fate. These first few chapters are full of action and magic and battles and can't help but draw you in.
Unfortunately, the next POV character we meet is 16 years later with no section break or other notification to tell us that. I think the Nialis chapters would be more accurately labeled as a prologue.
Following is an introduction to numerous POV characters, and at times it does get tricky trying to keep them straight. Especially as we don't see the same character in a second chapter until about 4 hours into the audiobook.
My major complaint about the POV switching from the first edition is still present: there are several (at least 5, by my count) characters who have just a single POV chapter and either aren't seen again or at the least don't get another POV chapter. And in my opinion, none of their chapters add anything vital to the story.
Also, it's a little strange to see POV shifts being denoted by chapter breaks while still having consecutive chapters from the same character's POV. At a few points, there are a many as 3 or possibly 4 chapters without a POV shift.
Secondarily, there is an issue with the various POVs feeling perhaps a bit too disparate. Yes, especially by the end, it's not too hard to see how these different stories interrelate, but earlier in the book those connection points are not so clear.
That said, each character does feel distinct, with their own drives, goals, quirks, and mannerisms. Characterization is skillfully done, and I couldn't help caring for the fates of these characters.
And blessedly, the over-emphasis on back story from the first edition was largely eliminated, allowing me to get to know these characters in the present of their stories without being bogged down by boring life stories.
My favorite character, by leaps and bounds, is most definitely Ferrin. Just like in the prequel, Shackled, he has a fantastic sense of humor that I strongly identify with and I love the way his personality comes out throughout the story.
The prose itself is quite good. Although there are still a number of cases of passive voice that felt unnecessary (and didn't add anything to the story), and a few POV violations (the author occasionally tells another character's thoughts or gives details the current POV character couldn't possibly know), in all other ways the writing is practically flawless.
Without spoilers (particularly because I'm not 100% certain I'm right, I could be remembering incorrectly), there does seem to be a minor inconsistency regarding the nature of Kellen's father's magic.
I've talked about this before, but I feel it bears repeating: I'm really not a fan of just one aspect of the magic system, that being the transferrals. I have major personal issues with magic being 99% reliant on an object. It might as well be that it isn't really the wielder who has magic, but rather the object (yes, that is addressed somewhat in the book, but it doesn't change how I feel about it).
And yes, I have the same issue with the Harry Potter universe.
In other regards, however, I love the magic system the author has created. My only real complaint, as other reviewers have noted, is that magic is supposed to be exceedingly rare, yet almost every character in the book is secretly a wielder.
Now, the ending.
Between the different storylines, there are several great twists and reversals. There are some awesome character moments, several cheer worthy victories and more than one heart-wrenching tragedy. It all comes together quite brilliantly.
If the next book is as much of an improvement over this one as this edition was over the first, then Mr. Wisehart will have earned a lifelong fan.
December 1, 2020
- evil leader who kills insubordinate goons who disagrees with him (implies idiot goons)
- evil for the sake of evil: I want to dominate the world because the powerful should rule
- torture porn: say he was tortured and be done with it, don't dedicate a whole chapter for it
- aaaannd the next chapter continues the torture scene... good bye
Read 2:02 / 25:05 8%
- evil for the sake of evil: I want to dominate the world because the powerful should rule
- torture porn: say he was tortured and be done with it, don't dedicate a whole chapter for it
- aaaannd the next chapter continues the torture scene... good bye
Read 2:02 / 25:05 8%
July 13, 2018
I must admit this was a tough slog and I almost gave up.
It is a large tome of nearly sedentary pace for about 90% until a few interesting but weirdly dissatisfying battles at the end. And talking of the end: a man escapes, another man gets amnesia, a boy goes unconscious, lots of people die, sub plots are just left hanging, the big-bad just disappears off the page... the book just ends and doesn’t, for me, give a decent enough closure. I know it’s intended to be a series but at least let me have one complete story.
But worse of all is the lack of editing. After a while I was just scanning for typos and grammar errors and not actually reading anything. There were just so many. Shame on you!
But the world is well thought through, and promises more. Will I read the next one, or even the prequels? At the moment I’m not sure.
With tighter plotting, better editing, fewer points of view, less waffle about torture .. and a number of other irritations this could go somewhere. Right now? Three stars for imagination. Less one for pace, editing, and plot.
A fair enough start but could do way better.
It is a large tome of nearly sedentary pace for about 90% until a few interesting but weirdly dissatisfying battles at the end. And talking of the end: a man escapes, another man gets amnesia, a boy goes unconscious, lots of people die, sub plots are just left hanging, the big-bad just disappears off the page... the book just ends and doesn’t, for me, give a decent enough closure. I know it’s intended to be a series but at least let me have one complete story.
But worse of all is the lack of editing. After a while I was just scanning for typos and grammar errors and not actually reading anything. There were just so many. Shame on you!
But the world is well thought through, and promises more. Will I read the next one, or even the prequels? At the moment I’m not sure.
With tighter plotting, better editing, fewer points of view, less waffle about torture .. and a number of other irritations this could go somewhere. Right now? Three stars for imagination. Less one for pace, editing, and plot.
A fair enough start but could do way better.
August 3, 2018
When LoTR was made into movies and even more so since the GoT tv series, a new genre of fantasy have become more and more common.
I call this genre "Please buy the movierights". I'm talking about books that read like a screenplay more then a novel.
You can usually recognize these books by asking a simple question: "How much would I need to cut/change to make this into a movie?", if the answer is "not a lot" then you should know what I'm talking about.
The reason I think this is a problem is that a book isn't supposed to be just a written movie, the strength of books are the depth and dialog you just can't compress into a few hours.
What you end up with is a book like "The White Tower" where the dialog is either a) over the top exposition or b) "witty" banter.
I could rage alot more about this but honestly I just want to forget this book so if it ends up a movie I might be able to enjoy that.
I call this genre "Please buy the movierights". I'm talking about books that read like a screenplay more then a novel.
You can usually recognize these books by asking a simple question: "How much would I need to cut/change to make this into a movie?", if the answer is "not a lot" then you should know what I'm talking about.
The reason I think this is a problem is that a book isn't supposed to be just a written movie, the strength of books are the depth and dialog you just can't compress into a few hours.
What you end up with is a book like "The White Tower" where the dialog is either a) over the top exposition or b) "witty" banter.
I could rage alot more about this but honestly I just want to forget this book so if it ends up a movie I might be able to enjoy that.
February 5, 2017
Review to come...
December 24, 2025
This series isn't breaking new ground or pushing barriers. It's just fun fantasy.
Lot to like here: outlawed magic, a sassy POV in a precarious situation, a pauper turned commander struggling between his old and new positions in life, dark magic making monsters, a potential 'chosen one'.
The prose, though, is a bit flat. The dialogue, descriptors, and depths could use some tightening. That said, diving into book 2. Which...i may have also read before?
Lot to like here: outlawed magic, a sassy POV in a precarious situation, a pauper turned commander struggling between his old and new positions in life, dark magic making monsters, a potential 'chosen one'.
The prose, though, is a bit flat. The dialogue, descriptors, and depths could use some tightening. That said, diving into book 2. Which...i may have also read before?
October 6, 2018
Not a bad book, just very, very meh. Yet another attempt at a YA Game of Thrones; dozens of characters, multiple viewpoints, intrigue, possible character death (no twincest though, hey, it is YA). Nothing particularly new or exciting here and characters straight out of central casting. The only really interesting character is a prisoner being tortured by the evil anti-magic organization (that is totally full of casters and apparently everyone knows it). Cliches abound and very little will surprise any experienced reader, including the "surprise" revelation at the end of the book.
Oh yes, this applies to the Kindle edition and hopefully not the print one, but in addition to a good editor, this book really, really needed another pass from a competent copy editor. Missing or extra conjunctions, wrong verb tenses, garbled sentences (amazing, given the short length of most of the sentences in the book) and probably the most unforgivable of all, misspelled character names. If you can't even spell major characters names consistently enough for me to notice your screwing it up, you're really not doing a very good job.
Oh yes, this applies to the Kindle edition and hopefully not the print one, but in addition to a good editor, this book really, really needed another pass from a competent copy editor. Missing or extra conjunctions, wrong verb tenses, garbled sentences (amazing, given the short length of most of the sentences in the book) and probably the most unforgivable of all, misspelled character names. If you can't even spell major characters names consistently enough for me to notice your screwing it up, you're really not doing a very good job.
July 7, 2023
Can't be trusted
I'm so disappointed 😣. After reading the street rats of Aramoor series, I was so happy to start the Aldoran Chronicles. But then I saw one reference to 666, so I kept reading, then another, then another, and after he took the name of the man from the bible who built the Ark to make some petty point to dog whistled
his comrads, I knew, I had to stop reading his books. Damn, he's a solid author too, too bad he has to go there. But I guess his master demands it of him. If you love truth. If you love The Son of God, stay away from thus man's books. He'll do anything for a sale, even destroy your soul.
I'm so disappointed 😣. After reading the street rats of Aramoor series, I was so happy to start the Aldoran Chronicles. But then I saw one reference to 666, so I kept reading, then another, then another, and after he took the name of the man from the bible who built the Ark to make some petty point to dog whistled
his comrads, I knew, I had to stop reading his books. Damn, he's a solid author too, too bad he has to go there. But I guess his master demands it of him. If you love truth. If you love The Son of God, stay away from thus man's books. He'll do anything for a sale, even destroy your soul.
November 17, 2016
Start with a world that feels so real you'd swear you've been there. Populate it with characters you can relate to and even get attached to. Add magic, discovery and wonder set against intrigue, treachery and monsters. There is sweetness, light and love. There is cruelty, darkness and hate. Greed, fear and corruption battle altruism, courage and virtue. A book that looks very long turns out to be not half long enough. I eagerly await the next book.
November 14, 2016
Twists get a bit too much. A bit preachy in places.
The author also does go overboard with adverbs and adjectives, which doesn't always work for me. For instance, what is a "torrential wind"?
I also hate the use of "ya". This is modern American slang which does not fit in with the medieval theme of the book.
(this is the same review I put on Amazon)
The author also does go overboard with adverbs and adjectives, which doesn't always work for me. For instance, what is a "torrential wind"?
I also hate the use of "ya". This is modern American slang which does not fit in with the medieval theme of the book.
(this is the same review I put on Amazon)
October 5, 2021
Notes:
- Bought on sale, had it for a long time & made myself read it. Meh
- Great narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds. However, the narration made me think of other books he had worked on more than the story being told.
- Wonky POV switches, characters did not stand out enough as individuals, abrupt ending and story felt like a bunch of other stories instead of a unique spin of it's own.
- Bought on sale, had it for a long time & made myself read it. Meh
- Great narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds. However, the narration made me think of other books he had worked on more than the story being told.
- Wonky POV switches, characters did not stand out enough as individuals, abrupt ending and story felt like a bunch of other stories instead of a unique spin of it's own.
September 5, 2023
Overall a good EPIC fantasy with a large cast of characters.
There are some things holding it back from 5 star territory ( and spoiler even lower stars in the second volume.
I generally do not mind heavy tropes in fantasy. They practically define the genera at this point, but with EPIC fantasy they can interfere with pacing and generally drag down the rest of the story.
In this case we have a couple of obvious tropes.
A: the evil chancellor adviser to the king plotting with the heir to overthrow the king
( along with the myth of a good and noble monarchy)
B: The CHOSEN ONE TM ( destined to possess the power or the magic doodad or whatever to defeat the ultimate EVIL TM)
The latter is where the author has some problems.
There are some basic rules to follow to avoid boredom and rolled eyes on the part of your audience when using the CHOSEN ONE TM trope.
NEVER tell the CHOSEN ONE he is the CHOSEN one. He will inevitably become an insufferable whiner from the moment he realizes it.. or at least save the reveal for the final installment and keep the whining to a minimum.
NEVER let the general populace or even his inner circle know he is the CHOSEN one either..they end up just twisting the plot in circles for no apparent reason trying to ‘ help’ the CHOSEN one.
If you can help it, don’t even tell the READER that he is the CHOSEN one.Let them figure it out themselves.
Needless to say .. this author broke all three of those rules halfway through the first installment.
Luckily the other threads of the story are quite well written with interesting political intrigue and action that hopefully will get me through the rest of the series.
There are some things holding it back from 5 star territory ( and spoiler even lower stars in the second volume.
I generally do not mind heavy tropes in fantasy. They practically define the genera at this point, but with EPIC fantasy they can interfere with pacing and generally drag down the rest of the story.
In this case we have a couple of obvious tropes.
A: the evil chancellor adviser to the king plotting with the heir to overthrow the king
( along with the myth of a good and noble monarchy)
B: The CHOSEN ONE TM ( destined to possess the power or the magic doodad or whatever to defeat the ultimate EVIL TM)
The latter is where the author has some problems.
There are some basic rules to follow to avoid boredom and rolled eyes on the part of your audience when using the CHOSEN ONE TM trope.
NEVER tell the CHOSEN ONE he is the CHOSEN one. He will inevitably become an insufferable whiner from the moment he realizes it.. or at least save the reveal for the final installment and keep the whining to a minimum.
NEVER let the general populace or even his inner circle know he is the CHOSEN one either..they end up just twisting the plot in circles for no apparent reason trying to ‘ help’ the CHOSEN one.
If you can help it, don’t even tell the READER that he is the CHOSEN one.Let them figure it out themselves.
Needless to say .. this author broke all three of those rules halfway through the first installment.
Luckily the other threads of the story are quite well written with interesting political intrigue and action that hopefully will get me through the rest of the series.
September 24, 2019
I read about 10% of this book before I gave up. I tried so hard to keep reading, because I don't like to not finish books, but found the story to be very generic, and the characters bland.
The story starts out with an old wizard smuggling a baby away, being chased by creatures and magic users. Apparently, magic is banned in the country, or something like that.
The fight scenes didn't really capture my attention, and events just seemed to flow one after the other without much impact. I just didn't feel anything when I read this book.
Maybe there are too many different perspectives. Or perhaps the beginning was a bit jarring because while the first few chapters are from the perspective of the old man, the perspective changes to someone else several chapters in. I don't have a problem with prologues but don't really like shifting perspectives, especially ones that involve characters that have no relation to one another, because it doesn't give me time to connect with characters.
I think the main reason I couldn't finish this book was because the characters felt wooden.
The story starts out with an old wizard smuggling a baby away, being chased by creatures and magic users. Apparently, magic is banned in the country, or something like that.
The fight scenes didn't really capture my attention, and events just seemed to flow one after the other without much impact. I just didn't feel anything when I read this book.
Maybe there are too many different perspectives. Or perhaps the beginning was a bit jarring because while the first few chapters are from the perspective of the old man, the perspective changes to someone else several chapters in. I don't have a problem with prologues but don't really like shifting perspectives, especially ones that involve characters that have no relation to one another, because it doesn't give me time to connect with characters.
I think the main reason I couldn't finish this book was because the characters felt wooden.
December 15, 2017
The White Tower is a big book at a whopping 624 pages, but it is a page turner in enough parts.It is a sprawling epic fantasy tale with a huge character cast and diverse settings. It starts as a typical run of the mill epic fantasy, which I didn't mind at all cause everything I love about epic fantasy was there. The White Tower features a lot of Point of View characters, but the plots are centered around four of them. These are Ty, the fae-bred youth who seems to be some kind of chosen one, Ayrion the Guardian Protector, the heroic warrior figure, the magic wielding smith Ferrin, and the villain Valtor who is a dark magician hell bent on summoning the long-banished dark lord figure. Ty's point of view scenes have a whimsical quality; I particularly loved the magic displays and the interesting secondary characters there.
Ferrin's and Ty's parts were among my favorites as well as Ayrion's excursions and rather interesting battle scenes with a bit of a magic twist. The action scenes are impressive and the character perspectives get interesting as you progress through the story. Poor quarter and thieves' guild parts were excellent. Another positive aspect is the presence of amazing female characters. These being said, the White Tower has several serious issues.
Read my full review at:
http://booknest.eu/component/k2/spfbo...
Ferrin's and Ty's parts were among my favorites as well as Ayrion's excursions and rather interesting battle scenes with a bit of a magic twist. The action scenes are impressive and the character perspectives get interesting as you progress through the story. Poor quarter and thieves' guild parts were excellent. Another positive aspect is the presence of amazing female characters. These being said, the White Tower has several serious issues.
Read my full review at:
http://booknest.eu/component/k2/spfbo...
October 17, 2019
A great start to a new series. Plenty of action and intrigue that spreads across entire countries.
Although following multiple groups of characters can be confusing at first, you soon learn to look forward to how each group's story unfolds.
There's violence and torture, yes, but none of it is described graphically enough to hit my hair-trigger squick for such things.
I've read the first two volumes and am eagerly awaiting the next!
Although following multiple groups of characters can be confusing at first, you soon learn to look forward to how each group's story unfolds.
There's violence and torture, yes, but none of it is described graphically enough to hit my hair-trigger squick for such things.
I've read the first two volumes and am eagerly awaiting the next!
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