The Seventh Tower: Above the Veil

#31
Title: The Seventh Tower: Above the Veil
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2001
Genre: Children's Fantasy
248 pages
+ Continued revelations about the world of the story, good character interactions
- No substantive critiques
The fourth in the series. Tal and Milla continue their uneasy alliance. Tal, still hoping to return everything to normal, sometimes misses or does not ponder information that could be highly relevant. Milla, though in some ways initially more rigid, sees change and the implications of new knowledge more clearly. They respectively illustrate Piaget's notions of assimilation and accommodation.

In the previous volume, the reader learned more about Aenir, the world from which the Shadowspirits come. In book 4, the Underfolk of the Castle have their chance to become more vivid and personal. In this way, the series allows the reader to follow Tal's growing awareness of other people and the broader world as his skilfulness with light magic develops. One hopes that he will awaken from his youthful egocentrism. Milla undergoes a different sort of transformation after she returns to her people to deliver her news, then give herself to the Ice.