Sabriel was born of the Old Kingdom, a world of magic and mystery, where even time moves differently than in the southern, magicless land of
Ancelstierre. In the Kingdom, keeping spirits of the dead in their proper resting place requires powerful Charter Magic and a skilled necromancer.
Her father, known only as Abhorsen, is such a man, dedicated to returning the Dead to their rest rather than raising dark spirits - but other
necromancers are less scrupulous, unleashing untold darkness in their quest for power.
Sent to Ancelstierre for schooling when she was very young, Sabriel retains only dim memories of the Old Kingdom. Trained in the Charter Magic she
was born with by the mages of Wyverly College and in the necromantic arts by her father, she is nevertheless caught off-guard when Abhorsen sends
her a desperate message and burden from deep in the realms of Death. Bearing her father's sword and magical binding-bells, her incomplete magical
training, and a burning need to know what happened to her father (and if he can still be freed from Death), Sabriel sets out on a dangerous quest
into the Old Kingdom.
Review
This book started moving in the first chapter, and didn't let up significantly until it ended. Sabriel is a strong heroine with a good heart but
her own flaws and shortcomings. Nix did a great job establishing the rules of necromancy and Charter Magic, and creating the lands of Ancelstierre
and the Old Kingdom. If anything, the story moved too fast, the characters acting on knowledge and information peculiar to the universe but of
which the reader isn't always aware (i.e. history, breeds of the Dead, magic laws, etc.) Still, I did enjoy Sabriel, and can't think of any
real flaws in it, so it gets top marks from me.
More than ten thousand years ago, the great Architect who created the Universe out of Nothing built a grand House, where the records of all
things in Her worlds would be kept, and two Keys to Her grand Kingdom. When She left, She left behind a Will, a living document that would
enforce Her wishes in Her absence... but seven traitorous Trustees instead tore the Will to pieces, imprisoning what they could not destroy as
they took control of the Keys and the House. After ten thousand years, a fragment of the Will managed to escape. It will stop at nothing to free
its fellow fragments and set the woefully out-of-kilter House back in line with its original purpose.
Arthur Penhaligon was supposed to die on Monday, victim of a fatal asthma attack during gym class at his new school. Instead, something very
peculiar occurs. A bizarre pair of beings - more than men, less than gods - appear and hand him a strange object which looks oddly like the
minute hand of a clock... but only until he dies and they can take it back. Unfortunately, neither of them counted on the Lesser Key healing
Arthur, granting him access to the great House. The Will wanted a mortal to have the Key, but the Trustees, starting with the lowermost Mister
Monday and his agents, will do everything in their power to thwart the Will and keep the Key for themselves. Now, pursued by strange monsters
that could destroy his world, Arthur finds himself trapped in realms beyond mortal comprehension, unwilling heir to a dangerous destiny and
enemy of beings nearly as old as Time itself.
Review
I've read other books by Garth Nix and found them enjoyable, so I thought I'd give this series a try. Perhaps it's a personal prejudice, but
I can't stand stories that try to encompass the Whole of Creation and the History of Everything in one book, using impossibly surreal metaphors
to boot. In such situations, both problems and solutions often materialize seemingly from thin air. I liked parts of it - the characters were
fairly interesting and the plot moved forward at a fair clip - but the whole surreal arrangement of the House and its inhabitants got a bit old.
(It also gave me occasional flashbacks to James Stoddard's The High House, one of my all-time least-favorite books.) If I find the
second book at a steep discount, I might give it a try; it's possible this book was a victim of being the first in a series, wherein everything
has to be set up for later stories. Otherwise, I can think of other, better series to spend my time and money following.
Young Tal lives in a world of perpetual darkness. A barrier called the Veil has blocked sunlight over the land since long before he was
born. Tal lives in the seven-towered Castle as one of the Chosen, the privileged few who works the magic of the light-providing Sunstones
and its counterpart, the shadowy creatures of the spirit-world Aenir. Even his own shadow is no natural thing, but a shadowguard, a being
from Aenir bound to serve him until he can master a more powerful replacement. But there is more to Tal's privileged world than meets the
eye... a dark conspiracy walking the Castle halls, which is about to swallow Tal whole.
When his father goes missing on a mission for the Empress, Tal's life is turned upside down. Powerful enemies scheme to strip his family of
their small influence and cast them into the masses of Underfolk servants. Even with the help of his disgraced Great Uncle Ebbitt, master of
magicks which should be beyond him, Tal cannot even gain a Primary Sunstone to complete a coming-of-age ritual that may also help heal his
dying mother. In a last, desperate attempt to steal a Sunstone, Tal tumbles from the highest towers above the Veil. He is saved by his
shadowguard, but finds himself in a place not he nor any of his kin have ever been: the harsh, cold world beyond the Castle's walls. If he
is to ever return home, he will have to learn things the Castle's nobility would just as soon never have known... and deal with those who
would just as soon see his kind cast to the beasts of the ice-bound seas.
Review
The only reason I clipped a point from this was because I felt it ended a trifle awkwardly. Well, that, plus it took a while of thinking
to determine that I actually liked it. I prefer more immediate gratification in my reading. Otherwise, it is a wonderfully imaginative story,
set in an original world. Some of the scenes described evoked beautiful mental images. If Tal isn't always the brightest bulb, well, he's not
the first young hero who has a lot of growing up to do. I look forward to reading more of Tal's ongoing adventures.
The Shield Maidens have found Milla, Icecarl of the Far Raiders Clan, and Tal, Chosen of the Castle, on their way back to the boy's home. Their
mission, to return Tal to the castle and secure a Primary Sunstone for the Far Raiders, is growing more complex by leaps and bounds, for the Mother
Crone of the Shield Maidens will only let them pass if they agree to return greater knowledge of the Castlefolk for the people of the Ice. Once
inside the Castle, the two grudging allies face many dangers and darknesses, not the least being the powerful enemies to Tal's own family, in a
conspiracy that seems to reach to the Empress herself. To Milla, facing the unknown dangers of the Castle and the Chosen's feared Shadow magic is
all part of her own great quest to become a Shield Maiden. To Tal, who only wanted a Primary Sunstone for himself and now yearns simply to see his
ailing mother again, it seems yet another impossible task on top of countless others... but he is not the same boy he was when he first fell from
the Red Tower, and what was unthinkable such a short time ago seems a whole different thing now.
Review
Just as refreshingly different as the first book, suffering only from being in the middle of a series and thus having rather abrupt endings and
beginnings. Milla and Tal both do some growing up here, and if Tal occasionally felt like deadweight... well, he's led a softer life than Milla, so
he has a bit of an excuse. In any event, more intriguing mind's-eye candy and plenty of action keep the story moving.
Tal of the Chosen and Milla of the Icecarls are in the Castle at last, but their journey is far from over. Both of their quests take
them on an unauthorized journey to Aenir, the spirit world, from which the Chosen draw their Shadowspirit companions. Milla's people
consider shadow magic the highest and vilest of black arts, but she must accompany Tal if her own goals are to be met. As for Tal, he is
still seeking answers to his father's disappearance and brother's abduction, answers that can only be provided by the long-lost Codex of
the Castle. It is hidden in the shifting realm of Aenir... if they can find it.
Review
Another action-filled installment in Milla and Tal's adventures. Aenir is a sufficiently bizarre otherworld to complement the strange
light-and-shadow realm of the Castle and the ice seas. Since this isn't the final installment, I'm assuming that this will be another six-book
series. (I have no idea why they break down like that, but that's how it seems to go.)
Tal and Milla have survived the dangers of Aenir, and learned some very interesting - not to mention disturbing - truths from the residents of
that land. Tal has also secured a powerful Shadowguard, but at a great price: Milla, Icecarl and sworn enemy of the shadows of Aenir, was forcibly
bonded to a Shadowguard as well, the mate of Tal's own, who would not be left behind in the magical realm. Now that they are back in the Castle,
their troubles are only getting worse. Tal is coming to understand just how powerful his enemies are, and how close his world is to total
destruction. Milla, on the other hand, sees a future only so far as the end of her duties. To be bound to a shadowspirit ends her dreams of
becoming a Shield Maiden, and she is honor-bound to condemn herself to the ice lest her clan bear the shame.
Neither has much time to indulge their own worries. The guards, under the corrupt leader Sushin, are closing in on them and the Codex, and even
Milla's bravery, Tal's growing power, and Great Uncle Ebbitt's resourcefulness may not be enough to save them.
Review
More adventure in this strangely beautiful yet sinister world of shadows and Sunstones. Things are really cranking up to a fever pitch for
the next book... which, at long last, has finally appeared! Hooray!
Tal and Milla have parted ways, and despite the tenuous bonds of respect formed during their journeys together, they seem destined to
face each other as enemies once more. Tal's journey leads him to Aenir to join his fellow Chosen in the otherland. Once there, he intends
to seek out the Empress and alert her to the danger of the free-roaming shadows in the Castle, and the treacherous creature that is the
Dark Vizier Sushin. He also has hopes of freeing his father and curing his ailing mother, not to mention reuniting his scattered
family.
Milla has returned to the Icecarls, but is refused the solitary death on the ice that she initially sought for her failures. Instead, she
is now War-Chief to her people, under the rein of the mystical Crones. Wielding an ancient weapon out of legend, she is charged with
leading the assault on the Castle to destroy the free shadows and the Chosen, who have been corrupted by their reliance on Light
Magic.
Review
I was thrilled when I saw this book and the next on the shelves of Barnes & Noble. After Book 4, I worried that the series had been put
to a premature death by Scholastic. In reading it, it holds up well to the others, even considering how long it's been since I read them.
Plenty of action and nice imagery.
The battle for the Castle of the Chosen is well underway. While the Shield Maidens of the Icecarls surge up from the lower reaches of the
immense structure, Milla and a select few around her have joined up with the remaining Freefolk, those Underfolk of the Castle who refuse to
be slaves to the Chosen. Meanwhile, Tal has returned to the Dark World from Aenir after witnessing the terrible weakness of the Empress and
narrowly escaping Sushin's minions. It seems that it has fallen to him to stop the free shadows from destroying the Veil and unleashing the
horrors of Aenir upon his world. Both he and Milla are destined to face the creature that calls itself Sushin in a great battle for the future
of Icecarl and Castlefolk alike, in the imperial Violet Tower.
Review
A worthy ending to a fast-paced and imaginative fantasy series. I would've liked it even more had it not been so long since I read Books 1 through
4. For the most part, things wrap up decently for the characters and situation. If the conclusion leaves things open for a sequel... well, I
suppose Nix was keeping his options open. All in all, the series had a great concept and plenty of thrills.
Odo the miller's son never wanted to be a knight, while apothecary's daughter Eleanor dreams of nothing else. When they found the sword in the
creek that used to be a river by their village, he was wary but she was overjoyed - all the moreso when the blade leaps to life and speaks to
them! The blood of a true knight has woken it from its long slumber, the sword Biter declares... only it wasn't Eleanor's blood, but Odo's. Their
protests fall on deaf ears; it insists that not only is "Sir" Odo a knight and Eleanor a squire, but that they go upon a proper quest, as a proper
knight should, and Biter won't leave them alone until they comply. Eleanor suggests that maybe they should find out why the river's running dry;
without it, after all, their village will be doomed, and saving innocent villagers surely ranks high on a knight's to-do list. (And surely, they
both think, along the way the sword will realize what a mistake it's made.) They set out thinking to find a simple rockfall or other obstruction,
maybe a day or two upstream. They never dreamed they'd encounter mysterious travelers, inhuman Earthkin, bandits, and even the greatest dragon who
ever lived - or that their own lives would ever be in so much danger.
Review
Another audiobook to make work somewhat more tolerable, this turned out to be an enjoyable adventure, one where everyone has something to learn
- even a partially amnesiac sword. Odo never asked to become a knight, but realizes that maybe he has more to offer the world than hauling sacks of
flour around his mother's mill. Eleanor dreamed of following her late mother's footsteps and becoming a brave knight, but never understood just what
that entails, not only in terms of hard work and practice but shedding blood in the name of the greater good. Even the sword Biter has to adjust its
expectations, in addition to dealing with a disturbing gap in its memories around how it got into the river outside a small village to begin with.
While mistakes are made and sometimes impulses and emotions get the better of everyone, nobody is excessively or glaringly stupid, and they all
learn and grow in their travels, which take them quite far from their village and who they used to be indeed. It's a fun tale with danger and humor
and solid characters and plenty of adventure.
