Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr [Paperback]

Garth Nix (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty., Limited (2003)
• ISBN-10: 1741140412
• ISBN-13: 978-1741140415
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (266 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,344,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Garth Nix has worked as a bookseller, book sales representative, publicist, editor, marketing consultant and literary agent. He also spent five years as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. A full-time writer since 2001, more than five million copies of his books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into 38 languages. Garth's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly (US), The Bookseller(UK), The Australian and The Sunday Times (UK). He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Daughter" a worthy successor, September 13, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (The Abhorsen Trilogy) (Paperback)

Garth Nix changed the face of dark fantasy (usually just horror with a prettier cover) with his instant hit "Sabriel." It provided fans with a unique type of magic, a well-crafted alternate world, and talking animals that were anything but cute. Without missing a step, "Lirael" follows in "Sabriel"'s footsteps, with the same dark blend of humor and horror.

Lirael is a daughter of the Clayr, but she won't be a full Clayr until she gains the Sight. On her fourteenth birthday, she is the oldest girl to not yet have gained the Sight. After contemplating suicide, Lirael is assigned to work in the library, and inadvertantly sets loose a hideous Free Magic creature: a Stilken that will call other Free Magic creatures and destroy the Clayr. Desperate to deal with her mistake, Lirael calls up the Disreputable Dog (somehow made both of Free and Charter Magic) and soon ends up finding out more about her past -- and her future.

Elsewhere, Sabriel's son Sameth is pursued by the Dead, and is almost killed in the process; the only thing he gets for his trouble is a threat from a mysterious necromancer. Sam is supposed to be the future Abhorsen, but the problem is that he's petrified by the things his mother handles easily. And he's helped loose Free Magic on a world increasingly torn by a mysterious masked necromancer...

Nix takes the rich world he created in "Sabriel" and makes it even richer. It's a bit like a melding of typical high fantasy with an early twentieth-century setting (phones, buses, cricket matches, electricity, guns). Old faves like Sabriel, Touchstone, and Mogget appear here (although Mogget's appearance is a bit brief), along with new and equally likable characters.

Some readers may not like Lirael as well as they liked the more self-assured, kick-butt Sabriel, but Sabriel knew who she was, where she was coming from, and knew what she needed to know. Lirael is only learning those things, which makes her a more vulnerable, confused heroine. She becomes stronger and more self-assured as she learns more about Charter magery and her background.

"Lirael" has the same balance of humor and horror as the first book. We have things like the bodies of refugees being turned into decayed Dead Hands, the clawed insecto-human Stilken, or just the aura of darkness around the Book of the Dead. But we also have funny things like Nick or the running joke about the Dog and food.

The Disreputable Dog is a lot like Mogget, in that she's more than she seems and a handy source of info, but not as quietly menacing as Mogget was. And Sam is endearingly unsure of himself, and is one of the few fantasy characters to be genuinely terrified of his "duties," not just apprehensive. His sister was the one character who fell flat; she seemed a little too "bossy princess."

The biggest problem with "Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr" is that it ends on a "to be continued" note. So be sure to have the concluding novel, "Abhorsen," ready while you read this book. Dark, funny, creepy, and immensely well-written.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (1) Sabriel (2) Lirael (3) Abhorsen, April 14, 2001

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (Hardcover)

"Lirael" is neither the beginning nor the end (thank goodness) of this remarkable fantasy series by Garth Nix. If you haven't already read "Sabriel", you might want to put "Lirael" aside and begin at the beginning. The middle book could stand alone, especially the story of Lirael herself, but you will miss nuances of the Philosophy and Geography of Death if you don't start with "Sabriel". The only work I can compare this series to is Philip Pullman's "Golden Compass" trilogy, although I prefer Nix's magical world-building. If I ever die and go to fantasy heaven, I hope it resembles his 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.

One fault should be noted. The two main characters spend too much text feeling sorry for themselves. Lirael pursues an impossible dream, while Prince Sameth tries to escape from an impossible nightmare. I think the author's editor must have read "Sabriel" and said, "Garth, this is a great fantasy but your heroine, Sabriel is pretty darn self-sufficient. Readers can't relate to that. You need to make your characters more vulnerable." So that's exactly what Nix did in Volume Two. Vulnerability often shades over into self-pity in "Lirael"---too often for my liking. It's not enough of an annoyance to bypass this fantasy. Hopefully, in the yet-to-be-published "Abhorsen", Lirael and Prince Sameth will stop whining and take up the burden of defending the Old Kingdom. Lirael is already headed in that direction, along with her friend the Disreputable Dog.

Garth, I advise you to stop listening to your editor. You were pitch-perfect in "Sabriel". Retune 'Astarael, the Sorrowful' that "casts all who hear it deep into Death" and finish this marvelous trilogy the way you began it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Amazing. Couldn't put it down, October 18, 2001

By 

Tom (Portland, OR, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (Hardcover)

I just read Sabriel and couldn't believe how much I loved it. Then I discovered to my suprise that a sequel had been written. This sequel being Lirael. I have read this book and let me tell you, it's amazing.

This book reads like real life, Nix has created such a deep and believable world that you come to the illusion that the action is truly taking place. His characters are sooo believable and well developed.

If you enjoyed Sabriel there is absolutely no reason for you not to read this book. I personally enjoyed it just as much as its successor and I await non-patiently for the final book of the series "Abhorsen".

The way this book builds is amazing and I know that all will love it. Sit down and read it, but not if you are going to be having to leave the house any time within the next 2 hours because..you'll never put it down.