When I first started reading Torsten Weitze’s The Tower of Beggars, I was expecting something similar to the Harry Potter books. What I got instead was an entirely unique story filled with tales of gods and inequality. And while magic is a big part of this world, the first book in the series is true to its name and largely centers around a beggar’s perspective. If you’re looking for a good new fantasy series to dig into, I highly recommend checking it out.
The Tower of Beggars follows the story of Niri, a 16 year-old-girl with the kind of heritage that doesn’t do her any favors. Her father was an Aeldae and her mother was a human, making her fully hated by any followers of the Crimson God throughout the Splinterlands. The hatred isn’t unfounded; after all, the Aeldae had enslaved humans before the fall of their god, but that fact doesn’t make Niri’s life any easier. With both her parents dead, the story begins with her working as a coal girl for her mysterious nuncle (uncle) Vasdram, who seems to have a serious gambling problem.
The story starts out a bit slow as Niri’s life as a coal girl sets up her beggar origins as well as the larger lore around the primary god, Malkar, who sets the rules of the land. It isn’t until Niri is forced to leave her home and make use of Vasdram’s Beggar Coin that the story truly gets going. Though I could argue that it really starts to become a fun read once Grabbasnack, the gold-eating pocket dragon, is introduced as a character in the first act.
As a protagonist, Niri is quite likable. She’s smart, courageous, and tends to make the unselfish choice when it’s presented to her. She’s kind of the antithesis to the world she lives in, one which praises only selfishness and strength. Her biggest drawback as a character is that she is generally pretty weak and is constantly freezing up due to fear, which she calls “Sinking.” If it weren’t for the loyal companions she meets along the way, she’d clearly be dead in a hurry.
Overall, the story of The Tower of Beggars: Stormfell Academy Book One is quite good, but it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable without the addition of the pocket dragon. Gh’rab-ehl-sh’naak (AKA Grabbasnack) is a tiny dragon who exclusively eats gold and can’t keep his mouth shut. He’s also an incredibly loyal friend and, after being freed from captivity by Niri, he becomes her first true steadfast companion. Thanks to his penchant for saying whatever he thinks at pretty much any moment, he keeps all of the dialogue feeling fresh when it could have run the risk of being too serious or stale. His constant search for gold to nibble on is also delightfully contradictory to the derelict environments Niri often finds herself in.
As for the actual magical school part of the story, it feels pretty light in the first book. While Niri does get admitted to the Stormfell Academy, she quickly finds that the Tower of Beggars isn’t exactly a dedicated place of learning. She is only allowed to take a few different classes thanks to her Beggar Coin, but they are mostly designed for preparing lower-class citizens to become fodder for war. And despite free admittance to the academy, most of the folks in the Tower of Beggars are focused on finding riches (or just enough money to survive) in the monster-filled crater just outside of the academy.
The delicate balance between surviving and actually finding time to learn is where this story really shines. Niri has a fire to her, but she’s ultimately weak and has the world working against her. Even though she’s able to make it into the tower, she quickly finds that her admittance doesn’t make her an equal by any means. The same prejudices that plagued her outside of the gates of Stormfell are only amplified by the cutthroat environment of the Tower of Beggars. The Crimson God himself promotes strength above all else, and Niri has to constantly struggle to make choices that will keep her alive without compromising her generous heart.
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