The Golden Tower

by Fiona Patton

Reviewed by Coral

Four years have passed since the godling Hisar was born after a nomad attack on the city of Anavatan. But despite pressure from the other gods, Hisar has refused to join them in the Silver Lake, preferring to live free and spend time with the three people he considers 'his': Spar, Brax and Graize.

Spar, having just turned 15, has one year left before he will need to swear to a god. Pressure is mounting on all sides for him as well, as many of the gods would like a seer of his ability as one of their own.

Brax is still unsure about the new god, considering that Hisar feed off of him in order to be 'born', but has promised to help him as a favour to Spar.

Graize has found himself new nomads to help with his plans. All they need is a little convincing and, at the perfect moment, he will have an army to bring to Anavatan.

Over three hundred pages and nothing happened in this book! There was too much time spent on a buildup for an ending that fizzled. It was like the characters were going over the same ground over and over again.

The one thing I did appreciate in the book was that Spar and Brax were being raised by a gay couple. You don't often read that in books - at least the books I read - much less in fantasy books, it seems.

Given how many fantasy books I read, I am quite used to reading books that have their own terms for things, but I found there was just too many used in the story. Why do we need new words for teacher, apprentice, parent or sibling?

More time should be spent on Panos and Ilhan. Right now they are peripheral characters, at best, but considering the amount of plotting they have supposedly done and how central Graize and the new god Hisar are to their plans, I feel like I should now more about them.

I feel more sympathy for Graize than I do for Brax and Spar. I'm not sure if Graize is supposed to be the all-out villain or an antagonist that will eventually become a friend, but I am more interested in his storyline and hope that he gets his happy ending.

Overall, I just feel that not enough has been done to flesh out the story or the characters.

Grade: C