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A review by thegoblinempress
Sabriel by Garth Nix
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?
Without wanting to sound too dramatic, Sabriel made me the reader and writer I am now. I first read this book when I was around 13/14 and instantly fell in love with this world and this magic system and these characters, and while I went on to adore Lirael and Abhorsen as well there's always going to be something particularly special about Sabriel for me.
It has such a classic fantasy adventure feel to it, yet I can still remember how groundbreaking it felt as a young teen to read a heroine like Sabriel whose main strengths are her brain and her determination, yet she's also a fundamentally warm character at heart when it would have been so easy to make her cold. She reads like an ordinary girl in an extraordinary circumstance, and while so much about her isn't ordinary she still felt like such a refreshing change from all the princesses I was encountering in other fantasy media. (Don't get me wrong, I continue to love princesses, but I was desperate for some variety.)
Sabriel and her father spend so little of the book together yet you absolutely believe how much Sabriel loves and respects him, and how much he dotes on her in the ways that he's able to. Touchstone remains such a lovely young man, and is probably responsible for my continued love of himbos in fantasy. And then there's Mogget, who remains one of my favourite animal(?) companions in all of literature. I'm absolutely delighted one of my friends blessed me with the knowledge that the audiobook for this one is narrated by Tim Curry--his Mogget voice did not disappoint.
It's impossible for me to review this book properly at this point in my life because it means so much to me that it's beyond reviewing, but I remain so grateful that Garth Nix wrote this story. I wouldn't be who I am without Sabriel.
Without wanting to sound too dramatic, Sabriel made me the reader and writer I am now. I first read this book when I was around 13/14 and instantly fell in love with this world and this magic system and these characters, and while I went on to adore Lirael and Abhorsen as well there's always going to be something particularly special about Sabriel for me.
It has such a classic fantasy adventure feel to it, yet I can still remember how groundbreaking it felt as a young teen to read a heroine like Sabriel whose main strengths are her brain and her determination, yet she's also a fundamentally warm character at heart when it would have been so easy to make her cold. She reads like an ordinary girl in an extraordinary circumstance, and while so much about her isn't ordinary she still felt like such a refreshing change from all the princesses I was encountering in other fantasy media. (Don't get me wrong, I continue to love princesses, but I was desperate for some variety.)
Sabriel and her father spend so little of the book together yet you absolutely believe how much Sabriel loves and respects him, and how much he dotes on her in the ways that he's able to. Touchstone remains such a lovely young man, and is probably responsible for my continued love of himbos in fantasy. And then there's Mogget, who remains one of my favourite animal(?) companions in all of literature. I'm absolutely delighted one of my friends blessed me with the knowledge that the audiobook for this one is narrated by Tim Curry--his Mogget voice did not disappoint.
It's impossible for me to review this book properly at this point in my life because it means so much to me that it's beyond reviewing, but I remain so grateful that Garth Nix wrote this story. I wouldn't be who I am without Sabriel.