The Seventh Tower
#5413.91 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 6 books Status Complete 2000–2001 Reading commitment Medium Garth Nix Last reviewed 2026-08-20
Overview
The Seventh Tower is Garth Nix's completed six-novel middle-grade fantasy sequence (2000-2001, Scholastic), set in a world split between the underground Castle, whose inhabitants can only see and wield coloured light through enchanted Sunstones, and the sunlit surface region called Aenir, ruled by powerful, capricious Spirit Shepherds. Two young protagonists from opposite backgrounds, Tal, a Castle-dweller sent to steal a replacement Sunstone for his failing family, and Milla, a surface-dwelling Icecarl, are forced together across the six short, fast-paced novels that make up the whole story, each running under 200 pages and originally released in rapid monthly succession to encourage serial reading among younger fans. The series' central conceit, that literal blindness to natural sunlight shapes an entire underground civilization's magic and politics, distinguishes it from the more sprawling Old Kingdom sequence for which Nix later became better known.
Epic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (6 works) counts toward ranking
The Seventh Tower Garth Nix
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Fall | 2000 | 1 | core | 3.84 (9,816 ratings) |
 | Castle | 2000 | 2 | core | 3.89 (6,901 ratings) |
 | Aenir | 2001 | 3 | core | 3.93 (6,690 ratings) |
 | Above the Veil | 2001 | 4 | core | 3.92 (6,159 ratings) |
 | Into Battle | 2001 | 5 | core | 3.96 (5,886 ratings) |
 | The Violet Keystone | 2001 | 6 | core | 3.99 (5,944 ratings) |
A completed 6-book middle-grade secondary-world fantasy sequence (Scholastic, 2000-2001), distinct from Garth Nix's Old Kingdom and Keys to the Kingdom universes: an unrelated setting split between the underground Castle and the sunlit surface world Aenir/the Veil.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Seventh Tower? The Seventh Tower's Core Canon is 6 books.
- What is the reading order for The Seventh Tower? Publication order, starting with The Fall. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Seventh Tower finished? Complete (2000–2001).
- How much reading does The Seventh Tower take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 6 Core Canon books).
- How is The Seventh Tower ranked? #541 in this site's official ranking, based on 41,396 reader ratings across 6 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #541?
Ranked #541 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.91 across 6 core books.
- A smaller readership (41,396 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #540, Gormenghast (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 6 books · Complete · 41k ratings · Ranks #541 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (6 Core Canon books)
- Castle (2000)
- The Fall (2000)
- Above the Veil (2001)
- Aenir (2001)
- Into Battle (2001)
- The Violet Keystone (2001)
Documented internal/story order
- The Fall (2000)
- Castle (2000)
- Aenir (2001)
- Above the Veil (2001)
- Into Battle (2001)
- The Violet Keystone (2001)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.91 across 41,396 ratings on 6 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Seventh Tower admitted as its own universe (Garth Nix) accepted 2026-08-20
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-20
Rule: Core Canon is all 6 novels of the completed sequence, read as one continuous story rather than as independent books.