Since 2011, Entangled Publishing has published over 1300 novels under their various imprints including children’s picture books, teen and young adult novels, and even adult erotica. Their newest imprint, Red Tower Books, launched in 2023 with the release of Fourth Wing – the dragon romantasy novel that exploded into popularity through the power of #booktok. Unfortunately, since Fourth Wing, Red Tower Books has also been under some scrutiny by readers and reviewers. Today we are looking at why Red Tower Books is so controversial.
Who Is Red Tower Books?
Entangled Publishing is an independent publisher that utilizes MacMillan publishing for distribution. They are a women-owned company with several imprints – one of which is Red Tower Books. Red Tower Books is a brand-new imprint, launched in 2023 with the release of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Red Tower focuses on publishing “new adult” science fiction, fantasy, and romantasy novels.
Popular Novels Published By Red Tower Books
Most notably, Red Tower is the publisher of Fourth Wing and its sequel, Iron Flame. Rebecca Yarros is also contracted to publish the rest of the Empyrean series under this imprint. Other books published by Red Tower include Star Bringer by Tracy Wolff and Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer in 2023. Notable releases in 2024 have been Heaven Breaker by Sara Wolf and Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland, both of which were received with mixed reviews.
The Marketing and Controversy
Entangled Publishing has a phenomenal marketing team. Whoever they are, they are absolutely killing it with their social media campaigns, the book cover designs, and the beautiful, sprayed edges of the first print-run hardcovers. But unfortunately, that is where it ends.
When you pick up a book by Red Tower Books, you are blown away by its beauty – “I can buy this in stores for a regular price and it looks like a special edition!” is a thought that might run through your mind when you see their books at Barnes and Noble or Target. But once you purchase the book and begin reading, many people wonder “how in the world did this book get published?”. The quality of the manuscripts within the pretty covers is sub-par at best.
Fourth Wing and Iron Flame
Let’s take Fourth Wing and Iron Flame for example. Fourth Wing blew up on the internet and #booktok because of its easy worldbuilding and accessible language for a high fantasy novel (and that is fantastic) however, the pacing of the book is terrible and the sequel, Iron Flame, gets even worse. Iron Flame clocks in at a whopping 251,000 words and is 600 pages long. It feels 1000 pages long. For a comparison, another popular book featuring dragons is Priory of the Orange Tree (published under Bloomsbury) which clocks in at 225,000 words and is 880 pages.
So not only does the book feel long because it is long, but the quality of the manuscript within is lacking polish. Readers say that Iron Flame’s worldbuilding is nonexistent – you are thrust back into the world with little to no explanations of how certain things work. The relationship between characters does a complete 180 with what seems like no hope of a return to normal until you’re so far into the book you wonder if you even care anymore.
Misprints and Mishaps
On top of the issues within the manuscript itself, there have been printing and manufacturing errors. Red Tower Books published Fourth Wing in May 2023 and Iron Flame just a few months later in November 2023 alongside a special holiday edition of Fourth Wing, for what seems like no other reason but a money grab because it featured cool sprayed edges to match Iron Flame.
When readers received their copies, some of them were literally printed upside-down, others had the manuscript of Iron Flame but the spine was engraved with ‘Fourth Wing’ and had the wrong dust jacket. The sprayed edges were bleeding on people’s fingers and belongings… it was a mess.
Other Red Tower Books
The issue is that this is not just a problem with Fourth Wing. Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland recently released in May 2024 and many of the complaints about the manuscript were the same. I also saw many complaints and critiques of the interior content of Heaven Breaker by Sara Wolf.
The pacing was off, the worldbuilding was off, the overall feel of the book was unpolished. It’s giving first draft quality, which in my humble opinion, is a disgrace to the authors who work so hard to write their books. They deserve to have a high-quality manuscript go to print.
On one hand, Red Tower Books is encouraging other publishers to follow suit and provide affordable special editions of books during their first print run – which is great because special editions dominate the book market nowadays, with so many companies dedicated to providing them. But on the other hand, you can’t deliver a pretty package and skimp on the inside product. That would be like ordering a pizza that comes in a pretty box but the pizza is actually just raw dough with some pepperoni on it when you open the box up.
Conclusion
Red Tower Books has a long way to go with their overall publishing quality. They publish popular books that gain traction due to their beautiful exteriors, but we all know the phrase “you can’t judge a book by its cover”. The manuscripts within Red Tower’s novels are in dire need of improvement. One can only hope that by the time Onyx Storm, the third in the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, comes out in 2025 that these issues will have been worked through.
For More Great Content
Total Apex is an all-encompassing content producer. We provide heavily detailed articles every day on entertainment, gaming, sports, and so much more! Check out all our great sports content Total Apex Sports. Check us out on X @TotalApexEandG and our other sites: Total Apex Sports Bets and Total Apex Fantasy Sports. For more articles by Audrey Allen, click here!
