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adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
yummy delicious magic system, lovely coming of age/overcoming grief story, unnecessary and forced romance </3
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A re-read that I got a hankering for and which I really enjoyed.
Tim Curry is an amazing narrator and I love the Abhorsen books so much more because he's narrating them.
I love the worlds Garth Nix creates and I love the themes of inheritance and duty that infuse his works. I always get excited when he writes something new!
Tim Curry is an amazing narrator and I love the Abhorsen books so much more because he's narrating them.
I love the worlds Garth Nix creates and I love the themes of inheritance and duty that infuse his works. I always get excited when he writes something new!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great concepts and executions.
Love the descriptions of death as a place, process, and identifiable pattern that can be interrupted. Loved the rules that were set, the consistency, the cleverness within the rules, and so on. This book didn't get incredibly creative with the magic system, but everything it did made proper sense in a fantastic sort of way, and I loved that. Really inspiring.
Cons- Lotta moments where the main character 'remembered' that she knew how to handle a certain task or 'luckily, had already packed' for something and so on. Not my favorite narrative strategy as I feel it's too easy to get a character out of a bind "And then she remembered the glyphs for getting out of a bind-" and strikes me as somewhat lazy writing, but due to the age range for the book, I suppose it's fine.
All in all, loved the worldbuilding, lukewarm on plot progression and character agency (much of the book the main character felt like she was on rails), and adored the magic/death system. Really cool. Also enjoyed the concept of a title being passed down over time.
Strong recommend for fantasy readers interested in a cool, somewhat edgy somewhat contemporary story!
Love the descriptions of death as a place, process, and identifiable pattern that can be interrupted. Loved the rules that were set, the consistency, the cleverness within the rules, and so on. This book didn't get incredibly creative with the magic system, but everything it did made proper sense in a fantastic sort of way, and I loved that. Really inspiring.
Cons- Lotta moments where the main character 'remembered' that she knew how to handle a certain task or 'luckily, had already packed' for something and so on. Not my favorite narrative strategy as I feel it's too easy to get a character out of a bind "And then she remembered the glyphs for getting out of a bind-" and strikes me as somewhat lazy writing, but due to the age range for the book, I suppose it's fine.
All in all, loved the worldbuilding, lukewarm on plot progression and character agency (much of the book the main character felt like she was on rails), and adored the magic/death system. Really cool. Also enjoyed the concept of a title being passed down over time.
Strong recommend for fantasy readers interested in a cool, somewhat edgy somewhat contemporary story!
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
If I had read this when I was a teenager when the book was first published I can see how it absolutely would have become a favourite book that informed my reading taste into the future. Reading it for the first time now, in my 40s, it just feels childish. It’s not poorly written or anything, just very obviously meant for a younger age. As a more mature reader I more interested in booker with a lot of world building and a lot more texture and prose. Definitely a great book for a younger reader or someone just trying to dip their toe into fantasy.