Hey Jared,
I’m finally finished! If I attempt anything like this again, I think I’m going to try and finish it quicker. A big series, like Animorphs, can be done slower but for 6 books this too a little too long.
Title: The Violet Keystone
Series: Seventh Tower; Book 6
Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Youth
ROTS Setting: UU/EU, Stone Age/Medieval, Magic
Synopsis: Tal and Milla are only one step away from death. Evil is only one step away from triumph. An old war is made new again. The ultimate power is up for grabs.
As shadows rage, ancient spells return, illusion reigns and corruption threatens. The search for hope is the bravest quest. The Seventh Tower is the key to it all.
Recommendation: A great short novel for an early reader. I wish this was around when I was in second grade.
The thrilling conclusion to this series is non-stop action! All the slower parts in the series allow this book to literally sprint to the end. And it is glorious!
Tal used to be a soft, whiny, selfish kid. He’s still soft, but at least he’s aware of that. In every other metric he was grown immensely. The most useful is that he can now see things from other points of view.
Milla is a rigid as always. She has to because survival is still her top priority. She doesn’t compromise when lives are on the line. Her growth is learning that people who are different from her can be strong too and if they’re not as strong they can become strong in their own way. Her experience is interesting because she became the weakness she despised and then proved that it wasn’t a weakness at all.
As I said before, the pace is extremely fast with this book. The overall pace of the series was really good too. In past reviews I’d commented that I thought it odd that the series is called Seventh Tower but there were only 6 books. Having finished the series for the second time I think it may have originally been intended to be a 7 book series, but chose to condense books 6 and 7 into one. I can only guess as to why they chose to do it, but if the series wasn’t sell very well then that would make sense.
In summary, it was a great conclusion to the series. It’s an easy read and would be great for a newer reader looking for a first novel.
Robert
Reading Over The Shoulder 