Silver Citadel [Paperback]

Anthony Horowitz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd (November 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0416025722
• ISBN-13: 978-0416025729
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,171,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear -- "My father was a very secretive man," he says-- so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands&. I was an astoundingly large, round child&." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.


Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And&oh yes&there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books ever, December 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Silver Citadel (Paperback)

O.k this book is sooooooooooo cool. I read the first in this series when I just went to secoundry school. I took out all three of the first books, then didn't give them back till I had this huge fine. I love them all. Anthony Horowitz is one of my favourite writers and there's so many books of his which are now unpublished. This series of books (Theres actually about five.)is all about the old ones, this ancient dark power and a group of five boys who have the power to control it, and fight back against the evil. This book is about two twins with the ability to comunicate telepathically with each other. It's got old charecters like Martin(The leader. book one is based on him)and Pablo(Book 2) theres murder, and drugs, and dark magick. It's got everything a book should have, and my advice is read the whole series. Books four and Five are impossible to find, I had to go to like an antique store, but go to the trouble cause these books are worth it. P.S. This book is one of the best, and you find out a lot about the five's history, and the final batle in which they banish the old ones completly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, but spooky--not something to read before bed., December 19, 1997

By 

April L'Orange "aprillorange dot wordpress do... (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Citadel (Paperback)

I first read The Silver Citadel when I was about the age of the main character--fourteen. I loved it. The surprising thing is, I still do. It's very well written, with wonderful turns of phrase that verge on painful. The main character, Nicholas, is definitely a sympathetic character and presents an effective point of view.

The Silver Citadel is technically young adult fiction, but only in that it's a little more thinly written than something geared for adults. It's engaging and frightening, falling right in that between-genere spot where dark fantasy segues into horror. Even now, it's not something I'd want to read right before bed.

Maybe the best way I can put it is that it's the third book in a series. After reading it, I immediately went to track down the first two, and I've been waiting eagerly for the next one ever since.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pentagram series, August 7, 2002

By 

"tabby_kat" (Manchester, England, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Citadel (Paperback)

I first read the devils door bell 15yrs ago and i was hooked, i am still looking for the last 2 books in the series. Does any one know what they are called? No body knows here.
This was my first book that got me into reading, even at 25yrs i still want to know what happend. the first 3 books are not available in the local librarys here,(only available at schools, and i defiantly recomend it at any age) we have to order them, so iam still waiting for them, i just cant wait.
Some body please mail me to update me on the next 2 books.
thanks