Entry 178: Clariel (Old Kingdom #4)

Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Fiction ; Young Adult ; Fantasy ; Adventure
Publication: October 14th 2014 by HarperCollins
Pages: 382
Format Read In: Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads (GOODREADS LINK)

Sixteen-year-old Clariel is not adjusting well to her new life in the city of Belisaere, the capital of the Old Kingdom. She misses roaming freely within the forests of Estwael, and she feels trapped within the stone city walls. And in Belisaere she is forced to follow the plans, plots and demands of everyone, from her parents to her maid, to the sinister Guildmaster Kilp. Clariel can see her freedom slipping away. It seems too that the city itself is descending into chaos, as the ancient rules binding Abhorsen, King and Clayr appear to be disintegrating.

With the discovery of a dangerous Free Magic creature loose in the city, Clariel is given the chance both to prove her worth and make her escape. But events spin rapidly out of control. Clariel finds herself more trapped than ever, until help comes from an unlikely source. But the help comes at a terrible cost. Clariel must question the motivations and secret hearts of everyone around her – and it is herself she must question most of all.

Trigger warnings: Child neglect, uncontrolled temper, violence, death of a parent, acephobia/arophobia language

My Review [SPOILERS FOR OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES]:

Entry 65: Goldenhand (Old Kingdom #5)

Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Fiction > Fantasy, Magic
Published/Publisher: October 4th 2016 by HarperCollins
Pages: 344
Format Read In: Ebook / Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads (GOODREADS LINK)

For everyone and everything there is a time to die.

Lirael is no longer a shy Second Assistant Librarian. She is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, with Dead creatures to battle and Free Magic entities to bind. She’s also a Remembrancer, wielder of the Dark Mirror. Lirael lost one of her hands in the binding of Orannis, but now she has a new hand, one of gilded steel and Charter Magic.

When Lirael finds Nicholas Sayre lying unconscious after being attacked by a hideous Free Magic creature, she uses her powers to save him. But Nicholas is deeply tainted with Free Magic. Fearing it will escape the Charter mark that seals it within his flesh and bones, Lirael seeks help for Nick at her childhood home, the Clayr’s Glacier.

But even as Lirael and Nick return to the Clayr, a young woman from the distant North braves the elements and many enemies in a desperate attempt to deliver a message to Lirael from her long-dead mother, Arielle. Ferin brings a dire warning about the Witch With No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning?

Once more a great danger threatens the Old Kingdom, and it must be forestalled not only in the living world but also in the cold, remorseless river of Death.

My Review

TW: Violence, gore

Entry 38: Abhorsen (Old Kingdom #3)

Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Fiction > Fantasy, Magic
Published/Publisher: January 7th 2003 by HarperTeen
Pages: 358
Format Read In: Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads (GOODREADS LINK)

The Ninth was strong and fought with might
But lone Orannis was put out of the light
Broken in two and buried under hill
Forever to lie there, wishing us ill.

So says the song. But Orannis, the Destroyer, is no longer buried under hill. It has been freed from its subterranean prison and now seeks to escape the silver hemispheres, the final barrier to the unleashing of its terrible powers.

Only Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, has any chance of stopping the Destroyer. She and her companions — Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget — have to take that chance. For the Destroyer is the enemy of all Life, and it must be stopped, though Lirael does not know how.

To make matters worse, Sam’s best friend, Nick, is helping the Destroyer, as are the necromancer Hedge and the Greater Dead Chlorr, and there has been no word from the Abhorsen Sabriel or King Touchstone.

Everything depends upon Lirael. A heavy, perhaps even impossible burden for a young woman who just days ago was merely a Second Assistant Librarian. With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her, and the rather mixed help of her companions, Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the Destroyer.

Before it is too late. . . .

My Review

Entry 24: Lirael (Old Kingdom #2)

Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Fiction > Fantasy, Magic
Published/Publisher: 2003 by Eos (first published April 21st 2001)
Pages: 705
Format Read In: Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads

WHO IS LIRAEL?

Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Now, two years past the time when she should have received the Sight that is the Clayr’s birthright, she feels alone, abandoned, unsure of who she is. Nevertheless, the fate of the Old Kingdom lies in her hands. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, Lirael must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil.

In this sequel to SABRIEL, winner of the Aurealis Award for Excellence in Australian Science Fiction, Garth Nix weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger.

My Review

TW: suicidal thoughts, mistreatment of refugees

Entry 23: Sabriel (Old Kingdom #1)

Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Fiction > Fantasy, Magic
Published/Publisher: September 30th 1996 by Harper Collins
Pages: 491
Format Read In: Audiobook

Summary from Goodreads

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 series, 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.

My Review