Customer Reviews

The Castle in the Sea

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

 

 

I think I read this book a million times when I was a pre-teen. It has a little more drama than some other Scott O'Dell books, such as "Island of the Blue Dolphins," which was a rather quiet book. The main character, Lucinda, lives on a remote island with her widowed and wealthy but insane father. He insists that everyone live as if it is the 19th century -- no electricity, no automobiles.

When he dies, Lucinda is left alone, with very few people she can trust.

After reading some of the other reviews I felt that I needed to add my own thoughts. I read this book and enjoyed the plot. It was about a girl who recently lost her father and was to inherit an island. Mysterious things start to happen and she thinks that she is going crazy, she believes that her father is haunting her, or is he? She's engaged to a man she has never met and when she meets him she discovers what kind of a man he really is.

Please give this book a chance it's not as bad as some may think.
JJ

I am warning you now do not read this book. I read it for a bookreport and it was so dull I could not even write a report on it. I normally enjoy Scott O'Dell's book, but this one was just bad. Nothing really exciting happened until the last four pages of the book. I gave it to my friend to read and she also hated it. The characters were not really developed and neither was the plot. Really the book was just plain bazare. It was also very confusing. During alot of places it really slowed down. My friend and I both read very challenging books for our age and neither of us really got alot out of this book. Unless you enjoy reading books that make no sense and are boring this book is not for you. Go read something- anything- other than this. The book was a waste of time and money.

It is an OK book, but I think O'Dell can do much better then this. Compared to Island of the Blue Dolphins this book has no depth at all. The characters are under developed and the story is very choppy and confusing at times. If you have nothing better to do, this book isn't too bad and it's a quick read. But if you're looking for in depth, exciting reading, this is NOT it.

This book was very injoyable to read because of the vocabulary and the character development. It was well written and had my wanting to read more all the time. Scott O'dell is a great author. This book I would recommend to all readers would like mysteries.

The Castle in the Sea by Scott O'Dell is a unusually wonderful book. For the most part it kept you hanging and you had to read on. In this story Lucinda de Cabrillo y Benivides is a 17 year old girl whose mad, although very wealthy father just has died. In her father's will she is left all his riches, including his private island, Isla del Oro. There is only one problem, her father's best friend, Ricardo Villaverde is her legal guardian until Lucinda is 18. When the will is approved Senor Villaverde will control the island and Lucinda. Just when Lucinda thinks things can't get any worse, her arrogant fiance, Porfirio, and his neurotic mother arrive. Lucinda's father and Porfirio's mother arranged the marraige. Porfirio begins to take control of the gold mines on the island, which causes the superintendent of the mines, Zoyo, to get angry with Lucinda. Then strange things begin to happen, someone is trying to kill Lucinda. Is it one of the servants, Villaverde, Zoyo, or another of the island folk? This book is very intriguing. Scott O'Dell described the characters and the setting precisely so it was easy for the reader to picture. He kept me into the story with surprising events that enticed me to keep reading. However, the book was a bit confusing. I also thought that it slowed down sometimes, but when an exciting part came it was a real gripper. If you're looking for a fabulous, yet challenging read I'm sure you will enjoy The Castle in the Sea.

I enjoyed the premise and the characters, but so much of the book
was unexplained and confusing that when I finished it I checked to
make sure I had a complete copy. I mean, WTF? Why does Lucinda's father
have 18 crystal coffins full of young dead women in the basement?
Where did he find them and how did he get them on the island? Why
did he kill them? And the ending - it seems as if Lucinda will have
to choose beteween her fiance and the doctor, but then they both
get blown up! WTF?

When Lucinda's wealthy and powerful father dies, she inherits the Isla del Oro, a small island off the coast of California, where everything is as it was when her grandfather first discovered it a century before. Lucinda is now the wealthiest girl in the world -- but her guardian forbids her to leave the island, and strange things begin to happen to Lucinda, until she begins to think someone is trying to kill her. But who? Her mysterious guardian? Her handsome fiance? Or the island doctor?

The inheritance of her father's vast fortune and contact with a variety of people with suspicious motives trigger a series of attempts on Lucinda's life in her isolated island home, which is a stronghold of Spain within the boundaries of the United States.