Shadow, by Jenny Moss

Shadow, by Jenny Moss
YA, 2010

from fantasticfiction.co.uk:
It was prophesied at her birth that the queen would die before her sixteenth birthday. So Shadow, an orphan girl the same age as the young queen, was given the duty to watch her every move. And as prophesies do tend to come true, the queen is poisoned days before her birthday. When the castle is thrown into chaos, Shadow escapes with a young knight, whom she believes was betrothed to the queen.
Unsure of why she is following Sir Kenway, but determined to escape as far as possible from the castle, her long-time prison, Shadow sets off on an adventure with the handsome knight who has been charged with protecting her. As mystery builds, and romantic tension does, too, Shadow begins to wonder what her role in the kingdom truly is. Soon, she learns, it is up to her to save her land.

Interesting premise, right? Immediately draws you in with all the required elements, yes? I really enjoyed this story as a whole and was captured quickly by the intrigue and mystery it provided. I must confess I did guess the 'twist' as it were, but it wasn't necessarily obvious. What was obvious was how slow it took me to get through the book despite my consistent reading. At one point I stopped for a break and was surprised to find there was still half a book left - so a caution, it does have a slower pace. The writing was passive in many areas and frankly wasn't very good. While this distracted heavily from the book, the plot was still good enough and engaging enough that I was motivated to finish it.
The characters were interesting, the ending appropriate and as I closed the book I debated the grade. If when I finish a book it has my imagination twirling, that's one thing, but if I finish a book and my imagination is rewriting it? That's a whole other. I still gave it a decent grade, but I feel that Jenny Moss hasn't yet reached her full potential - if the girl can step it up on the writing then we can expect great things.

Graded a B-.

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+