Reviews

Across the Wall by Garth Nix

Only show reviews with written explanations

kberry513's review against another edition

5.0

I almost gave this a 4 star rating because it wasn't all Old Kingdom stories, but rather a mixture of short stories of various worlds.

One of my favorites is the Three Roses, the story of a gardener who lost his wife and planted a rose to remember her by, which has bloomed the exact black of her hair; the king comes and takes it and it lasts only a short time at the palace, so he goes back and the gardener has a rose the color of his dead wife's eyes, etc. etc. The last time the palace jardinier comes to get a rose, he asks the gardener why he allows the king to take the flowers and if he's afraid he'll forget his wife, but the gardener responds that he sees her everywhere and will always have her with him, but since the king has never known such love and has no memories of it, he grows the flowers for him.

I also liked knowing what happened to Nick post Abhorsen and it sounds like it leads right into the new book that comes out next month.

The Hansel and Gretel retelling was awesome; I could have read a whole book about that.

Charlie Rabbit, which was about two little boys and a stuffed rabbit needing to get to safety during an airstrike, was heart wrenching, as was Hope Chest - I want to know what happened to Alice May Susan Hopkins after she liberated her home by killing a bunch of people. That plus Margaletta's ruthlessness in From the Lighthouse was very demonstrative of Nix's penchant for "dark justice" type endings in his works. I also liked his satiric take on fantasy series, My New Really Epic Fantasy Series

authoraugust's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Short story collections are always hit and miss for me, because of how much variety is in them. In Nix's case, that works well in his favor - I loved his novels, and I liked seeing the scraps of the other worlds he might have made. I wasn't thrilled with the titular novella, but the most of the other stories were very effective (especially Three Roses). An enjoyable collection. (Thanks, Anna!)

steph01924's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Framing this book as one in the Abhorsen series is a bit misleading since it mostly features other short stories written by Garth Nix. Read my review on Forever Young Adult to see if it's worth your time.

nimeneth's review against another edition

Go to review page

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

The first story is about the only one I liked. The rest are well-written, but very dark and weird, even in comparison to the Abhorsen series. The first is the only Old Kingdom story and the rest are miscellaneous settings.

Content Warnings

alyshadeshae's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

My full review is here on my personal website. I'll post a few excerpts here, though:

5.0 out of 5.0 stars

The very worst thing about this book is that Garth Nix dares to tell us that he doesn’t want to hear if our favorite story is “The Coin Shower.” What was he thinking?!

The very best thing about this book is the variety of stories. They aren’t all Old Kingdom tales, and the one that is wasn’t my favorite – I’m not big on mysteries. My favorites were probably “The Hill” and “Heart’s Desire.” “Lightning Bringer” was interesting, if not a little disturbing and kind of out of place, I think. They’re all great, though! Even “The Coin Shower” in it’s eight-word glory. :-D