Castle

by Garth Nix

Book Overview

In a world of ice and fury where only the Castle radiates light, Tal, a Chosen who has been banished from the Castle, and Milla, an Icecarl warrior on a quest to bring a sunstone to her people, band... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439176832
• ISBN13: 9780439176835
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

So Far to Go, So Little Time to Get There

1.Tal is now back in the castle but is greeted by guard and Milla is dragged away to The Hall of Nightmares to be tormented, what is Tal to do his friend is in The Hall of Nightmares, and who knows what is happening to her, and he still need a Primary Sunstone and still needs to get Milla her sunstone. 2.My opinion is this is even better than the first, more detail then the first, gives me a better outlook of the characters postition. 3.Theme: this author really knows how to dish out the detail of the surroundings. 4.People who like Fantasy Fiction, read it!

Your hands won't let go of it!

With a thrilling conclusion to a thrilling book, Garth Nix?s Castle is extraordinary. Not even the slightest detail is left out for every step Tal and Milla take is included in this fiction fantasy. Danger lurks around every chapter, from the victory of the one-eyed Merwin, to the deadly Hall of Nightmares, to The Pit, and then to the not so welcoming way into Aenir. Time runs out too quickly. Well, just as quickly as you whiz through the book. It feels like your hands won?t let it go before you have read it to the very end. All I can hope for now is that Garth Nix writes more than only six ?The Seventh Tower? books.

What is Slimy Sushin's problem?

Just had to ask that question - that creep Sushin, who kept Tal from getting his Sunstone in The Fall (1st in the series), has somehow been promoted by the time Tal and Milla get back to the castle, and he's scheming...In addition to the great mental pictures the author skillfully paints in this book (for a small example, I kind of had the same reaction as Tal did to the Mother Crone's eyes...) I really liked how 13-year-old Tal and 14-year-old Milla learned how to work together despite their differences. What's really cool is how neither Tal nor Milla change who they are for the other person (though their characters DO grow) and still manage to form a team. Now we don't really know that Tal and Milla like each other, necessarily, and they still argue and tease each other, but as the two face more challenges - sometimes even apart (they get separated and Tal faces the Pit while Milla gets tossed into the Hall of Nightmares), they find ways to get back together and to help one another. I can't wait to see what happens next!

A work of art.

The story begins after the shield maidens rescue Tal and Milla. Once Milla is heald they set off with a map carved by someone who came from the castle years ago. They use the map and nearly get themselves killed by going over a hudge abyss and climbing through the pipes in the castle. All their troubles result in them getting caught. The people of the castle however live in ignorance of the outside world though and they think that only they and the underfolk exist and that the underfolk exit to serve them. So when Milla is discovered she is thought to be a rebel underfolk who has formed the world of Icecarls in her imagination and she is sent to the hall af nightmares. A place that has driven many people before her into insanity. Tal is sent to prison and he discovers ther something about his father's disaperence (which is what got him into all the trouble in the first place.)The book ends on a cliff hanger again and leaves you wanting more. I was so impatient that I picked up 'Aenir' instantly and continued reading as if I hadn't even changed books.

Garth Nix does it again!

Castle is the second installment in the Seventh Tower series. In the last book, The Fall, Tal is hurled away form the castle to be found by Icecarls, a nomadic people that follow animal migrations for survival. Milla, an Icecarl girl, is ordered to help Tal get back to the castle and, in return, get a new sunstone for her clan's iceship. In this book Tal and Milla get back to the castle only to find that Tal's family is on the wrong side of a political power play. Tal's father disappeared in the first book and now his younger brother appears to have been kidnapped. With his mother ill and his sister forced to live with a couple of very nasty relatives, Tal turns to his eccentric Great-Uncle Ebbitt for help. After many narrow escapes, Tal and Milla enter the spirit word of the Chosen, of which Tal's family are members, in order to find a book that may help them solve the mystery of Tal's father's disappearance.In the first book Nix tears down traditional gender roles. He continues to do that in this book while at the same time rounding out the major characters personalities. We begin to see more sides of both Tal and, especially, Milla. In this book Nix also starts to address the cultural arrogance that both Tal and Milla have learned from their societies. I think Nix has a great way of addressing some of the major social concerns of today's society in an a manner that's easily digestible for the intended age group for this book. He does so with an intriguing and well written story. I think that the book (and series) will appeal to both boys and girls since the both heros play an equal role in the story and both are dependent on the other equally for survival. If fact, at the end of this book both Tal and Milla realize just that.I highly recommend this book. It's enlightening and it's a terrific fantasy.