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I am looking for a fantasy book:

What I vaguely recall is:

A boy is sick with the root cause being magic within himself. He is semi-cured by someone and is told he needs to train with the wizards in the towers throughout the land. He finally decides to leave his family and train at the towers. I am pretty sure each tower in the land held different responsibilities, and someone or something was tearing down the towers in the lands.

The book was in English. I was thinking it was written in the 80's or 90's. This book was picked from old books people donated to the military (so it certainly wasn't "new"). This was a full book, not a short story, and I recall that it was part of a series: at least three books, probably more. The cover had some orange tint to it, and pictured a castle/tower in the background to the left side, while in the foreground there was a person riding a horse along a winding trail to the tower/castle.

Any help would be appreciated. This is not the Seventh Tower Series.

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  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange. Do you remember how long this book was? Was it just a short story, or great novel? Was it part of a series? Do you remember anything about the cover? Male or female author? When and where did you read this book? How old was it? Was it in English? There are thousands of books, anthologies, collections, and magazines to go through, so anything that narrows it down will be helpful. See also our guidance on asking good story-ID questions.
    – Peregrine Rook
    Commented May 26, 2016 at 0:21
  • P.S. This sounds a little like A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin (but not much).
    – Peregrine Rook
    Commented May 26, 2016 at 0:22
  • The book was in English, i was thinking it was written in the 80's or 90's certainly it wasn't "new". I can also recall that it was part of a series, at least three books, probably more. This book was picked from old books people donated to the military (hence why it wasn't a new book). This was a full book, not short story. The cover had some orange tint to it, and pictured a castle/tower in the background to the left side, while in the foreground there was a person riding a horse along a winding trail to the tower/castle.
    – Ryan McCredie
    Commented May 26, 2016 at 18:51

2 Answers 2

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I've been looking for the same book it's called Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy!

Book Cover - Master of the Five Magics Book Cover - Master of the Five Magics

To master five greats arts of magic and win a queen was not enough for Alodar the apprentice. He must do what no man dared!

Alodar was a mere apprentice thaumaturge, learning the least of the five great arts of magic. As such, he had no right to aspire to the hand of the fair lady, Queen Vendora, not even when he saved her during the demon-inspired siege of her frontier castle. But aspire he did.

His quest forced him from one exacting branch of magic to another, with the rewards he earned always going to others. Finally, only the branch of wizardry remained - the great, almost lost art of controlling demons.

It was then he learned of the ancient plot behind his rise - and faced the greatest danger any man could dare!

It is the first book of a trilogy.

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    Welcome to SFF:SE. Your answer would be improved by including details such as who wrote the book and what about the book makes you think it is a match to the question. Please see how do I write a good answer for more.
    – Politank-Z
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 5:25
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    For the record, these books don't bear any resemblance to the story described in the question.
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Jan 31, 2020 at 7:25
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This description really reminds me of the Circle of Magic series by James D. McDonald and Debra Doyle. Check it out.

I don't think this has any of the sickness you mention, but there was definitely mention of a number of towers/castles of power all along.

Hope this helps.

PS. Another series which comes to mind is the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K Le Guin.

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