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Lewis Barnavelt #9
The Tower at the End of the World
After encountering the Ishmael Izard and hearing of his plans to destroy the world, Lewis, his uncle Jonathan, and their friends consider the threat serious and so, despite their own fears, quickly devise a plan to stop his evil plot. Reprint.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
13 people are currently reading
812 people want to read
About the author
Brad Strickland
135 books107 followersWilliam Bradley Strickland (b. 1947) is the author (or co-author) of over 60 novels and over 60 pieces of short fiction and poetry.
Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.
His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.
Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.
After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).
In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.
Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.
Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.
His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.
Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.
After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).
In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.
Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 20, 2020
Lewis, Rose Rita, Uncle Jonathan, and Mrs. Zimmerman are racing against yet another Doomsday Clock to save the world from old Isaac Izzard's son, the equally nasty Ishmael Izzard, who has set up his evil shop, so to speak, on an invisible island.
This series is so fun and I love that Charlie loves them, too. As always, just the right amount of creepy without becoming outright scary.
This series is so fun and I love that Charlie loves them, too. As always, just the right amount of creepy without becoming outright scary.
September 11, 2021
Will review at Fantasy Literature.
January 5, 2011
It's been several decades since The House With a Clock In Its Walls, and there's a very good reason for that. Bellairs told all the story he could reasonably tell about Issac Izzard and the Doomsday Clock. It was a simple plot that served to introduce us to likable characters and move them forward in their arcs, which were followed up in two direct sequels. Basically, there doesn't seem to be a very good reason to write another sequel, and if the story doesn't need to be told, that's a red flag that something is wrong. I strongly suspect that the only reason Strickland wrote this book is so the publishers could market it as a sequel to Bellairs' best-known novel. But it doesn't do the final product, or the franchise, any good.
Tower just doesn't make much sense, and the early momentum that Strickland built up when he first took over the series deflates almost completely. There are many minor inconsistencies and problems. Basing a story on events that took place in a book published in the 1970's creates some confusion automatically. And Izzard's son doesn't seem to have much of a motivation besides being a thin facsimile of his father's generic villainy.
The series has grown overly self-referential in several ways. In the preceding Strickland book, there are multiple references to H.P. Lovecraft juxtaposed with direct attempts to insert Lovecraftian mythology into Bellairsia (for lack of a better word). That book also featured a plot that hinged on an even more trivial reference from The House with a Clock in its Walls, that of Lewis' inexplicable fear of the demolition of a bridge that featured in one scene. Here, in Tower, we get a direct and clumsy reference to M.R. James, one of Bellairs' main influences on the structure and style of his work. It's arch, unnecessary, and confusing. It calls attention to the tiring formula of the plot.
The characters don't seem quite right. Uncle Jonathan now has an ornery streak that seems more like Professor Childermass, from Bellairs' other series. Lewis, our main character, also seems off. His negativity and crippling fear no longer seem rational or character-driven. Instead, these traits are used to try to manufacture suspense. After all this time, you'd think that Lewis would be able to grow as a person. Sure, he's still a kid. But he's become an unpleasant child with meagre complexity and likability.
All of Bellairs' protagonists have similar traits. They're sensitive, socially marginalized young people with geeky obsessions and interests that prevent them from fitting in with the other young people in their small towns. Lewis, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday seek out the companionship of older, educated eccentrics, who ironically have more in common with them. These stories are always about friendship and loneliness and the desire to belong. It's not hard to see how John Bellairs himself must have felt – a literary, educated person in a small town where such interests are not valued, where the society favors extraverts and athletes. It's a common problem. It's hard to be a nerd in a place where not many people share your obscure passions (like John Bellairs novels).
The moral of the story, of all the stories, is ultimately that the protagonists are misfits because of circumstance, that they have worth despite their shyness, despite being bad at baseball. They discover that they can save the world, that they have friends who care about them, that their fears can be conquered. Other kids at school might not like them that much, but it's not because they are unlikable. It's because they're just a bit different. Lewis is no longer a nice person who is misunderstood – he's just annoying. What is happening in these later Strickland books is that the author is losing focus on the core values of the series, and at the same time rehashing tired plot material. Lazy writing saps these books of the warmth of character, the wonder of the unfolding, gothic-magic world, and the consistent sense of jeopardy and suspense.
Tower just doesn't make much sense, and the early momentum that Strickland built up when he first took over the series deflates almost completely. There are many minor inconsistencies and problems. Basing a story on events that took place in a book published in the 1970's creates some confusion automatically. And Izzard's son doesn't seem to have much of a motivation besides being a thin facsimile of his father's generic villainy.
The series has grown overly self-referential in several ways. In the preceding Strickland book, there are multiple references to H.P. Lovecraft juxtaposed with direct attempts to insert Lovecraftian mythology into Bellairsia (for lack of a better word). That book also featured a plot that hinged on an even more trivial reference from The House with a Clock in its Walls, that of Lewis' inexplicable fear of the demolition of a bridge that featured in one scene. Here, in Tower, we get a direct and clumsy reference to M.R. James, one of Bellairs' main influences on the structure and style of his work. It's arch, unnecessary, and confusing. It calls attention to the tiring formula of the plot.
The characters don't seem quite right. Uncle Jonathan now has an ornery streak that seems more like Professor Childermass, from Bellairs' other series. Lewis, our main character, also seems off. His negativity and crippling fear no longer seem rational or character-driven. Instead, these traits are used to try to manufacture suspense. After all this time, you'd think that Lewis would be able to grow as a person. Sure, he's still a kid. But he's become an unpleasant child with meagre complexity and likability.
All of Bellairs' protagonists have similar traits. They're sensitive, socially marginalized young people with geeky obsessions and interests that prevent them from fitting in with the other young people in their small towns. Lewis, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday seek out the companionship of older, educated eccentrics, who ironically have more in common with them. These stories are always about friendship and loneliness and the desire to belong. It's not hard to see how John Bellairs himself must have felt – a literary, educated person in a small town where such interests are not valued, where the society favors extraverts and athletes. It's a common problem. It's hard to be a nerd in a place where not many people share your obscure passions (like John Bellairs novels).
The moral of the story, of all the stories, is ultimately that the protagonists are misfits because of circumstance, that they have worth despite their shyness, despite being bad at baseball. They discover that they can save the world, that they have friends who care about them, that their fears can be conquered. Other kids at school might not like them that much, but it's not because they are unlikable. It's because they're just a bit different. Lewis is no longer a nice person who is misunderstood – he's just annoying. What is happening in these later Strickland books is that the author is losing focus on the core values of the series, and at the same time rehashing tired plot material. Lazy writing saps these books of the warmth of character, the wonder of the unfolding, gothic-magic world, and the consistent sense of jeopardy and suspense.
September 17, 2013
This one lost me. I was comfortable with the story, as shallow as it was, up until the final two or three chapters when things just kind of fell apart for me. The flow of the story became very disjointed. In general, I liked the premise. But, the story just felt rushed and lacking.
2 STARS
2 STARS
July 1, 2018
I really wish I had realized that this is considered a true sequel to The House With a Clock In It's Walls and I would have read it as book two in the series rather than #9. But I still enjoyed it. I love this series and the actual ghouls, wizards, witches, and creepies that are its bread and butter.
December 8, 2023
Spooky comfort food.
I love these characters.
I love these characters.
December 2, 2024
Just when we think that Lewis and Rose Rita have faced their biggest villain yet in the form of a cthonic demon from space, we’re right back where we started and facing the dastardly Izards and their doomsday clock once again! You would think it’s old hat for Brad Strickland to go back to the magicians who kicked off the series and it wouldn’t be possible for him to match the drama and intrigue of John Bellairs’ original novel, but he actually does a decent job of it! He sets the story at the exact opposite time of year, during Lewis and Rose‘s summer vacation, and sends them on an island adventure where they run into the (until now) unknown son of the Izards - who is up to just as much poor behaviour as his parents. After spending decades travelling the world collecting knowledge on folk magic from a multitude of cultures and seeding magical feeder groups of evil wizards, Ishmael Izard finally has his eye set on getting revenge on the Barnavelts and on killing everyone on earth so he and his cadre of sorcerers can rule the world. In typical fashion, Lewis and company kind of stumble upon his evil plan via the hidden island which is his home base, but through careful sleuthing and some luck they manage to foil his plans. Strickland writes some decidedly dark moments into this story - with frightful spectres to haunt Lewis and a gristly end being graphically portrayed for Izard and his crony - but the trick that finally defeats these villains is perfectly suited for Lewis and his quick wit and keeps the tone from getting too dark with its classic children’s story style. The action in this story is also extremely well done, as we get moments of sea-faring adventure balanced with small town mystery vibes, culminating in a story that measures up well to Bellairs’ original tale of magic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2024
An excellent chiller and a great installment in the series. I especially liked that this one references back aaaaall the way to Book 1: The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It was a clever reference and made for some excellent reading. The doomsday stories are a lot of fun as they're generally fast-paced, and full of intrigue. The bit towards the end, was both chilling and brilliant, and the solution to the was another stroke of genius. Great book.
January 7, 2024
I am so upset with what Brad Strickland is doing to these characters. Since his travel to England in The Vengeance of the Witch Finder, Lewis had developed as a character and was becoming braver more worried about his family and friends than himself, but it's like he goes back in time and becomes the same Lewis as the first book in the series.
Not only that but what's this obsession with pointing out that Mrs Zimmerman loves purple and has purple toilet paper? I wonder if Brad read the original books before taking over the series.
Not only that but what's this obsession with pointing out that Mrs Zimmerman loves purple and has purple toilet paper? I wonder if Brad read the original books before taking over the series.
November 8, 2018
After the last installment brought Lovecraft and the Great Old Ones into the Barnavelt series, new helmsman Brad Strickland continues to embrace elements of classic weird literature in a more direct fashion. This time, M. R. James and the shadowy demonic figures from "Casting the Runes" take center stage. Add this to the direct sequel elements calling back to "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" and you've got a very solid, very creepy installation.
July 26, 2018
I can’t believe I had never read this before! But it came out 2001, when I was busy raising a little baby so it was well off my radar.
It was so good! Just as I remembered John Bellairs’ novels to be—Brad Strickland did a fantastic job of imitating his authorial voice and continuing his grand tradition of gothic horror for the middle grade world.
It was so good! Just as I remembered John Bellairs’ novels to be—Brad Strickland did a fantastic job of imitating his authorial voice and continuing his grand tradition of gothic horror for the middle grade world.
October 11, 2021
Call back to the first book, The House with a Clock in Its Walls! One of my all-time favorites when I was growing up that I still enjoy today.
February 17, 2020
This is probably the "scariest" of these books, and reuses the bad guy and problem from the first book essentially. A quick read and not bad for younger readers so long as they can handle the suspense and creepy creatures in the shadows.
March 13, 2021
The cover of this book draws me in! It catches me and makes me think this is my kind of book! However, I don’t care for the story at all. It just isn’t for me. Since it is a children’s book, maybe children will enjoy it. As for me, it’s a no.
December 28, 2018
This seems to have fallen flat, to me, compared to the original. I will be reading the rest of the books, but harrumph. I was hoping for better.
March 13, 2021
Interesting way to bring back the Doomsday Clock from the original story.
October 18, 2021
Great book full of suspense and takes you back to the first book quite a bit! I absolutely love it!
January 4, 2017
This is a series I used to read to my son many years ago and discovered the series continued- i enjoyed picking it back up where we left off- it takes place in Michigan in the 1950's so interesting to hear about our state!
July 21, 2022
This book was a bit of fun. It delivers as being the true sequel to The House With the Clock in its Walls. I'm not entirely convinced that the Izards' would have had a child, but aside from that one detail, I thought Brad Strickland did a good job of recalling many of the smaller details from the earlier books and managed to slip the necessary background info to form the basis of this new plot.
If I have any complaints about this book, I'm not sure that their enemy would have been vanquished quite so easily. And that Strickland does seem to prefer to be a little bit more graphic in his descriptions of the grotesque than Bellairs would have done.
If I have any complaints about this book, I'm not sure that their enemy would have been vanquished quite so easily. And that Strickland does seem to prefer to be a little bit more graphic in his descriptions of the grotesque than Bellairs would have done.
August 23, 2016
Lewis Barnavelt and his uncle Johnathan are yet on another magical mystery that you cannot put down. I had read this book many years ago and picked it up again because my children are starting to read all the John bellairs series. We are very happy that Mr. Stickland has added to the wonderful series, any parent who wants their kids to get interested in reading this is the series. Loved it as a kid and am thankful for the series as a parent. I would give it a 100 star rating if I could.
November 18, 2008
I know John Bellairs. I have read many John Bellairs books. And Mr. Strickland, sir, you are no John Bellairs. Nice try, though; a lot of the right elements are there, and it's a treat to revisit these characters whom I've loved since maybe second grade. Hopefully kids who pick this up will go back to the original books, which are much subtler and richer in character.
September 9, 2016
Yes, this a good creepy installment in the series. They brought back some old plot points, and Lewis was just as nervous as always!
August 1, 2014
Parts of this book were really good and other parts seemed to skip around and not flow as well. It was ok.
November 16, 2013
The voice is close but not quite there.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews