I recently purchased this set and it exceeded my expectations. The main thing for me is that the gatehouse is brick built with no wall panels. The largest components are the gate and the jail cell door. There are a number of arches and masonry bricks. The little catapult is easily replaced as just a window. The dragon catapult is possibly one of the worst I've seen lego produce, but the parts are all useful. I think kids can have a lot of fun with a set like this, but for AFOL's, think of it as an army builder/castle parts pack and you'll be pretty happy with it. As for the color schemes, I find the colors to be a bit more muted in real life than in the photos I've seen, both official and unofficial.

this is a great set, i have 2 of them because it can be combined with the kings castle set to make a larger castle.

I find the colors to be a bit more muted in real life than in the photos I've seen, both official and unofficial.

I agree, but the brighter colours used in this theme do set it apart from the lord of the rings theme.

I have yet to pick this up, but I think it looks really good. I agree with fhomess, it's a nice step up from the $20 set, and includes another minifig and more castle pieces.

just got this set and suppose it will be the last one of this series unless lego releases some more civilian sets!

I too got this yeasterday and I was pleasantly surprised - the finished model looks quite good and even the little dragon catapult wasn't quite as awful as I thought it would be. There are still some non-sensical bits like a gold nugget sticking up out of the tower battlements for no reason and a catapult that can only fire in one direction, but overall it's a decent looking model and there are a fair number of good castley bits.

The dragon knight and his mount's barding are particularly nice and the highlight of the set.