Customer Reviews

Broken Citadel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gregorian's book is a multi-layered gem, in which her young heroine's greatest gift is her empathy and caring for others, and the courage to be true to her own heart. I first read this book in 1978, and is it still my favorite fantasy, both because of the strength of Gregorian's writing, and because it is part of a unique trilogy that tells the story of its heroine as a young girl (The Broken Citadel), as a young woman (Castledown), and as a woman in her 30's (The Great Wheel).

The Broken Citadel introduces the heroine Sibby as a spunky and sensitive child. The book is illustrated with graphic designs by Gregorian herself, depicting the playing cards used in her book to predict the future.

Sibby, steps through a broken window from the world of Massachusetts into another world, Tredana, in which things are not always what they seem - including herself. The world is a heady blend of European and Middle Eastern culture, in which the rich past of by-gone temples, kingdoms

and religions is symbolized by the broken citadel. Using desert warriors, dying priests, dragons and phoenixes clad in their own unique cultural context, Gregorian manages to evoke potent archetypes without falling into cliche, as so many mass market fantasies do.

Sibby joins a questing prince, Leron, and his friends, who seek to rescue the princess Dastra from her tower, where she has been hidden by her mother, the power-hungry Simirimia. Simirimia was once worshiped with her sister Rianna as part of the Double Goddess in Ornat, but she cast down her sister and the temple in exchange for greater power. Now Simirimia threatens Tredana itself.

But nothing is precisely as it seems. In Tredana, Sibby discovers, nobility of the spirit matters more than nobility in name, although the former is much rarer than the latter.

I was thirteen when I read _The Broken Citadel_. I'm 40, now. It hasn't lost its compelling beauty, although I've read it numerous times in the 27 intervening years. The abandoned house with the stained glass window and its door into magic still haunts my day dreams and my night dreams.

"Misfit child finds place in magical world" is a very common trope for YA fantasy, partly because it is so seductive for a misfit child with a streak of escapism. _The Broken Citadel_, however, satisfies not only the passions of a teenaged girl wanting to flee imminent adulthood, but the woman she will grow into. Gregorian has an intense compassion for that girl with an adult's insight.

The world and the story are compelling. Gregorian's world has the lights and shadows of a real place, complexities that many YA fantasy novels eschew for fear of confusing child readers. The whole glows like a stained glass window at sunset. Not only is there magic in the world, but the experience of reading it is magical.

This is a book that anyone who likes fantasy is likely to enjoy.

I absolutely loved this book when I first read it, and I spent years searching for the sequel in used book stores. It was magic for me -- I spent most of my childhood wishing I could stumble my way into an alternate world and have great adventures, just like Sibby does. I found the book perfect except for the end, which is a bit of a cliffhanger to say the least, and left me very frustrated by the out-of-print status of the sequel! I think there's actually a third book as well, because I know that the plot itself (lifeline on her hand) requires it, and I seem to remember finding it at some point. However I was never as fond of the sequels. I think, in retrospect, they were much more adult in content. I would recommend this trilogy (and especially this book) to anybody looking for a good read in the "average girl finds her way into another universe" genre.

"The Broken Citadel" was my favorite book out of the series because I was around Sibby's age in the book when I first started reading it and it was so wonderful to read about her adventures. 12 is an awkward, confusing age. It seems like you belong in any other world than the one your in, and to actually read about a girl who finds the place where she really belongs... it was awesome. I loved the cliffhanger endings. They're what kept me searching for the "The Greath Wheel" for almost ten years. I'm a huge Gregorian fan. ...

I read this book twice when I was 13 and had always considered it one of my favorites. It is very much in the tradition of A Wrikle in Time and the Narnia books. I finally found it and Castledown recently, and I read the Broken Citadel again and really enjoyed it at age 27. Castledown is much more of an adult book, and I enjoyed finally reading it for the first time as well. I actually found Castledown to be better written than the Broken Citadel (I was not much of a critic at 13) -the Broken Citadel's writing style can be a little disjointed and I grew tired of the formalized speech, but it is a great story nonetheless. I have been unable to find the third book.

I don't know why the Tredana Trilogy is still out of print. With the increasing popularity of epic fantasy fiction with female lead characters (i.e. the Outlander series, the Twilight series, and the entirety of the "paranormal romance" genre...) I would think this series would have reemerged by now. This series recounts the adventures of eleven-year-old Sibby, a Massachusetts fifth-grader who enters through a window in an abandoned Victorian house and finds herself transported into an alternate, magical world. The 3 books in the series follow her as she grows up in this world and the alternate world of Tredana: The Broken Citadel (book 1), Castledown (book 2), and The Great Wheel (book 3, the final book in the trilogy).

I don't know why the Tredana Trilogy is still out of print. With the increasing popularity of epic fantasy fiction with female lead characters (i.e. the Outlander series, the Twilight series, and the entirety of the "paranormal romance" genre...) I would think this series would have reemerged by now. This series recounts the adventures of eleven-year-old Sibby, a Massachusetts fifth-grader who enters through a window in an abandoned Victorian house and finds herself transported into an alternate, magical world. The 3 books in the series follow her as she grows up in this world and the alternate world of Tredana: The Broken Citadel (book 1), Castledown (book 2), and The Great Wheel (book 3, the final book in the trilogy).

I read this book when I was 10 years old (I am now 40) and I never forgot it. When my niece turned 11 I searched and searched for this book to give it to her on her birthday. I finally found this "like new" copy on Amazon. I guess this book is out of print now because I could not find any new copies. The story of Sibby is one that every girl should read. It is a beautifully written story of a young girl's loyalty, strength and courage to do the right thing. This gem belongs on the shelf next to The Chronicles of Narnia.

First of all, I must say that since I am the niece of Joyce Gregorian, my review is somewhat biased. The Broken Citadel was my aunt's first attempt at writing children's fantasy fiction. After little Sibby steps through a broken window in an abandoned house she is whisked away to an alternate universe based on our Middle Eastern and Bedouin worlds. Sibby is a gutsy little girl who steps into a quest to save a princess, a battle with an ice queen, and an infatuation with a desert leader. Joyce intentionally wrote a complex and adult story for mature children, but sadly Athenaum never quite knew how to market it. Any child who rereads the Narnia Chronicles over and over under the covers at night will enjoy The Broken Citadel, Castledown, and The Great Wheel.

I read this book (and it's sequel) 20+ years ago and a couple of times since. They are both entertaining and I think would be good starting books for youths interesten in the si-fi/fantasy genre...especially young girls.