The book shares stories about ten different castles. The first page of each section features a large illustration of the castle along with all of its inhabitants. The next pages give more detailed information and include a numbered guide which allows you to match up the explanations with the illustration on the prior page.
The short stories that accompany each castle are often brutal and end badly. They are short enough to pique the reader’s interest, but often feel as though they’ve ended too soon, without giving reader’s any real context for the story. It can feel distinctly unsatisfying. It would be a good introduction for some readers to get to know which castles they’re interested in learning more about.
While a glossary is included at the end, the book is filled with period specific vocabulary that may be a struggle to those unfamiliar with castles and medieval life. What makes it even more difficult is that the rest of the vocabulary is fairly high level as well.
Expect some religious issues to be raised, since a few of the stories reference the Crusades or other conflicts between Christians and Muslims.
Because of the content and vocabulary I would recommend this for Grade 5 and up.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A queen gives birth to a baby. The King kisses his new Queen. The story of Henry the VIII is laid out pretty bluntly: that he has tired of his old queen who has had 5 pregnancies which yielded only one girl child; that he is in love with Anne and yet the Pope will not allow him to divorce Catherine; that he ignored the Pope and married Anne (who was already pregnant). Anne Boleyn gives birth. She has two more pregnancies. We’re told that one king’s special pleasure is beautiful ladies.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Since the main purpose of a castle is defense, it is not surprising that there is a good deal of violence in this book. The illustrations of the castles sometimes show them during the sieges. The people in the illustrations are tiny, and while I’ve tried to enumerate the weapons used, it would be overwhelming to check each tiny drawing thoroughly, so be forewarned. There is mention of wars and sieges. A king is captured and held for ransom. A man is shot by a crossbow. A king dies after gangrene sets in. Missiles are hurled at a castle (although, these are probably much different than what a child thinks of when he hears “missile”. Many weapons are shown in the illustrations, including catapults, arrows, swords and spears. Fire bombs are heaved at a castle. A sultan was murdered. An assassin stabs a prince in the stomach. A man poisons another man but then dies from the same poison himself. There is fighting (both of the military kind and just the regular people kind). There is a joust. A boy burns his hand. Houses are set on fire. Dead bodies cover the ramparts of one castle. There are gunshots. A man witnesses his wife and children getting attacked. Rome is sacked by soldiers who “loot, rampage and murder.” There are decaying bodies. There is plague and famine. There are cannons and ship’s guns. Anne Boleyn is beheaded using a sword “not an axe” her “small head rolling away from its body.” A man’s father died when he was a boy. The fallen are beheaded so as to better count the dead. People commit suicide when faced with defeat. A king is dead after being declared insane and then drowning in a lake.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – An alehouse is mentioned. A man has bread dipped in wine for breakfast.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
