You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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:
No
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Could not get over the audiobook narrator being an older man when the story narrator was a teenage girl.
I’ve never been so satisfied with a book. No nonsense. Just good plot.
Before the internet, the way I found new books to read was very different, if more simple. I would go to the library (or, on the occasion I actually had spending money, the bookstore), pick every book up that looked even remotely interesting, and take it home. Then I would read it. I was in no way discerning about which books I would read. This method had its downsides, the biggest of which was that I frequently ended up reading books I didn’t care for all that much, but at that point in my life it didn’t seem to matter much. As long as I was reading, you know? Nowadays, my reading habits are a lot more targeted. I’m plugged into a lot of sources that feed me new (and old) book recommendations, and as a result, I end up liking most of the books I read. But there was something to be said for that smash and grab instinct I had back in middle and high school. Sure, there were more than a few stinkers, but once in a while I came across books I never would have found otherwise, but which I ended up absolutely loving, and they seemed all the more wonderful for, let’s be honest, being surrounded frequently by not so great books. (Seriously, I would read anything.)
All that is to say that smash and grab is exactly how I found Sabriel. It must have been at least fifteen years ago now, and pretty much everything about it scared me from the get go.
I guess we’d classify Sabriel (the first in the Abhorsen trilogy) as young adult fantasy, but at the time I first read it, it didn’t feel like it was written for young people. In fact, it felt very adult to me, with its focus on death in all its many forms, and Nix’s practical, no nonsense prose. The trilogy takes place in a world that is bifurcated by a magical no-man’s land, at the center of which is a magically fortified wall. Below the wall is Ancelstierre, a place not unlike our world in the early 20th century. Above the wall is the Old Kingdom, a place full of old magic, sorcerers and necromancers, lost kings and queens, and a magic system that is about to fail. Sabriel’s father is from the Old Kingdom, but he insists she be educated in Ancelstierre, in a girls boarding school not forty miles from the wall, where people live too close to deny that magic exists, and where a specially trained armed force full of magicians and non-magicians alike man the wall, lest something dead or magical make its way across. Sabriel’s life has been marked by death, from the very first page of the book when she is born and immediately follows her mother into death, only to be pulled back out again by her father.
Sabriel’s father is the Abhorsen, the one responsible for guarding the borders of life and death. It’s his job to keep dead things where they belong, and yes, occasionally bringing people back to life if they haven’t gone too far into death. The Abhorsen is a hereditary title, passed along Sabriel’s family through their blood, and it’s a mantle that Sabriel is forced to pick up all too soon when her father goes missing, and it becomes clear that something big is plotting its escape from death, and the future of all magic in the world may be at stake. With nothing but her father’s necromancer bells (each bell having a special power with which to compel the dead) and his magically embued sword, Sabriel has to make her way into the Old Kingdom and step into her deathly inheritance before she is ready for it.
The plot follows the typical quest storyline, but with Nix’s sensibilities, everything feels fresh. I read a lot of fantasy as a kid, and I read a lot of fantasy now, and I still have yet to find any other fantasy story that combines magic and realism so effectively. Everything in this story feels new and frightening, from Sabriel’s calling, to the talking cat Mogget, the magical flying creations they use to head north, and the companions she picks up along the way.
Re-reading this book for the first time in a looong time, I can see where it could be dinged for lack of characterization, especially compared with the second two books in the series, but as a kid it never bothered me, and knowing where the series ends up, it doesn’t really bother me now, either. I very much love the world Nix has created, and appreciate him writing a story for young people that doesn’t talk down to them. It’s for that reason that I think these books hold up so well–the themes they’re concerned with are not ones exclusive to a young audience. I can see myself revisiting them again in ten years, and enjoying them still.
If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend checking it out. But definitely stick around for books two and three, because that’s where the reeeeaaally good stuff comes in.
All that is to say that smash and grab is exactly how I found Sabriel. It must have been at least fifteen years ago now, and pretty much everything about it scared me from the get go.
I guess we’d classify Sabriel (the first in the Abhorsen trilogy) as young adult fantasy, but at the time I first read it, it didn’t feel like it was written for young people. In fact, it felt very adult to me, with its focus on death in all its many forms, and Nix’s practical, no nonsense prose. The trilogy takes place in a world that is bifurcated by a magical no-man’s land, at the center of which is a magically fortified wall. Below the wall is Ancelstierre, a place not unlike our world in the early 20th century. Above the wall is the Old Kingdom, a place full of old magic, sorcerers and necromancers, lost kings and queens, and a magic system that is about to fail. Sabriel’s father is from the Old Kingdom, but he insists she be educated in Ancelstierre, in a girls boarding school not forty miles from the wall, where people live too close to deny that magic exists, and where a specially trained armed force full of magicians and non-magicians alike man the wall, lest something dead or magical make its way across. Sabriel’s life has been marked by death, from the very first page of the book when she is born and immediately follows her mother into death, only to be pulled back out again by her father.
Sabriel’s father is the Abhorsen, the one responsible for guarding the borders of life and death. It’s his job to keep dead things where they belong, and yes, occasionally bringing people back to life if they haven’t gone too far into death. The Abhorsen is a hereditary title, passed along Sabriel’s family through their blood, and it’s a mantle that Sabriel is forced to pick up all too soon when her father goes missing, and it becomes clear that something big is plotting its escape from death, and the future of all magic in the world may be at stake. With nothing but her father’s necromancer bells (each bell having a special power with which to compel the dead) and his magically embued sword, Sabriel has to make her way into the Old Kingdom and step into her deathly inheritance before she is ready for it.
The plot follows the typical quest storyline, but with Nix’s sensibilities, everything feels fresh. I read a lot of fantasy as a kid, and I read a lot of fantasy now, and I still have yet to find any other fantasy story that combines magic and realism so effectively. Everything in this story feels new and frightening, from Sabriel’s calling, to the talking cat Mogget, the magical flying creations they use to head north, and the companions she picks up along the way.
Re-reading this book for the first time in a looong time, I can see where it could be dinged for lack of characterization, especially compared with the second two books in the series, but as a kid it never bothered me, and knowing where the series ends up, it doesn’t really bother me now, either. I very much love the world Nix has created, and appreciate him writing a story for young people that doesn’t talk down to them. It’s for that reason that I think these books hold up so well–the themes they’re concerned with are not ones exclusive to a young audience. I can see myself revisiting them again in ten years, and enjoying them still.
If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend checking it out. But definitely stick around for books two and three, because that’s where the reeeeaaally good stuff comes in.
After 5 years of being in my TBR pile I finally read this one! This book is over 20 years old but seems timeless. Definitely a trailblazer in the strong heroine ya fantasy genre.
Interesting enough to pick up book 2
- The story gets going perhaps too fast, like it's already book 3 in a series.
- there's not many moments of rest between crazy things happening
- the magic is cool and terrifying
- the ending is great and leaves me excited for more, but again, feels a bit rushed.
- The story gets going perhaps too fast, like it's already book 3 in a series.
- there's not many moments of rest between crazy things happening
- the magic is cool and terrifying
- the ending is great and leaves me excited for more, but again, feels a bit rushed.