The Seven Towers, by Patricia Wrede

Patricia Wrede has consistently been a favorite author of mine, and with fabulous publications like Sorcery and Cecelia and The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, you can understand why. Her older works, though, are frequently out of print and difficult to find unless you peruse used book stores with a vengeance. I was delighted to see a reprinting of her 1984 novel, The Seven Towers, though (at my local bookstore) and grabbed a copy:

The Seven Towers, by Patricia Wrede
Young Adult, 1984

Eltiron, Prince of Sevairn: caught in the web of his father's intrigues. Crystalorn, Princess of Barinash: promised in marriage to a prince she's never seen. Ranlyn, the desert rider: forced to choose between friendship and honor. Jermain, the outlaw: exiled from court for the crime of telling the truth. Vandaris, the soldier: who left the life of luxury to wield a sword and lead an army. Carachel, the Wizard-King: who does not understand the awesome power he commands and Amberglas, the sorceress: who may not be quite as fuddleheaded as she seems.. Seven players in a game of deadly magic. Seven Kingdoms at the edge of destruction. Seven Towers holding a dark and dreadful secret.

I must confess there were a few false starts for this one. But once I stuck around, I was pleased with the plot and character development. In many ways it reminded me of Graceling - different, of course, but I think those that liked Graceling might turn to this one when looking for something else to read. (Sorry there is no link to a review of Graceling - I read it prior to starting this blog.)
I will say that the biggest reason it took me a while to get into it was the sheer number of characters. I kept thinking of my creative writing instructor and how he'd tell us not to introduce so many characters, or at least not all at once, and this fell right in the face of that. However, it was a fun plot with a dash of romance, and I enjoyed it. I'm much more likely, of course, to pick up Mairelon the Magician or one of Wrede's other later publications, but this just proves that she got better with time - a feat most authors cannot claim.

Raspberry: B-
trackgeek: B+