Reviews - Clariel | The StoryGraph

1.19k reviews for:

Clariel

Garth Nix

3.78 AVERAGE

katiesalvi's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

skeleton_ashleigh's review against another edition

4.5

fast-paced

I don't know if this got such a high rating because it's that good of a book or because I just love this series. Could be both. A quick, delightful, and fun book.

holliejs95's review

3.5

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

applegnreads's review against another edition

3.0

I can't decide what I think...
Did I know this was going to be a prequel?
Clariel is not particularly likeable but it's not really her fault either. None of the other characters are likeable either. Too human?
A little repetitive... yes, Clariel likes the forest, we get it already.
Still, it's back with Abhorsen which is still my favorite Nix writing and everything holds well together with that. It's at least a four star except for the problems above.

katieinca's review against another edition

2.0

There were things to love here, but there were more things that frustrated me. It was incredibly slow to get moving - I wondered whether this was an intentional move to make me share Clariel's feeling of chafing at with being stuck in the city, but I don't think so, and if it was it wasn't worth the payoff. Then 75-100 pages (based on my ~400 page ARC) that were very vivid and flew right off the page. Then an inexorable march to the finish, which felt to me like Nix at some point fell in love with the tag line "a passion thwarted will often go astray" and dreamed up a forced plot to illustrate it.
I eagerly await Margaret explaining to me what I'm missing or why I'm being too harsh. And I'm still looking forward to the fifth book, because I like Lirael more than Clariel. But this book depended on dramatic irony to an extent that strained my credulity.

Spoiler

I mean seriously, someone can give her a book - twice - that teaches her how to control the rage and she has time to read and study it, but no one can hand her a simple pamphlet "The History and Purpose of the Charter vis a vis Free Magic"? Or give her the 2 minute Wikipedia version? And she doesn't bother checking the library when she's been given plenty of reason to be skeptical/curious? I could buy some influence by Aziminil, but plenty of Clariel's poor judgment - like when she tries to ditch Az & Bel and head north - are clearly her own. I spent a lot of the 24 hours after finishing the book wanting to scold most of its characters and/or its author, so, yeah, "I liked it" seems like it would be overly generous.

pinkystardust's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

madame_medusa's review against another edition

5.0

So far, this has been my favourite of the "Abhorsen" series to read. There was something refreshing about Clariel as a character and once I realised where her plot line was going ... I transformed into a stunned goldfish on my train ride to work.
It was also great to spend time in the Old Kingdom and understand more of Nix's world-building. I really appreciated every little detail, especially coming in from previous novels set in the future after Clariel's story.

I just, I just really loved Clariel. I loved the silly lessons at the academy, I loved the strained relationships with her family. I even loved the Free Magic creatures...

It may sound strange but it was one of those books that when you read a line, you were suddenly inspired to get back into working on your own book. I know that doesn't sound like the ultimate compliment that it actually is--but it is.