Sabriel by Garth Nix
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Sabriel is the first book in the Abhorsen Trilogy, and tells the story of Sabriel, daughter to Abhorsen and student of Wyverley College. Sabriel is coming to the end of her studies and is anxious to speak with her father about her choices for life after school. But when your father is the Abhorsen, necromancer, binder of the dead to death, what choices can you possibly have? A messenger from the other side, however, makes the choice for Sabriel as it becomes clear her father is trapped in death but not yet dead! How will Sabriel find him and who is the enemy she must face that has placed her father in this perilous place. Sabriel's quest begins but time is against her as is, it seems, most of the dead.
Aimed predominantly at the young adult market but appealing to adults alike this is the first Garth Nix book I have read. Whilst the prologue is written to grab your attention; which it most definately succeeds in doing, I must admit to finding the first part of the book less arresting. I must admit to plodding through the first half of the book, not uninterested but not entirely gripped.
Sabriel
The addition of 'Mogget' a character Sabriel finds at her father's house, brings much needed humour as do the Sendings, beings of Charter Magic, which appears to be magic used for good, whereas Free Magic can be used for both good and evil. There is also some excellent action quite early on in the story, no less the introduction of a most disagreeable being, the Mordicant, that certainly set the pulse racing.
The first part of any book I suppose is in some part given over to builing the characters, laying down the plot and giving form to the world around them; it's just that, the world of The Old Kingdom, where Sabriel must journey seems more than just bleak, it seems disjointed somehow and I really struggled to visualise it and let myself, my imagination, join Sabriel there.
No matter, for it is the second half of the book that really brings everything to life; even those that are dead! Sabriel finds and saves Touchstone, a young man who has been bound in an undead limbo for 200 years and who holds the key to Sabriel's quest to find her father the introduction of this character also brings a more rounded dimension to Sabriel, which seems somehow missing in the first part of the story.
The second part of the book picked up an immense pace, so much so I almost finished the book without realising just how much I had read; real 'can't put down' stuff. The build to the climax keeps you turning those pages without stopping for breath and the resulting resolution is very neat and definately different.
So is this a book of two halves? Well, it has obviously not been written that way and as this winner of many awards some (many?) would argue it doesn't read that way, but I can only give my personal opinion as to my reading experience of this book. It is a very enjoyable book it just took a while for me to immerse myself into it, but once there, fantastic. I'll certainly be reading more Garth Nix and now I am more accustomed to his writing style I hope to enjoy his books even more.
Sabriel (Amazon.co.uk)
Author: Garth Nix
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 368
Publication date: 2003-05-06
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
RRP: £6.99
Lowest new price: £0.99
Lowest used price: £0.01
This may be the first book of yet another "cross-over" fantasy trilogy--theoretically equally appealing to both children and adult readers--but thankfully Sabriel has enough verve and panache about it to reach just such a wide readership and to ensure that author Garth Nix has created a bandwagon all of his own. Constantly rich and meaty, the story is intriguing from the off. Page by page the tension builds and draws you into a highly imaginative landscape that has familiarity and originality in equal measures.
Sabriel attends Wyverley Girls College in Ancelstierre (Nix's version of normal) and has recently graduated with runaway firsts in every subject. But her particular school has certain extra-curricular activities, like the learning of Magic, because of its proximity to the Wall which marks Ancelstierre's border with the Old Kingdom. Over the wall, life is very different and the use of magic is commonplace. Then, on the edge of death, Sabriel's father, Abhorson, sends her a cryptic message that means she must venture into the Old Kingdom and calm the storm that is brewing there, and which will surely multiply at her father's passing. Refusing to accept his fate, Sabriel inherits the tools of her father's trade and his name. Her new duty is to lay the disturbed dead back to rest with the help of seven powerful bells worn across the chest. Sabriel seeks her father's slayer in a mammoth journey that is hindered by dark magic, monsters-a-plenty and shadowy unsubstantial evils.
The narrative builds into a luxurious tale of good versus evil, with a re-assuringly likeable central character to take us through it all. Nix's writing is solid and well-planned, his prose convincing and rounded. Make a note to look up the sequels Lirael and Abhorsen in due course--they're unlikely to disappoint. (Ages 10 and over)--John McLay
Amazon.co.uk Review
Sabriel (Abhorsen Trilogy, Bk. 1) (Amazon.com)
Author: Garth Nix
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 368
Publication date: 2003-05-06
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
RRP: $14.45
Lowest new price: $7.28
Lowest used price: $0.01
Who will guard the living when the dead arise? Sabriel is sent as a child across the Wall to the safety of a school in Ancelstierre. Away from magic; away from the Dead. After receiving a cryptic message from her father, 18-year-old Sabriel leaves her ordinary school and returns across the Wall into the Old Kingdom. Fraught with peril and deadly trickery, her journey takes her to a world filled with parasitical spirits, Mordicants, and Shadow Hands -- for her father is none other than The Abhorson. His task is to lay the disturbed dead back to rest. This obliges him -- and now Sabriel, who has taken on her father's title and duties -- to slip over the border into the icy river of Death, sometimes battling the evil forces that lurk there, waiting for an opportunity to escape into the realm of the living. Desperate to find her father, and grimly determined to help save the Old Kingdom from destruction by the horrible forces of the evil undead, Sabriel endures almost impossible challenges whilst discovering her own supernatural abilities -- and her destiny.
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