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samjung's review against another edition
4.0
This book was heavily driven by its world, and not its characters so sometimes it was hard to get into. However, having said this, I did enjoying reading it. The whole view of death that was demonstrated in this book will not leave my mind and I know I will continue to ponder it in the months to come. Overall, an original, thought provoking read.
madeleinen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
LOVED THIS!! A simple story, but with compelling characters and an utterly fantastic setting. Definitely a soft magic system, so if that's not to your taste I get it. BUT! If you love quests, mystery, great side characters, and one of the best female main characters I've read (in line with Katsa Graceling or Jude The Cruel Prince), please read this as soon as possible.
kmkasiner's review against another edition
3.0
I feel bad, because I know a lot of people who absolutely love this series, but it wasn't my kind of book. The worldbuilding was cool, but we didn't get enough of a look at the emotional lives of the characters. The middle portion where they were traveling also seemed unbearably slow. I might still read the rest of the trilogy, since I heard it gets better, but Sabriel didn't win me over yet.
krichardson's review against another edition
4.0
Easily the best part of this book is the very very cool magic system! The action scenes fell a little flat for me though, I think I've been spoiled by too many Brandon Sanderson books...
rainbowbrarian's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.5
thoranareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
justjenna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
iceeckos12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
impishideas's review against another edition
3.0
Sabriel is a book I read when I was twelve, and came back to recently to reevaluate. I remember it did me a lot of good at the time, because fantasy with female main characters, who aren't treated differently to the men, get injured in a non-fetishistic way (she even gets hit in the face multiple times and the author does not focus on her worrying about being 'ugly' or something weird like that), and aren't helpless once their love interest shows up, were kind of a rarity at the time (and now, honestly, with the way YA tends to get written around its male love interests). At least it wasn't another power fantasy, for either/any combination of genders, and that I will take.
It's very standard fantasy besides the above. Largely plot-driven rather than character-driven, vague goals leading the MCs on a road trip style adventure, in this case, a rescue mission, while pursued by an uncomplicatedly evil and vaguely queercoded villain character. Tries to be larger scope than it has time for, kind of bloated, with flat characters and relatively strong focus on non-person setting details. Sucks off some prelapsarian ideal status quo under birthright monarchy like every fantasy story in 1995. If you're an adult that reads fantasy, this will all seem extremely tedious and humdrum to you, but if it were your first fantasy book, would likely be totally acceptable. The mechanics of necromancy, music, etc are interesting, as is the realm of Death, but the magic system is one of those Harry Potter-esque 'it has spells that do what the plot needs and has no coherent mechanics' kind of systems.
What makes it stand out, like most boilerplate genre fantasy from this period, are its gimmicks. 1940s 'Jolly England' modern tech-based society to the south. Death. Necromancer protagonist. Mogget the eldritch cat-abomination being a snarky and murderous but overall helpful character aligned with the heroes. Sailing terminology. It's really basic, but that's all it needed at the time to be cool to its target demographic of young teens. That just doesn't hold up too well to an older audience, twenty five years after publication.
Also pls can we bury the 'psychic twins' act that's everywhere in books from this era? It keeps trying to crawl out of its grave like Kerrigor D:
It's very standard fantasy besides the above. Largely plot-driven rather than character-driven, vague goals leading the MCs on a road trip style adventure, in this case, a rescue mission, while pursued by an uncomplicatedly evil and vaguely queercoded villain character. Tries to be larger scope than it has time for, kind of bloated, with flat characters and relatively strong focus on non-person setting details. Sucks off some prelapsarian ideal status quo under birthright monarchy like every fantasy story in 1995. If you're an adult that reads fantasy, this will all seem extremely tedious and humdrum to you, but if it were your first fantasy book, would likely be totally acceptable. The mechanics of necromancy, music, etc are interesting, as is the realm of Death, but the magic system is one of those Harry Potter-esque 'it has spells that do what the plot needs and has no coherent mechanics' kind of systems.
What makes it stand out, like most boilerplate genre fantasy from this period, are its gimmicks. 1940s 'Jolly England' modern tech-based society to the south. Death. Necromancer protagonist. Mogget the eldritch cat-abomination being a snarky and murderous but overall helpful character aligned with the heroes. Sailing terminology. It's really basic, but that's all it needed at the time to be cool to its target demographic of young teens. That just doesn't hold up too well to an older audience, twenty five years after publication.
Also pls can we bury the 'psychic twins' act that's everywhere in books from this era? It keeps trying to crawl out of its grave like Kerrigor D: