Seventh Tower Books In Order

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Publication Order of The Seventh Tower Books

The “Seventh Tower” is a series of novels by Australian author Garth Richard Nix best known for his fantasy fiction and young adult series of novels. Nix’s novels include “The X-Files”, “Spirit Animals”, “Shade’s Children”, “Troubletwisters”, “The Old Kingdom” among several other adult series short story collections and freestanding novels. With the perfect pseudonym sounding name for a fantasy fiction writer, he has often been asked if Garth Nix is his real name. In addition to his novels, he has also written several articles for “Traveller” and “Dungeons & Dragons” that were featured in a variety of magazines such as “Breakout”, “Multiverse”, and “White Dwarf”. He is also an IT specialist and has published news items, articles, and case studies for “PC World”, and “Computerworld”.

Garth Nix was born in Melbourne but spent much of his childhood in Canberra, where he attended Lyneham High School and later Dickson College. He would later join the Australian Army Reserve, and worked for the government before he went back to Canberra University for a professional writing degree. After finishing his college studies he worked at a bookshop before he moved to Sydney to work in publishing. His career progressed relatively fast as he went from sales rep to publicist, and it was not long before he was one of the most respected editors at Australian office of HarperCollins. He soon got bored with publishing and travelled Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia before he tried his hand in marketing consultancy. He then established Gotley Nix Evans Pty a marketing company, and worked for Curtis Brown as a literary agent before quitting to write full time. Nix currently lives with his family in Sydney Australia.

The “Seventh Tower” series of novels resulted from a conversation between a Scholastic editor and Nix. The editor raved about his novel “Sabriel” and asserted that he would be pleased to work on something similar. The editor soon emailed Nix to inform him that the publishing company was working on releasing a new series and asked if he would be interested in writing it. A few weeks later Lucasfilm and Scholastic contacted Garth Nix with a list of ideas and influences they thought would make for good inspiration for what they wanted to publish. Nonetheless, Nix had as much freedom to create a fantasy series as he saw fit. According to an interview that Nix gave, the list was like something of a seed that influenced his writing of the series as he watered and shaped to fit a mold he had developed in his head. Among some of the influences and ideas on the list included an alternate world that was always dark, and where the protagonists had companions that had magical powers. The first novel in the series was “Fall” that was first published in 2000. Over the years, the series has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon selling more than a million titles in the US alone.

The “Seventh Tower” series of novels follow two children from disparate societies living in a world that is totally dark after a magical veil blocked their sun. The lead characters are Tal and Milla from the Castle and the Ice respectively. Working together to restore normalcy to their worlds they soon learn that a nascent evil long thought extinct is threatening a resurgence that could destroy their world. Meanwhile, a two millennia war that had been stopped by a non-aggression pact is rekindling and the two and their motley crew have to do something to save their world. Tal comes from the Chosen tribe of the Castle. The Chosen are renowned for being the masters of shadow and light, which means that through their magic they can control the shadows and Sunstones. The Chosen make their home in the Castle that extends over the Veil and is protected by seven towers. Every Chosen child is ranked by color according to their failures and accomplishments. Milla comes from the Icecarls, a matriarchal and semi barbaric society that lives in the icy areas surrounding the Castle. Unlike the Chosen, they fear magical shadows and banish anyone who professes possession with the shadows. Honor is what is most important to their society and the culture mandates that a person commits suicide if they act in a dishonorable manner. Unlike the Chosen that are ruled by an Empress, the Icecarls are separated into clans ruled by a Crone or two.

“The Fall” is the first novel of The “Seventh Tower” series of novels by Garth Nix. The lead of the series is Tal, a teenage boy from the Chosen tribe of the Castle. He lives in a dark world where every member of the chosen has his own shadowguard that is replaced when they are about to embark on a journey to the spirit universe of Aenir. But first he needs to get a primary stone, which proves a challenge given that his family’s only one had been in the possession of his father that had disappeared a few years past. Tal does everything he can to get his hands on one, given that he is the only one that can take care of the large family with his mother bedridden. He must face unknown perils in the quest to obtain the sunstone and travels to a strange land of magic, ice ships, and warriors. The big question though is if he will have the time to obtain the stone and return before the Castle gates and his only route to Aenir are blocked.

“Castle” the second novel of the series opens to Milla and Tal held prisoner in the strange land people by the Shield Maidens. The ruler of the land they are in has asked that they be brought in to explain what they are doing in the land of the Mountain of Light. However, Tal’s observant eye notices that something is seriously wrong and thus he secretly sends message to Ebbitt his great-uncle to ask for help. But his uncle is captured leaving them to their own devices, as Tal is left to languish in the Pit while his friend Milla is tortured in the Hall of Nightmares. Uncle Ebbitt engineers one of the most daring of escapes only for him to learn that the supposedly just castle is ridden with corruption. He is determined to put things right and comes up with one crazy scheme. Will the team succeed in their most daring mission yet? It is an entertaining if short read that showcases some excellent world building that also introduces some intriguing fauna and flora.

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