NerdyBirdie

Hey guys, I hope you’re all having a great day and this is my review to Sabriel by Garth Nix. This book is also the first in the Abhorsen Trilogy. :D

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 trilogy, 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.

I obviously enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to!

When I’d first heard of Sabriel I knew I had to read it immediately, but I never got the chance to until now. Now that I have read it, it is easy to say that I am more than happy that I’ve waited for this book—because for me this book was worth the wait.

Sabriel is a young eighteen-year-old girl who just wants to be normal (I think?). Until she finds out her father has gone missing and she needs to take his place as Abhorsen to make sure the dead stay that way. I thought that as a main character, Sabriel was really enjoyable to read about. I had no moments where I was annoyed with Sabriel at all. In fact, the thought didn’t even come to my mind.

The other characters were just as enjoyable! They were all fun to read about! :D Mogget. He’s my cat now: my talking, sarcastic, sassy cat. :D

The world itself was really interesting. Where you have one wall, and one is a more modern world, and the Old Kingdom, on the other side is more medieval. Although the author doesn’t go much into that, I’m pretty sure he will for Lireal. The way that these two “sides” of the world are connected is really interesting, and I’m hoping we’ll get to know more about on how that happened in the next few books.

Nix doesn’t info-dump. He manages to write in a way that lets you gradually know and understand the world. He really introduces parts of this world as an “actual journey” while Sabriel, Mogget, and Touchstone all go through it together. This was also very fast-paced. This book felt a lot shorter to men than it was. So I think that the world-building and the plot-pacing on that part was good for me. :D

Overall, Sabriel is an amazing fantasy about a young girl going on an adventure. The element of this book is mostly Fantasy, so don’t expect any hardcore romancing here. I thought the world-building and the characters were great. And Nix also writes just enough to have you anticipated for the next book!

I would recommend Sabriel to anyone who liked Fantasy. Specifically, if you want something lighter in Fantasy, because this book wasn’t really that dense. Also, there aren’t a lot of info-dumps here. I think that for people starting Fantasy or would like to read lighter Fantasy should try to check out Sabriel. I think that this book is really amazing!

Thanks for reading my review guys, and I hope you have a great day! Until the next one! :D