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adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Context: I was told this is the Garth Nix book to start with.
Maybe Mr Nix has a more mature book I should have read instead? This wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t really fantastic either.
The world building was okay, more detail would have been nice. Some explanation of how two nations so different could be so close together. I would have thought the citizens of Ancelstierre would be totally confused by it all. Characters are mainly stock high fantasy.
There were a lot of things that I felt could have been explained a little better. Why did the woman die in child birth? Why did the Abhosen arrive to late? Why did Sabriel feel so strongly about a nation she had so little contact with or a father she barely knew? What exactly is going on with Moggot? Why is Rogir’s problem? What happened to the Traveler’s?
And then what ever it is that’s going on with Sabriel and Touchstone feels forced. Like when do they figure out they have anything but battling the Dead creatures in common?
I didn’t care enough about anybody to read the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Blood, Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, War
Graphic death of mother sin child birth, absentee parenting.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
I tried. But I just could not finish it. One day I will give it a second chance, because I really wanted to like it. Nevertheless, it may take time and a whole lot of convincing on someone's part to make me get through it.
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
This was an enjoyable high fantasy tale. Considering all the dead, creepy creatures in the book, I was worried that it could have been a book that scared me, but luckily it did not. It didn't feel like it had a lot of depth, but it had great pacing and it was definitely an adventure.
I had a harder time than usual getting through this book. It would have and then lose my interest so I decided to power through it via audio books and even still sometimes my mind would wander terribly because it just wasn't that interesting. The idea for the world itself was fantastic however, so getting to sort of feel out the world was worth the boring parts in my opinion.
slow-paced
I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately, and this book was perfectly satisfying. Very gripping, suspenseful, and I loved all the characters and magic.