Book Review: Sabriel by Garth Nix

The Old Kingdom #1

Published by: Allen & Unwin
Pages: 311
Rating: 5/5

For many years Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Charter-Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that world.

Though her journey begins alone, she soon finds companions: Mogget, whose seemingly harmless feline form hides a powerful—and perhaps malevolent—spirit, and Touchstone, a Charter-Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories.

With threats on all sides and only each other to trust, the three of them must travel deep into the Old Kingdom, toward a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own hidden destiny.

I've lost track of how many times I have read this book. I loved it the first time I read it and I loved it this time. There is just something about the world Nix created that keeps drawing me back into it.

Sabriel is a wonderful piece of world building. From the technolgy using, magic-free Ancelstierre to the magic-wielding mages of the Old Kingdom, Nix thought through every part of his creation. What I did really enjoy is his take on magic. The charter system is quite interesting and is not something I have seen before. In particular, the distiction between the Abhorsen and other necromancers, and charcter magic and free magic was well done, as was the idea that magic could become corrupted.

Nix did a great job with the characters, allowing them to develop throughout their journey. Sabriel in particular starts off very young and naive but as the plot contuniues she grows into someone that is determined and brave. Yeah, she makes some silly mistakes that make you wonder what she was thinking but in the end she knows what she has to do and is willing to do what it takes to do it.

Touchstone is the love interest. He's kinda boring to begin with, although it is not without reason but he like Sabriel is willing to do what it takes to fix things. What I like about him is that he isn't the typical love interst that is saturating the YA world. He's not drop dead gorgeous, he's more ashamed of his past rather than tortured by it, he doesn't try to hide it and best of all there's no insta-love. In fact he barley talks to Sabriel when they first meet. He develops gradually and by the end of the book you can see the person he used to be and the person he's going to be in the future. And it's this growth in character that slowly makes Sabriel fall for him.

The two main characters aside, the secondary characters are well fleshed out and feel real. Mogget would have to be my favourite character out of all of them, he's just plain awesome.

Sabriel is a well written, entertaining read and I highly recommend it.

Now to re-read Lirael and Abhorsen  to get ready for the release of Clariel next year.

I'll leave you with one of the most poignant quotes from this book, it has stuck with me ever since I first read it.

"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" p41