Goldenhand - The Old Kingdom 5: The brand new book from bestselling author Garth Nix (Old Kingdom, #5)

by Garth Nix

The fifth instalment in Garth Nix's New York Times bestselling Old Kingdom series.

Lirael is no longer a shy Second Assistant Librarian. She is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, with dead creatures to battle and Free Magic entities to bind. She's also a Remembrancer, and wielder of the Dark Mirror.

When Lirael finds Nicholas Sayre lying unconscious after being attacked by a hideous Free Magic creature, she uses her powers to save him. But Nicholas is deeply tainted with Free magic and Lirael must seek help for him at her childhood home, the Clayr's Glacier.

But even as she returns to the Clayr, a messenger is trying to reach Lirael with a dire warning from her long-dead mother, Arielle, about the Witch with No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning?

Once more a great danger threatens the Old Kingdom, and it must be forestalled not only in the living world, but also in the cold, remorseless river of Death.

• ISBN10: 1471409740
• ISBN13: 9781471409745
• Publish Date: 1 October 2020 (first published 4 October 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Hot Key Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

And here it is at last, my long overdue review of Goldenhand by Garth Nix. I started reading this as soon as it landed on my doormat, and read it in two days – back in October. Sadly, due to my preparations for Sci-Fi Month, and the fact that sometimes I take FOREVER to get my thoughts together, it has taken me this long to write my review up.

I first read Sabriel, the first book in Garth Nix’s Abhorsen/The Old Kingdom series when I was 12 or 13. I think it was a birthday present, and I’m not sure who from now – but whomever it was, I am incredibly grateful to them. This was the beginning of my love for the series, and I devoured the next two books as soon as I could. It is a series that has remained with me ever since, and in the fourteen years since I read it for the first time, I have re-read it countless times. I even took part in a readalong of Sabriel on my blog a few years ago. When Clariel was published in 2014, I was of course ecstatic – but it didn’t feel quite the same. Being a prequel to the main series, it was lacking what I had fallen in love with – namely the familiar characters, ones that I’d ‘adventured’ with.

And then along came Goldenhand.

Goldenhand picks up where Lirael leaves off. We get to follow the badass Second Assistant Librarian turned Abhorsen-in-Waiting once again. We get to see familiar faces, such as Sabriel and Touchstone. Returning to the Old Kingdom was just truly magical, and it felt like reading the series for the first time all over again. It brought up those feelings, that enchantment I felt when I first read Sabriel, and how drawn I was into the world of the Abhorsen.

Nix’s writing is just as excellent as ever, and of course the world building is stellar. He builds even further upon his creation of more than a decade ago, and Goldenhand helps to paint an even more vivid picture of the world in which Lirael lives. It is even published using the same classic font as the first books, which somehow reminded me even more strongly of this world into which I had escaped. And what I love about this world is how much it feels like ours, but with a magical twist. As a bookish twelve-year-old (and even now as a bookish 26-year-old) I could totally imagine myself accompanying Lirael and Sabriel on their journeys, exploring Anceltierre and The Old Kingdom. There is enough of a threat to the world that you feel a sense of peril, an urgency to read on and make sure that the heroes will be okay, even when you know things will turn out okay. I’ve never encountered anything like the magic system in these books in any other – a magic that feels so real and entwined in everything.

Goldenhand is, without a doubt, an excellent return to the Old Kingdom, and one that cannot be missed. If, like me, you fell in love with the series on your first read all those years ago, then for nostalgia’s sake pick up a copy of Goldenhand and dive back in! If you’ve never read any of Garth Nix’s books, then I highly recommend you start with Sabriel and work your way through the series – it is an absolute classic for fantasy fans, no matter your age. Truly a series I will treasure forever.

[Lianne]

I was approved an ARC of this book by the publishers via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2016/10/10/review-goldenhand/

About two chapters in, I knew this to be an infinitely better outing than Clariel. The book picks up some six months after the events of Abhorsen and there’s weird movement lurking in the west and in the north, which this book begins to address. It’s cool to see a lot more world-expanding in this book, fleshing out the reality outside of the capital and the situation in those regions of the Old Kingdom and the way in which these various clans operate and interact with each other. It feels like a totally different realm out there, really, and I look forward to reading more about them in the future.

I haven’t read anything as to how many books are coming up next from Garth Nix set in this world, but this book felt more like a set piece than anything else, setting up events that will unfold in subsequent installments. The book blurb covers pretty much the course of the journey in this book: Lirael and Nick reunite as something odd is happening with Nick and the mesh between Free Magic and Charter magic in this body, and something ominous lurks beyond Death. Ferin, a new character who ties in the story of the tribes of the North, is also faced with great dangers trying to reach the Clayr to deliver a message from a witch living in the north about the Witch with No Face. The strange happenings with Nick was quite chilling and I’m curious to know exactly what is going on with the two opposing magics and what it means for Nick in the future. And of course the pressing danger coming from the north.

It was nice to reconnect with old characters, with Lirael is growing into her role of Abhorsen-in-Waiting. There’s a lot she’s still getting used to, and like Sabriel in her first book I tended to forget that she’s still in her late teens/going into her early twenties so there’s still that youth to her. But I had to chuckle over Nick and Lirael’s interactions; they’re obviously bound together by early events in the other two novels, but there’s also something between them that they can’t quite figure out, which is cute and awkward all the same. In tandem with their story is that of Ferin, who had quite a bleak backstory but who’s strong in her own right in going through whatever it takes to deliver her message.

Like Clariel, I found it odd that there’s still a bit of strange repetitiveness going on in the narrative: I don’t need to be reminded every so often how much Lirael hates the soft gold glow of the hand Sam made her. Mentioning it once was enough. I can see why the Disreputable Dog’s loss is repeated time and again as it informs very much what Lirael’s personal situation is at the moment, but the repetitiveness is quite noticeable.

Otherwise Goldenhand is the start of an exciting new story arc set after the events of the first Abhorsen trilogy. A little chuffed perhaps that by the end of the book we’re nowhere closer to knowing exactly what the new enemy has planned or what exactly is going on that posing such a great danger to the Old Kingdom, but there was enough action and mystery to keep me interested throughout. I’m sure this book won’t disappoint readers who enjoyed the previous books in this series. I know I can’t wait to read whatever comes next for Lirael and Nick and the other characters :)