Sonderbooks Book Review of Abhorsen

Reviewed February 18, 2004.
HarperCollins, New York, 2003. 358 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF NIX).
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2004, #10, Fantasy for Young Adults

I did check out this book the day after I read Lirael, the book that came before it. My teenage son didn’t like Lirael and Abhorsen as well as Sabriel, but I think that was because he read them when they first came out and had to wait months after he read Lirael to finish the story in Abhorsen.

I don’t dare tell much about the storyline in Abhorsen, because I might give away important things in Lirael. (Don’t even read the jacket flap of Abhorsen before you have finished Lirael, because it does give away something important.) Anyone who reads Lirael will be compelled to continue the story.

Let me simply say that Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr, and Sameth, son of Sabriel, must work together to save the Old Kingdom, and all humanity, from great and terrible danger.

Like Sabriel, and Lirael, the books that went before it, Abhorsen is magnificently well-written and incredibly absorbing. This fantasy tale isn’t at all typical, but it is full of magic and adventure.

Reviews of other books by Garth Nix:
Sabriel
Lirael
Across the Wall
Clariel
Goldenhand
Terciel & Elinor
A Confusion of Princes
Newt's Emerald
To Hold the Bridge
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath
Frogkisser!

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

******Abhorsen*

by Garth Nix