The Seventh Tower: Aenir

#28
Title: The Seventh Tower: Aenir
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2001
Genre: Children's Fantasy
233 pages
+ Excellent world-building and character development, use of previous foreshadowing and further foreshadowing
- No substantive critiques
The third in the series. Though still picaresque at times, the action now coalesces around some central concerns. At the level of the characters' preoccupations, both Tal and Milla have quests to fulfill, and dreams of their own power and failure to contend with. At the level of the story, both characters continue to become more distinct, more differentiated, and more complex. An important theme is that of surpassing one's parents and community in skills and knowledge. Both shift their roles and take on aspects of each other's culture. Both draw on previous knowledge (here, moreso Tal, though in the previous volume it was Milla).

Nix fills in some information about this world's history, which is not only absorbing but central to the plot. He manages a great deal of exposition in ways that do not interrupt the narrative. The reader, Tal, and Milla learn about parallels and connections in their people's histories. At the same time, the protagonists both become more similar, and retain their own characters Milla's logic and thinking are distinct from Tal's. Tal learns more about his family, Milla learns more about her ancestors, and Master Sushin lurks in the background, an excelent villain.

The binding of the Spiritshadows is evocative of the relationship between magicians and demons in Stroud'sBartimaeus trilogy; the evocation of a dimly-seen and grand ancient history is similar to Brin's in Glory Season. I'm looking forward to book 4.