Sabriel: The Old Kingdom 2

Sabriel is classic fantasy book hands down! Garth Nix is a genius. On of my top fantasy books ever. Deserves way more attention then some overrated homophobic books.

While the story in itself is quite interesting the world Nix creates isn't as interesting as some other fantasy world's. The characters aren't well developed and you don't feel too connected to them yet. Maybe book 2?

Very interesting read. It has a well defined system of magic and characters. Definitely reading the rest of the series.

Wish I'd read this when I was young, would probably have loved it. Reading it now, there's nothing to it.

I am a bit unsure about this book. I think the target audience would be teenagers. The story was interesting and the main character was easy to like. The pace was decent and I plunged into the story ignorant of most things just like the main character, so there was a lot of incentive to keep reading to find out what happens next and for more information to be revealed.However I found the world of the old kingdom to be very bleak and what scant bit of information that was revealed didn't do much to make the world very likeable or relatable. I just couldn't get into it and really care about the fate of such a world where virtually nothing is known about its history, people and magic. Everything is dark and harsh, dead things coming to life is the only thing we know that is happening. I suppose this is what a "dark fantasy" is supposed to be like but somehow it didn't really attract me.Also I found myself skimming over a lot of paragraphs in the action scenes as I wasn't really sucked into the narrative - perhaps because I couldn't really connect much to the characters. They're not bad but just no so well fleshed out. And what happened to Horyce in the end - no idea.I don't know.. overall I guess my impressions were stark grey bleak with very little colour vividity saturation. It was an ok read - not sure if I will pick up the next book in the series.

Good read

I was recommended this book as I enjoy a good fantasy series. This one did not disappoint. Edge of your seat fantasy from start to finish. Good characters and excellent world building concepts. Magic, sorcerers, creatures, good, evil, and an incredible world separated by a magic and imposing wall. Some good elements of mystery thrown in as well. And a talking cat! Very good indeed. I’m on the next book in the series now.

This was a gift for someone thanks

A rollicking good yarn: A wonderful fantasy story, up there with other greats, such as the wizard of earthsea trilogy by Ursula Le Guin and Astrid Lindgren's; Ronia the Robbers daughter and Brothers Lionheart. I stumbled across this gem of a story by accident and I'm so glad I did. His writing style is totally unpretentious, the action rolls along at incredible pace, never a dull moment. I would certainly recommend this book to a teen who has not yet found a love of books and needs a gripping story to ignite the reading flame.

About four years ago, I came across Sabriel when I researching speculative fiction series that may heal my post-Potter depression. While doing Google searches, since I hadn't discovered Goodreads yet, The Abhorsen Trilogy would frequently pop up as a top recommendation. Since reading Sabriel, which I soon followed with Lireal and Abhorsen, it's been one of the few series I've kept in my top tier YA fantasy/scifi category.So to put in a nutshell, Sabriel is set in a fantasy land where there are two neighboring countries. One is the land of Ancelstierre which is kind of the "new world" of the two; it's got engines, electricity, and other cultural aspects similar to the 20th century. To the north is the Old Kingdom and is separated from Ancelstierre by a heavily guarded border called The Wall. The Old Kingdom is a land where magic can be used and extremely dangerous dead spirits exist. These dead spirits are corpses that have been reanimated called Dead Hands and also powerful supernatural beings known as Free Magic. These dead beings are raised by "Necromancers" who can travel into the gates of death and create Dead Hands to do their bidding. The Abhorsen are a bloodline of Necromancers that fight against this by laying these beings back into death by using magical bells that each have their own unique power.It took me almost half the book bit until I fully understood the concept of the magic used in this fantasy land. The magic is referred to as Charter Magic and derives its powers through a network of magic channeled from "The Charter." The Charter are a group of powerful objects that were created thousands of years ago; it consists of the Great Charter Stones, The Wall (the one that separates Ancelstierre from the Old Kingdom), and three bloodlines. These bloodlines are the royal family, the Abhorsen, and the Clayr (a large sisterhood of blondies that can see the future). The Charter is meant to maintain order on magic from reigning freeling. Charter Mages or members of these magical bloodlines cast Charter spells by summoning symbols called Charter Marks, and combining the different marks to achieve their desired affect.So Sabriel, our heroine in this novel, is attending school in Ancelstierre at the beginning of the novel. Her father Terciel, who resides in the Old Kingdom, is the current Abhorsen of their time. While at school, Sabriel receives an alarming message from her father in which he sends her his weapons which includes a sword and bells. Sabriel believes her father has been overcome by an incredibly powerful evil entity so immediately leaves for the Old Kingdom to rescue her father. When Sabriel reaches her father's house on a cliff, she finds a creature named Mogget. Mogget is a Free Magic construct who has been bound into a form of a white cat by a red Charter collar which forces him to serve the Abhorsen. Mogget joins Sabriel on her journey to the Old Kingdom to find her father and tells her that she is the new Abhorsen, though she refuses to believe it. The two are eventually joined by another companion who calls himself Touchstone. Sabriel and Mogget find Touchstone in an ancient burial ground where he was magically imprisoned as a ship's figurehead for the last 200 years. Touchstones history is a mystery to Sabriel at first but acts like nothing but her loyal servant. The three of them continue on a journey to find Sabriel's father and discover the greater evil at work.The novel was plush full of innovative magic, creepy dark monsters, wonderful characters, and lots of adventurous trials. The one thing that made this book was Sabriel's incredible bravery and heart. A lot of high fantasy series don't feature female leads, and the female characters that do make an appearance typically aren't very endearing. I think writers should take take a lesson or two from Mr. Nix on how to get into a girl's pysche. She's not written like a uber-tough superwoman or like an over emotional, unreasonable damsel. Instead she's written like an actual human being. She's got real emotions, uses logic, is fearful yet brave, and just down to earth. Mogget was definitely a favorite of mine in the book. He's is very much that smartass, talking cat character and we're never quite sure about him because of the dangerous, blood thirsty Free Magic that resides in him.I love how this book is still labeled a YA book but doesn't dumb itself down for the sake of the audience. It's got a nice, sweet romantic story within it between our heroine and Touchstone. A lot of popular YA novel are written purely for romance, but I like it better when the romance works with the story's plotline. Overall, the book is incredibly innovative and exciting. It had everything I was looking for in a post-Potter remedy. An original fantasy world, unique magic, young likeable protagonists, great characters, lovely relationships, and an exciting plot. My only complaint was it ended too fast. Ever since I got my Kindle, I can't really tell the length of books anymore but I felt like plowed through Sabriel too quickly, but that may just be because I couldn't put it down.

When I first read this book I was roughly 12 years old and was immediately sucked in by the story. Over 10 years later I still remembered the story quite clearly and greatly enjoyed reading it again! As a child I looked up to the main character Sabriel and I still like her now. There are some parallels to the Game of Thrones series, although this book lacks the "shades of grey" in the characterization of its protagonists (the good and bad guys are clearly spelled out.)