The Princess And The Tower

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Princess Irena Vaudrin is meant to marry a man she hates, pray to a god she doesn’t believe in, and smile while the court whispers that she’s far too fond of her best friend. Instead, when she refuses, her father signs a decree and has her quietly removed. For the good of the realm, of course. Exiled to an abandoned wizard’s tower on a lonely mountain, Irena is supposed to fade into shameful obscurity. Her only company: Lira, a shy halfling maid torn from her own family to serve the disgraced princess, and the distant, bone-shaking roars of the dragon that keeps them both from escaping. The tower should have been her prison. It turns out to be her education. Behind warded doors and rotten floors, Irena uncovers the remnants of Archmage Thalen’s life’s work: scrolls, sigils, and a buried system of trials reaching deep beneath the mountain. With Lira as her sharp-eyed, stubbornly loyal assistant, Irena begins to teach herself the art her ancestors had forgotten in all but the most faded of tapestries. Spectral lights lead to floating furniture; musical spells lead to secret rooms; alchemical glasswork turns into weapons the crown has never before seen. Outside, the world keeps turning. Each week, a caravan arrives with meagre supplies and a pair of knights to “ensure her safety” – including a sardonic lady-knight whose lazy drawl of “princess” makes Irena’s stomach swoop for entirely un-regal reasons. Rumours of Irena’s supposed sins spread through the ranks. The church and the nobility congratulate themselves on having locked away an inconvenience. They have, unfortunately, locked her in with everything she needs to become the most dangerous wizard of her age. As Irena and Lira delve deeper into the tower’s seven trials, they must decide what kind of power they’re willing to claim, and what kind of world they want to burn down and rebuild when they finally break the wards. Between a hungry dragon, a scheming church, a baron who started this mess, and a very attractive knight standing inconveniently in the middle, one thing is certain: When the princess comes down from the tower, she won’t be the one who needs saving. Written for Royal Road Writathon.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2026
Author: Eccentric Exposition

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 751
Views: 16,191

What readers say about The Princess And The Tower

“Felt like it was a published novel that I never got to see while growing up. Think I woulda bought a copy if I had the chance to. A lot better than some other books I've gotten, anyway. Lot of care for details and characterization, but never filled the spac…”
weirdeeRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“The premise of The Princess And The Tower is about as cliché as it gets: Irena, a spirited and contrarian princess refused to marry the fiancé decided upon by her father and was not particularly diplomatic about it. For that and for some mildly indiscretion…”
Hellothere_1Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

weirdeeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Felt like it was a published novel that I never got to see while growing up. Think I woulda bought a copy if I had the chance to. A lot better than some other books I've gotten, anyway. Lot of care for details and characterization, but never filled the space too much. Perhaps one day it'll be on my shelf.
Hellothere_1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The premise of The Princess And The Tower is about as cliché as it gets:
Irena, a spirited and contrarian princess refused to marry the fiancé decided upon by her father and was not particularly diplomatic about it. For that and for some mildly indiscretionary behavior with her best friend she is exiled to a lonely abandoned tower at the edge of the kingdom, locked behind powerful magical wards and guarded by an enormous dragon, with only Lira —a halfling maid likewise torn away from her home and family— for company.
However, there's one thing about Irena's prison that her family overlooked: The Tower was once the home of an archmage, and while the men of the baron who took possession of it ransacked all the easily accessible areas for anything magical, they didn't even scratch the surface on all its hidden secrets. So with nothing to do except watching the sun go by and a treasure trove of magic at their fingertips ... Well, you all know how that story goes.
It's simple, it's fun, and it's the kind of classic fairy tale subversion that I've yearned for for a long time.
The World
Thankfully while the story's premise is extremely simple and built on clichés, the world and characters are anything but. Going into the story this was probably my biggest worry, because I've seen way too many of such "fairy tale retellings with a modern twist" sputter out one they reach the point of needing to construct their own story on top of the foundation made of the subversion of old tropes. Thus I am happy to note that The Princess And The Tower actually really impressed in this regard. The world feels very well thought through and unfolds a lot of hidden complexity the further the story progresses. Plenty of things that initially present themselves as minor quips, silly superstition, plotholes, or just yet another fairytale trope, later instead turn out to have been foreshadowing for something important.
One thing I really didn't expect is that some of the worldbuilding turns into
LamoronRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If this story keeps the current quality I fully expect it to be in the top10 works on the site once completed.
The issues I have with it are so minor that mentioning them might actually be an endorsement. The first is that Lemons are unlikely to exists on someplace that is not earth, since they were likely engineered by humans, and a few similar 'these things probably wouldn't exist'.
That's it. Everything else is damn near perfect. Sure I regularly feel like bonking a character on the head, but it's for reasons that make sense both according to story, setting, and their character.
The characters are deep, the world building is amazing, the plot line is amazingly realistic in the context of the world as it has been shown, and, and, and.
It's slow, but in a way that feels right. It's slow because things take time. Studying takes time, recovery takes time, travel takes time, politics takes time etc. etc.
Our heroes are good people, at least when compared to the world they're in, but they make hard choices.
Our heroes are intelligent people, but they're not always smart people. This is well established during the story, so it feels like real bad choices instead of the often seen 'perfectly moral Einstein is suddenly a moron' when they derail or fail.
Descriptions, conversations, events, and 'feel' just all lines up.
MxMokeleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Like it says on the can a perfectly enjoyable read. The premise is interesting, the setting has enough going on to be interesting without being overwhelming, none of the characters are particularly grating this far. So long as you actually try to read the story and don't drop it after the first 5 chapters then you'll not be left wanting in terms of quality for this book.
NoelOrikiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love this story; I love the romance; I love the tower; I even love the dragon. But I hate the Baron.
Genuinely a really well-written and lovely romance, highly recommended for anyone looking for lesbian romance fics, hopefully this gets more traction because it deserves a lot more attention and praise than it gets.
PleaseNotAgainRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A kind and cozy story which appears to have been killed off because of an internet troll’s message to the author. 5 stars for the story and 0 for the troll. Troll, may all your days be filled with intestinal misery, your nights without working utilities, and may all who see you in real life know what a worm you are.
Abyssal PollywogRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a very well written, engaging story. The characters have clear personalities and interesting motives. The plot generally moves along at a good pace. There’s a good balance between the MC’s magical progression and other stuff.
Grammar and spelling is top-notch. And I’m amazed that the author is able to keep delivering a well written chapter 7 days a week.
If I had to level one complaint, it’s that, especially in the earlier chapters there’s a bit too much on the “romance” side of things that seemed not to really advance the plot - too much blushing and hands touching for too long. That said, the romance stuff is very well written and is quite integral to the story. And it seems better integrated as the story progresses.
This is one of the stories I look forward to reading each morning, and unless you hate romance in your fantasy, it’s worth reading.
Richard BondRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is one of the best things I have read on RR. The writing is *perfect*. Not flawless, but it gets right out of your way. There are no irritating repeat phrases or mistakes that pull your attention. The tension is maintained, the characters develop, the plot thickens, the mysteries in the tower deepen and darken and let out more room for growth.
This is so, so good. Everyone should be reading this. I'm not going to get *anything* done today until I've consumed every word.
Ok. 40 chapters later, I have eaten every available bite of story here. It is just as good on chapter 60-something as it was at the beginning. 10/10, do recommend.
Sly JanusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A heartwarming tale in a tragic situation. The romance is an understandably slow burn due to the main character struggling to come to grips with a sexuality she has tried to deny and bury. The characters are grounded, believable, and multi faceted. Even trapped in a tower with Princess Irena and her maid Lira we still get a sense of the world outside.
The Princess and the Tower is one of the most grounded "MC objects to marriage" stories I've read. The first chapter book I ever read fell under this trope, and dozens sense, but I feel this one handled it the best. Princess Irena is informed of the arranged marriage and objects on principle, but doesn't cause a major scene until the man she is set to marry acts more like a pig the first time they meet. I feel she responded appropriately for a girl of her age in her situation; publicly calling her betrothed out on his actions and retreating to a private place to cool off(mandated attendant/only friend in tow), rather than stabbing him or running away from home as the trope usually goes. While I think what her family did to her in response is tragic, it does feel more realistic for her to be sent somewhere out of the way than for her family to let her off with no repercussions or ignore her like nothing happened.
Princess Irena, understandably, lashes out at the people around her with scathing remarks appropriate for a young woman raised in a court setting, and I rarely came across instances of her acting differently throughout the book.
The magic system is thought out and properly explained, with no outright "because a wizard did it" hand waving we are just expected to accept. The author does a very good job with "show don't tell", and shows us just enough of Irena's work to know she's working hard to understand it without bogging us down with long exposition every step of the way.
One of the stand out parts to me is the author's handling of religion in this world. Princess Irena is a "devout" follower of the dominant
Zoob77391Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's rare for me to become so enthralled with characters in the first few chapters. But I was hooked really quickly. The main characters all play off eachother so well and there were more than a few moments I found myself squealing like a schoolgirl. The story manages to balance an engaging plot with plenty of slice of life. I lost half a day binging this and eagerly await new chapters.