A quarter of a century after the series began, bestselling novelist Garth Nix returns to the Old Kingdom for the never-before-told love story of Sabriel’s parents, Terciel and Elinor, and the Charter and Free Magic that define their world. A long-awaited prequel to a classic fantasy series.
Nineteen-year-old Terciel is conflicted about his position in life. As Abhorsen-in-Waiting it is his duty to marry, have children, and guard the boundary between Life and Death. He is marked by the Charter magic and is desperate to escape it all. At the same time, eighteen-year-old Elinor is also marked by the Charter but is outcast by society because of it.
Terciel and Elinor is an adventure story, a love story, and an epic fantasy. It tells the story of Sabriel’s parents when they were young, and how they fell in love and hoped for a future together. It is also a return to the unending struggle between the Charter and Free Magic in the Old Kingdom and in Death, featuring terrible foes and uncertain friends on both sides of the Wall.