Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Buy new:
$8.89$8.89
FREE delivery: Tuesday, April 23 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Camalion Enterprises
Buy used: $7.99
Other Sellers on Amazon
FREE Shipping
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Sabriel (Old Kingdom, 1) Mass Market Paperback – August 11, 1997
Purchase options and add-ons
Game of Thrones fans will love the New York Times bestselling Abhorsen series. Sabriel, the first installment in the trilogy, launched critically acclaimed author Garth Nix onto the fantasy scene as a rising star.
Dark Secrets, Deep Love, and Dangerous Magic
Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him. She soon finds companions in Mogget, a cat whose aloof manner barely conceals its malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories.
As the three travel deep into the Old Kingdom, threats mount on all sides. And every step brings them closer to a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own destiny.
“Sabriel is a winner, a fantasy that reads like realism. Here is a world with the same solidity and four-dimensional authority as our own, created with invention, clarity and intelligence.” —Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials trilogy
- Print length496 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperTeen
- Publication dateAugust 11, 1997
- Grade level8 - 12
- Reading age13 - 17 years
- Dimensions4.5 x 1.25 x 7 inches
- ISBN-100064471837
- ISBN-13978-0064471831
- Lexile measure1000L
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more
Frequently bought together

Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Fear and realization of ignorance were strong medicines against stupid pride.Highlighted by 721 Kindle readers
“‘Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?’”Highlighted by 615 Kindle readers
“The Clayr saw me, the Wallmaker made me, the King quenched me, Abhorsen wields me.”Highlighted by 447 Kindle readers
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
Since childhood, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who refuse to stay dead. But now her father, the Mage Abhorson, is missing, and Sabriel must cross into that world to find him. With Mogget, whose feline form hides a powerful, perhaps malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage, Sabriel travels deep into the Old Kingdom. There she confronts an evil that threatens much more than her life'and comes face to face with her own hidden destiny. . . Garth Nix's first young adult novel, Sabriel was recently nominated for the Aurealis Award for Excellence in Science Fiction in Australia.
About the Author
Garth Nix is a New York Times bestselling novelist and has been a full-time writer since 2001 but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve.
Garth’s many books include the Old Kingdom fantasy series, beginning with Sabriel and continuing to Goldenhand; the sci-fi novels Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes; the Regency romance with magic Newt’s Emerald; and novels for children including The Ragwitch, the Seventh Tower series, the Keys to the Kingdom series, and Frogkisser!, which is now in development as a feature film with Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios. Garth has written numerous short stories, some of which are collected in Across the Wall and To Hold the Bridge. He has also cowritten several children’s book series with Sean Williams, including TroubleTwisters and Have Sword, Will Travel.
More than six million copies of his books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into forty-two languages.
Two-time Caldecott-winning illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon have illustrated over 25 books for children, and have received many honors, including two Coretta Scott King Awards and the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. They live in Brooklyn, NY.
Product details
- Publisher : HarperTeen; Reprint edition (August 11, 1997)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 496 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0064471837
- ISBN-13 : 978-0064471831
- Reading age : 13 - 17 years
- Lexile measure : 1000L
- Grade level : 8 - 12
- Item Weight : 8.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.5 x 1.25 x 7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #901,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,387 in Teen & Young Adult Fantasy Action & Adventure
- #2,645 in Teen & Young Adult Epic Fantasy
- #21,749 in Epic Fantasy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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 40 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
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
So to put in a nutshell, Sabriel is set in a fantasy land where there are two neighboring countries. One is the land of Ancelstierre which is kind of the "new world" of the two; it's got engines, electricity, and other cultural aspects similar to the 20th century. To the north is the Old Kingdom and is separated from Ancelstierre by a heavily guarded border called The Wall. The Old Kingdom is a land where magic can be used and extremely dangerous dead spirits exist. These dead spirits are corpses that have been reanimated called Dead Hands and also powerful supernatural beings known as Free Magic. These dead beings are raised by "Necromancers" who can travel into the gates of death and create Dead Hands to do their bidding. The Abhorsen are a bloodline of Necromancers that fight against this by laying these beings back into death by using magical bells that each have their own unique power.
It took me almost half the book bit until I fully understood the concept of the magic used in this fantasy land. The magic is referred to as Charter Magic and derives its powers through a network of magic channeled from "The Charter." The Charter are a group of powerful objects that were created thousands of years ago; it consists of the Great Charter Stones, The Wall (the one that separates Ancelstierre from the Old Kingdom), and three bloodlines. These bloodlines are the royal family, the Abhorsen, and the Clayr (a large sisterhood of blondies that can see the future). The Charter is meant to maintain order on magic from reigning freeling. Charter Mages or members of these magical bloodlines cast Charter spells by summoning symbols called Charter Marks, and combining the different marks to achieve their desired affect.
So Sabriel, our heroine in this novel, is attending school in Ancelstierre at the beginning of the novel. Her father Terciel, who resides in the Old Kingdom, is the current Abhorsen of their time. While at school, Sabriel receives an alarming message from her father in which he sends her his weapons which includes a sword and bells. Sabriel believes her father has been overcome by an incredibly powerful evil entity so immediately leaves for the Old Kingdom to rescue her father. When Sabriel reaches her father's house on a cliff, she finds a creature named Mogget. Mogget is a Free Magic construct who has been bound into a form of a white cat by a red Charter collar which forces him to serve the Abhorsen. Mogget joins Sabriel on her journey to the Old Kingdom to find her father and tells her that she is the new Abhorsen, though she refuses to believe it. The two are eventually joined by another companion who calls himself Touchstone. Sabriel and Mogget find Touchstone in an ancient burial ground where he was magically imprisoned as a ship's figurehead for the last 200 years. Touchstones history is a mystery to Sabriel at first but acts like nothing but her loyal servant. The three of them continue on a journey to find Sabriel's father and discover the greater evil at work.
The novel was plush full of innovative magic, creepy dark monsters, wonderful characters, and lots of adventurous trials. The one thing that made this book was Sabriel's incredible bravery and heart. A lot of high fantasy series don't feature female leads, and the female characters that do make an appearance typically aren't very endearing. I think writers should take take a lesson or two from Mr. Nix on how to get into a girl's pysche. She's not written like a uber-tough superwoman or like an over emotional, unreasonable damsel. Instead she's written like an actual human being. She's got real emotions, uses logic, is fearful yet brave, and just down to earth. Mogget was definitely a favorite of mine in the book. He's is very much that smartass, talking cat character and we're never quite sure about him because of the dangerous, blood thirsty Free Magic that resides in him.
I love how this book is still labeled a YA book but doesn't dumb itself down for the sake of the audience. It's got a nice, sweet romantic story within it between our heroine and Touchstone. A lot of popular YA novel are written purely for romance, but I like it better when the romance works with the story's plotline. Overall, the book is incredibly innovative and exciting. It had everything I was looking for in a post-Potter remedy. An original fantasy world, unique magic, young likeable protagonists, great characters, lovely relationships, and an exciting plot. My only complaint was it ended too fast. Ever since I got my Kindle, I can't really tell the length of books anymore but I felt like plowed through Sabriel too quickly, but that may just be because I couldn't put it down.
The protagonist, Sabriel, hails from a place called the Old Kingdom but has grown up and been educated in a boarding school across a Wall demarcating the Old Kingdom from a place that sounds a lot like the England of right around WWI (electric lights and telephones were available, and tanks had just been invented). This is very much a coming-of-age story, even though Sabriel has just finished her schooling (and so might be considered an adult). She has lived a fairly sheltered life at the school but is suddenly put into a position where she must venture out into the (to her) unknown Old Kingdom.
As such, Sabriel is a good proxy for the reader for exploring the Old Kingdom. She knows a little, but has been protected from much more. She realizes quickly how little about the Old Kingdom, or even about magic, she knows, and that makes her sympathetic (however, it seems with the appropriate amount of help, she can easily overcome her limitations). She has a couple of companions on her quest -- a cat who is not what he seems, and a young man who goes by the name of Touchstone. You do learn a bit more about each of them, as well, as the story goes on.
I felt like Sabriel's story followed a common pattern -- a young person is forced into undertaking a quest she's not really ready for, and yet she's the only person who can complete it. She rebels against it, but it's her destiny. (In Sabriel's case, rebellion largely involves refusing to be called by a title that is rightfully hers, and also in defining the quest as a mission to save her father when really something else is going on, too.)
My favorite part in this book was the journey. There is a lot of traveling and exploration. Normally I hate such things, but they were done really well here, and the surroundings changed in a way that constantly presented new challenges, which is something most authors don't get right. (I feel that Mr. Nix DID get it right, though.) This was a sort of world where I was interested in learning about the environment and history, and I thought it was nicely woven in to the overarching story. This also speaks to worldbuilding, of course, which I thought was quite good.
I don't have much to say about the writing. For me, anyway, it slid into the background and did its job of telling the story without being obnoxious. There were no repeated tics or verbal crutches that jumped out at me.
Magic was interesting and well-developed. There seemed to be three sorts. Charter Magic is basically the good (orderly?) stuff and can be used for protection, healing, etc. Necromancy can be good or bad, depending on who is wielding it and to what purpose (e.g., raising an army of the Dead or sending the Dead back into Death where they belong), and Necromancy can be constrained by Charter Magic. Free Magic is wild and perhaps unpredictable but can be harnessed. There are also some people who can see the future, but that may be an ability conferred by Charter Magic.
A few things didn't work for me, but they weren't dealbreakers. There is a romance that was predictable from a mile off and, in my mind, not set up as much as it should have been. Also, and I'm still not sure how I feel about this, but the final confrontation was odd. It was more of a series of tasks/confrontations. One takes place in Death and was over too quickly for my liking. The feeling of fear was never really all that palpable for me as few to no obstacles were encountered. The next confrontation follows immediately on its heels and I did feel there was a little more at stake, but it is also over quickly. The third confrontation was the biggest, and even in itself consisted of two incidents at separate sites. There were casualties, but I was never really in doubt that certain parties would survive. I did think the final resolution was clever and nicely set up based on events earlier in the book.
Overall, I was invested enough in the characters to see the book through (and quickly, I might add). I loved the world building and the journey and all the little details like the various bells used in Necromancy. I thought the magic system was great and I think there is a lot of potential for the future books that are set in this world.
Top reviews from other countries
"Sabriel" is my favourite book in the trilogy, by just a hair. I think it's the character of Sabriel herself which pips "Abhorsen" to the post. She is a believable character, superbly brought to life by Nix's words, and following her journey takes the reader on a voyage of discovery right alongside our young heroine. It's always great to see a well-written, strong female lead - which isn't to say that Sabriel is some kind of perfect, angelic hero who does all that is asked of her with no complaints. She, like the other characters in the series, is realistic - makes mistakes, gets tired, gets cranky, asks "why me"...? Yet at the end of the day, a hero she absolutely is.
I always love it when authors try something "new" in terms of the "magic" element of a fantasy novel, and I found the Charter & the bells of necromancy a wonderful creation. I was fascinated with the bells and their names/functions from the first moment we are introduced to them, and this sense of wonder only grew as I progressed through the series. Although Garth Nix himself will say he got the idea from the significance of bells in many cultures, I do feel he's done something really different, and I found how all the different elements (Free Magic & the Charter) come together as part of the plot to be fascinating.
I am really looking forward to introducing my children to Garth Nix's work when they are older - and "Sabriel" will be first on my list of books to share with them. I was delighted to find the series now available on Kindle, and downloaded it without hesitation - despite still owning the paperbacks! If you're looking for something new to read, then stop reading this review, and go download the book. I promise you won't regret it.












