Times Read: 3+
Excerpt: "Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.
With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether."
My Rambles: I love this series when I picked it up in high school and still love it now as I am revisiting (especially since a new installment was released last year). This go around I actually listened to it and it's narrorated by Tim Curry who does amazing (but I'm also biased towards him, I love his voice). I love how beautiful Nix portrays the abhorsens way of dealing with the dead. It's one of the few instances I can think of where death magic and necromancy aren't inherently bad. I remember when I was a young writer and I would use the names of the bells for characters because of how pretty I found them. I admit I do find Nix's writing style to be a bit dry though.
OK so actual story. I don't like how fast Touch stone "falls in love" with Sabriel. I feel it's very much a trauma bond mixed with nightingale syndrome. I don't like the villain's monologe of why they do the bad, but it would be nice to have more insight as to why Kerigor so easily killed his family. Aside from the...binding(?) I want to know more about Moget as well, how and why he ended up as he is. Even though I write urban fantasy and promote the blending of majik and tech (I haven't fully yet but it's my preference) I still enjoy how tech doesn't work around majik in this case. Down to if the wind blows in from the old kingdom, it's great.
Recommend: 10/10