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By Garth Nix
Publication Date: 1995 (Harper Collins)
Hardcover, 292 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Adventure; YA
Source: Library
DESCRIPTION:
Ever since she was a tiny child, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that world.
Though her journey begins alone, she soon fined companions: Mogget, whose seemingly harmless feline form hides a powerful—and perhaps malevolent—spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories.
With threats on all sides and only each other to trust, the three must ravel deep into the Old Kingdom, toward a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own hidden destiny.
A tale of dark secrets, deep love, and dangerous magic, Sabriel introduces Garth Nix as an exceptional new talent.
—from the book's dust jacket
REVEIW:
First of all, let's talk about the book cover: Is that a girl or boy on the cover? Take a moment to look at it.
Odds are you're thinking about his man-hands. However, the truth in the matter is, that that man is a wo-man. Yeah...
Anyway, I don't buy books often. Okay: I try not to buy books often. Sometimes I buy books when I don't really have any money because (not necessarily in the order of reasons I'm most passionate about) 1) I love supporting the work of great authors; 2) I love the smell, the feel, and the look of a new book; and 3) I love sharing great books by lending them to friends.
Odds are you're thinking about his man-hands. However, the truth in the matter is, that that man is a wo-man. Yeah...
Anyway, I don't buy books often. Okay: I try not to buy books often. Sometimes I buy books when I don't really have any money because (not necessarily in the order of reasons I'm most passionate about) 1) I love supporting the work of great authors; 2) I love the smell, the feel, and the look of a new book; and 3) I love sharing great books by lending them to friends.
Sabriel, the first book in the Abhorsen Series (it was originally a trilogy, but that idea is no more. There are currently four books in the series), by Australian author Garth Nix, is a book I will without-a-doubt purchase.
Sabriel isn't about Sabriel, the 18-year-old female protagonist, journeying into the afterlife to save her dead father from, well, death, by bring him back to, well, life. I thought it might be. Not really though. Sabriel only goes into Death a handful or two handfuls of times in the book. Most of the time is spent in this raw, broken country called the "Old Kingdom," as Sabriel and her companions are chased by the Dead (what we would call "zombies") and an unspeakable evil that is trying to manifest itself again in the world of the living.
Sabriel was a pretty flat character. I liked Mogget, the "cat," and his smugness. Touchstone made me laugh, even though I don't think some of the parts he was highlighted in, such as his crazy-rage parts, were meant to be humorous. Still, I found Touchstone pretty unremarkable.
The world-building in Sabriel is fantastic and the ideas in it are unlike anything I've ever read.
Sabriel's world is made up of two completely different places: Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. Think of Ancelstierre as similar to our own world, with perhaps a pinch of World War Two England in it: electricity, modern-ish weaponry, boarding schools. Then Ancelstierre is like some rouge, war-torn country, with Free, lawless magic. Ancelstierre and Old Kingdom are right next to each other, the only thing separating them from one another is a wall and a second-rate army on the Ancelstierre side. Cool world, right? Taking gated communities to a whole new level.
More on the world: there's Gore Crows, which are basically zombie crows; Mordicants, beasts made of human blood, moulded bog mud, and magic freakin' blasts out of their mouths and drips from their claws (aka: awesome); and Mordaut, which are parasitic zombies. Of course there's more, but those are my favorites.
Sabriel isn't about Sabriel, the 18-year-old female protagonist, journeying into the afterlife to save her dead father from, well, death, by bring him back to, well, life. I thought it might be. Not really though. Sabriel only goes into Death a handful or two handfuls of times in the book. Most of the time is spent in this raw, broken country called the "Old Kingdom," as Sabriel and her companions are chased by the Dead (what we would call "zombies") and an unspeakable evil that is trying to manifest itself again in the world of the living.
Sabriel was a pretty flat character. I liked Mogget, the "cat," and his smugness. Touchstone made me laugh, even though I don't think some of the parts he was highlighted in, such as his crazy-rage parts, were meant to be humorous. Still, I found Touchstone pretty unremarkable.
The world-building in Sabriel is fantastic and the ideas in it are unlike anything I've ever read.
Sabriel's world is made up of two completely different places: Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. Think of Ancelstierre as similar to our own world, with perhaps a pinch of World War Two England in it: electricity, modern-ish weaponry, boarding schools. Then Ancelstierre is like some rouge, war-torn country, with Free, lawless magic. Ancelstierre and Old Kingdom are right next to each other, the only thing separating them from one another is a wall and a second-rate army on the Ancelstierre side. Cool world, right? Taking gated communities to a whole new level.
More on the world: there's Gore Crows, which are basically zombie crows; Mordicants, beasts made of human blood, moulded bog mud, and magic freakin' blasts out of their mouths and drips from their claws (aka: awesome); and Mordaut, which are parasitic zombies. Of course there's more, but those are my favorites.
RATING:
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