Sabriel by Garth Nix

Sabriel (Old Kingdom, #1)

by Garth Nix

Breathtaking novel, the first of a trilogy, from a brilliant newcomer to the Collins fiction list.

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.

Reviewed by ladygrey on

4 of 5 stars

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[b:Sabriel|518848|Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1)|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1293655399s/518848.jpg|3312237] is mostly very well told fantasy. I really enjoy the world that [a:Garth Nix|8347|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207583754p2/8347.jpg] created, his sense of magic with Charter marks and death. I like that it's dark and dangerous because he makes it real without making it overtly ugly. I like the complexity of the interplay between the five Charters and actually wish there was more of it.

Compared to [b:Lirael|47624|Lirael Daughter of the Clayr (Abhorsen, #2)|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266458951s/47624.jpg|2067752] and [b:Abhorsen|334643|Abhorsen (Abhorsen, #3)|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266527332s/334643.jpg|2339177] the pacing and unfolding the story is much better in [b:Sabriel|518848|Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1)|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1293655399s/518848.jpg|3312237]. Most of all, I liked that this story is contained within one volume, though I didn't like the ending much at all. There was resolution for everything he introduced, but no aftermath. I need a some settling of all the pieces. Especially since I knew some of them from having read [b:Lirael|47624|Lirael Daughter of the Clayr (Abhorsen, #2)|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266458951s/47624.jpg|2067752], but I wanted to see them from this side of time, the beginning of things unfolding and corruptions in the Charter mending. I liked all of the characters and the way they were introduced and developed, except for the one character that didn't have sufficient resolution doesn't show up in [b:Lirael|47624|Lirael Daughter of the Clayr (Abhorsen, #2)|Garth Nix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266458951s/47624.jpg|2067752] - I needed just a little bit more.

Overall, that's the best compliment that I can give this story, I want more. I want more books in this world; more development of the characters and new characters. I want more adventures and new stories.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 2 July, 2011: Finished reading
  • 2 July, 2011: Reviewed