The Castle sends Celie, Rufus, Rolf, Pogue, Lilah, and Lulath - in two separate towers - out of Sleyne and into the Glorious Arkower. Or IS it the Glorious Arkower? The first wizard they meet, who calls himself the Arkower, and is Wizard Arkwright's uncle, says it is; but Celie meets another old wizard who claims it is Hatheland. Either way, it's where the Castle was built, and where the griffins came from, but now it's got a cursed/poisoned lake - the source of the plague that killed the griffins and their riders - and Celie and her siblings and friends just want to get back home. Who can they trust to help them? While they try to figure it out, more griffin eggs hatch: Lulath bonds with one (Lorcan the Destroyer) and Lilah with another (Juliet), to Rolf's jealousy - and the Arkower and Ethan's. The Arkower has been trying (and failing) to rebuild a griffin army. Celie & company escape the mad wizards and a forest fire, but Celie and Rufus get the plague from the poisoned water. They believe there is no cure, but back in Sleyne, Bran and Pogue work to cure them. ( )

After the cliffhanger ending of Wednesdays in the Tower, it was nice that this book picks ups exactly where the last left off, and griffin adventures continue in the alternate universe. Many things are revealed and puzzles solved. Altogether very satisfying! ( )

The third book in the "Tuesdays at the castle" series. A bit confusing at first but overall good. :) ( )

{Third of 5: Castle Glower series. Fantasy, children's}

Sailing straight on from the cliff-hanger in Wednesdays in the Tower, twelve year old Princess Celie together with her older siblings Rolf and Lilah plus a couple of other important people are caught in part of the Castle that has transported them to another world. Here they discover people and animals from the Castle's past and start to piece together the long history of the Castle. If they can trust the person telling them that history.

Meanwhile, they seem to be entangled in a foreign political situation when all they want to do is get home to their family.

(Side note; although I like the way the series uses consecutive days of the week I’m not sure that the title fits this time, though I can see how it was derived.)

This book is a bit more serious than the preceding two in that I feel it deals a bit more with the characters rather than just the story and we start to see them in a different light. The king and queen, who were absent in the first book and were more secondary actors in the second, also start to become real people. I like the family interactions; the relationship between the four siblings has always been a strength of the series and it's easy to see the age differences between them. And it's nice to see how much their parents care about them; at the end of the adventure when they finally get home (not really a spoiler because this is not, after all, a tragedy):

‘Daddy?’
‘What is it, Celia-delia?’ King Glower almost tripped over Rufus trying to get to her.

It also deals with emotions such as really wanting something but having to put on a brave face on when someone else gets it.

Still fun and easy to read.

‘Insufferable man,’ King Glower said. ‘I’m glad to hear he’s a traitor. Now I can justify my dislike of him.’

And while there's no cliff-hanger ending this time, there is a hint as to what adventure we'll be going on next.

4**** (4 stars) ( )