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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Into Death, October 17, 2005
Garth Nix delves into the dark heart of high fantasy in the Abhorsen Trilogy, three interconnected fantasies about a family of necromancers who lay the dead -- and forces of evil -- to rest. Humour, detailed writing and deep characters, along with a richly-realize world, make this a classic-in-the-making.
"Sabriel" is the story of a teenage girl living happily at a girl's school, while her necromancer father (the Abhorsen) roams around putting the dead to rest. All that changes when a sending brings her father's sword and bells, meaning that he is dead or incapacitated. So Sabriel takes on her father's duties, accompanied by a Free Magic cat and a mysterious young prince, and battles the specter of a horrible evil creature that is reaching out from death to snare her.
"Lirael" takes us to the cold citadel of the Clayr, a race of seers. Young Lirael is depressed because she doesn't have the gift of Sight yet, even though everybody else her age does. But things take a sinister turn when she sets a horrifying, bloodthirsty creature loose, and must work -- with the help of the mysterious Disreputable Dog -- to get rid of it. But what Lirael doesn't know is that the outside world is in danger too, from a sinister new enemy.
"Abhorsen" brings the series to an explosive conclusion. Lirael and her nephew Sameth -- along with "cat" Mogget and the Disreputable Dog -- are in danger from the Dead. What's more, the Destroyer Orannis has escaped from his prison and is being assisted by an evil necromancer and the Dead called Chlorr -- and an unfortunate pal of Sameth's. Now Lirael must call on her destiny as the future Abhorsen, and kill the Destroyer.
Garth Nix had only written a couple of books, one of which was an "X-Files" novelization, when the first Abhorsen book burst onto the fantasy scene. Now he's one of the most respected, prolific and well-liked fantasy writers in years, with his single books in print and two hit series for younger readers. But despite his newer works, his tales of the Old Kingdom are still his best.
The Abhorsen Trilogy is a perfect example of dark fantasy, with its grotesque dead zombies that occasionally lurch out to attack the heroes, magical bells, and shadowy beasties that can (sometimes) be restrained. It takes the trappings of high fantasy and lets us see them through a mirror darkly. Not to mention the brilliant concept of the Abhorsen necromancers, who have power over dead and/or magical creatures, and bind them with Charter marks and bells.
Virtually all of Nix's characters are likable -- especially the gutsy Sabriel and nervous teenage Sameth -- and the acid-tongued animals and black humor add a wry spin to the fantastical stories. It takes a bit longer to warm up to Lirael, since she spends several chapters in the same-named book feeling sorry for herself, but once she gets moving she's unstoppable -- and very likable.
Garth Nix gave high fantasy a dark twist in the Abhorsen Trilogy. Full of magic, darkness, death and beauty, this is a classic in the making.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Death is a river, January 30, 2006
For those of you who feel that dragons, unicorns, and bards are a bit overdone nowadays, this fantasy trilogy offers up a heroine who binds the dead with a bandolier of bells. The Geography of Death is lovingly delineated, from the prologue where Sabriel is born and dies and is rescued from the First Gate of Death by her father, to the third book in the trilogy, where the new Abhorsen braves Death in the form of a river, a waterfall, pools of black water, strange currents that suck the spirit from the flesh.
Sabriel herself is an English schoolgirl, recently graduated from Wyverley Academy with a "first in English, equal first in Music, third in Mathematics, seventh in Science, second in Fighting Arts and fourth in Etiquette. She had also been a runaway first in Magic..." A visitation from the Dead sends Sabriel on a quest through the magical Old Kingdom, in order to reunite her father's body with his spirit which is trapped within the Fourth Gate of Death. She has to do battle with a really nasty necromancer-Adept, and rescue a prince who is a bit of a figurehead at first but who finally develops into a memorable character in his own right.
Sabriel is both helped and hindered by a very non-cuddly cat named Mogget.
"Lirael" is the middle book this remarkable fantasy series. If I ever die and go to fantasy heaven, I hope it resembles Nix's immense library beneath glacier and mountain, where each door opens into a separate mystery. In the catacombs beneath the library, Lirael discovers how to turn herself into an ice otter or a barking owl, reads "The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting", and duels with the monstrous Stilken.
However, "Lirael" isn't just about Lirael. Prince Sameth, heir apparent to Sabriel as the Old Kingdom's champion against evil necromancers, also comes of age in this volume. There are plenty of evil necromancers to go around. In fact, at the end of this book, it appears as though they are winning the war to turn the Old Kingdom into a kingdom of the dead.
"Abhorsen" is a direct continuation of "Lirael," with the ex-assistant librarian and her companion, Prince Sameth carrying on the battle against Hedge and the evil he is digging up at Red Lake. Although Prince Sameth was meant to be the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, heir to the powers of 'The Book of the Dead' and the seven bells, Lirael now takes up that role, and Sam seeks his destiny as a descendant of the mysterious Wallmakers, who built the barrier between the magical Old Kingdom and the mundane kingdom of Ancelstierre. The two will need all of the magic they can conjure up against an enemy that threatens not only the Charter, but all living beings.
The swirl and cross-currents of life gradually ebb as the dead pass through gate after gate on Garth Nix's nameless river--a river like Styx or Lethe that runs through each of our subconscious underworlds as a legacy of our water-bound gestation. It is an eerie experience to remember that journey of birth--only this time in the wake of the dead--in this marvelous fantasy trilogy.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indescribable., December 8, 2006
Words cannot express my love for this trilogy. I first discovered "Sabriel" when I was 12 years old and browsing a small corner of my school's library dedicated to "teen" books. Sabriel stood out to me in a way that no other book has - or probably ever will - and I soon devoured it with a passion. Soon after, Garth Nix released the novel's two sequels ("Lirael" and "Abhorsen") and to this day I consider the Abhorsen trilogy to be my favorite fantasy series (this coming from someone who loves Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings as well).
The main character of two of the three novels is Lirael, a young woman who is somewhat of an outcast among Clayr society (women who can see the future). Lirael has never been gifted with the Sight, and in a way is shunned from the society she lives in. To make matters worse, her mother abandoned Lirael when she was just five years old, and her Aunt Kirrith - the only family Lirael has left - pays little attention to her. However, Lirael has a gift that the Clayr do not: instead of looking into the future, Lirael is a Remembrancer, someone who can see the past. In Lirael and Abhorsen, Lirael must learn to accept her gift, because she is the only one who can discover how to stop Orranis, the Destroyer. With her friends Prince Sameth, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget, Lirael journeys to stop Orranis before it is too late.
Of course, Sabriel (the main character of the first novel who also has a minor role in the other two) cannot be overlooked. She is more accepting of her destiny than Lirael is, and is also one of the strongest female heroines that I have ever read. She is certainly someone that young readers (such as my 12-year-old self) can look up to. Her story is completely different from "Lirael" and "Abhorsen" (Abhorsen is a direct sequel to Lirael, whereas Lirael is merely a continuance of the world Nix created), and I almost wish Nix had included more of her in the sequels.
Like the Harry Potter series, Garth Nix's stories have that "coming of age" feel to them, and like Harry Potter, they are written in such a way that any person - young or old - can read, enjoy, and connect with the age-old themes present in the series. If that doesn't win you over, I should probably add that Garth Nix is one of the funniest writers I have stumbled upon. The one regret I have about this series is that it is not popular enough; very few people know of the wonders of the Old Kingdom trilogy.
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