Good book, just all dead people and things running around... I don't know, it is a little too much. Other books too. I am not fascinated by dead things becoming or being alive in stories, so ... disappointing. ( )

This is book is marketed to the YA crowd but I found it to be just as good as a really good adult fantasy novel. In fact, I thought this story was wonderfully inventive and exciting. It's one I'd like to re-read some day. ( )

I've just re-read this again and I still love it - somewhat a coming of age novel, somewhat sword and sorcery in a unique and well crafted world, I highly recommend this. ( )

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

The first thing that hit me when I finished reading this book was that I should have read it much sooner. I'd been meaning to read it for the past six or seven years but never quite getting around to it--and that was a mistake. In SABRIEL, Garth Nix introduces the reader to a compelling fantasy world that comes alive through the actions of the title character and others.

The Old Kingdom is a place of magic, both Charter magic, wielded by those with some connection to the ancient Charter that bound magic to benevolent purposes, and Free Magic, the creatures that escaped the binding and defy the Charter. Free Magic is also used by necromancers desiring to defy the Charter by animating dead bodies. Only one person, the Abhorsen, combines use of Charter and Free Magic for the purpose of returning dead spirits to their final rest and dead bodies to their graves. As the Abhorsen's daughter, and herself Abhorsen-in-Waiting, Sabriel must learn how to use the Abhorsen's tools to venture into Death and bind destructive spirits so they cannot cause harm to others.

However, things in the Old Kingdom are becoming more and more dangerous by the minute, and as a result Sabriel grows up in Ancelstierre, the Old Kingdom's southern neighbor, close enough to the border that she is able to learn and practice Charter Magic, but far enough removed that she is ignorant of the customs and traditions of her home country. The story begins when eighteen-year-old Sabriel, about to finish preparatory school in Ancelstierre, receives a messenger from her father, carrying the bells and sword of the Abhorsen, a signal that he is in danger and requires her help. Sabriel must cross over into the Old Kingdom, a place she knows little about, and somehow find a way to save her father from whatever fate has befallen him before his spirit is pulled too far into Death. Along the way, she meets a fickle magical spirit in the form of a talking cat named Mogget, the traditional helpmeet of a long line of Abhorsens, and a former Royal Guard called Touchstone who has been frozen in the form of a ship's figurehead for the past two hundred years. Together, Sabriel, Mogget, and Touchstone journey through the Old Kingdom as they learn more about the necromancer who has tried to kill Sabriel's father and who will wreak destruction upon the land on both sides of the border if they cannot stop him.

Nix's writing is lean and easy to read, creating characters whose thoughts are clear and whose motives are intensely human. The relationship that develops between Sabriel and Touchstone is emotionally real and rich, and I enjoyed reading about all of their interactions. Even secondary characters are detailed and have personalities of their own. I was also impressed by Nix's concept of magic, which is deeper and more textured than the point-and-spell world of Harry Potter or countless other similar stories (although this book will certainly appeal to fans of the former class of fantasy). In the Old Kingdom, performing magic depends upon a deep knowledge of the required Charter marks, and in Sabriel's case, upon her mastery of the seven bells that assist the necromancer's trade by helping command the dead. This book is truly original--I have not seen anything like it before. ( )

Quick Summary: Ever since she was a tiny child, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of "Free Magic," and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Mage, Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that world. Though her journey begins alone, she soon finds companions: Mogget, whose seemingly harmless feline form hides a powerful- and perhaps malevolent- spirit, and Touchstone, a younger Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories. With threats on all sides and only each other to trust, the three must travel deep into the Old Kingdom, toward a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death- and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own hiddden destiny. A tale of dark secrets, deep love, and dangerous magic.

My reaction: This is one of my favorite supernatural YA fiction books. I love the completely unique premise of it: the setting is a place that is somewhat like 1940's England with a wall separating the borders of the contemporary world from those of the Old Kingdom. The Old Kingdom is a place where magic still exists. There are sorcerers, monsters, and technology fails there. The boundary between life and death is weak in the Old Kingdom, so it's the role of the Abhorsen to travel between the realms of life and death and make sure the dead stay dead. The Abhorsen, Sabriel's father, and then Sabriel, herself, use bells to control the dead. Certain tones the bells make can influence the dead in different ways.

I found Sabriel to be one of the most realistic female protagonists I've encountered in fiction. She is strong yet has self-doubt. She's not a damsel in distress, yet she's not unrealistically strong. She's courageous, smart, and REAL. The world this book is set in is captivating. There's the contemporary world, not much unlike our own, then just across the wall is a world of magic, danger, and adventure. It feels as if there could be such a place in our own world. I enjoyed all the characters, and the narrative moved at a good pace.

This book is full of action -- there are battles with zombies, and dead spirits. There is also lots of magic in this book, as you will see when Sabriel meets her romantic interest, Touchstone, and also, when she meets her cat, Mogget. It's a classic epic quest or adventure story, but it has a dark, magical spin on it. You've got to read this one!

The sequels are Lirael, Abhorsen, and Across the Wall.

I would like you to please notice what a wonderful cover this book has. It's not what I'd expect for a fantasy novel. The cover reminds me of one of my favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha, or of art with Byzantine origins.

Who I would recommend this book to: I recommend this book to everyone, but especially women who love a strong, female protagonist! Readers of all ages can enjoy this book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger than 12, unless they are a precocious reader, because they might have trouble understanding some of the plot details and words (ex. necromancer). The great thing about this book is that it can be read as a stand alone, or it can be read as the first in a trilogy. I recommend this book to everyone who loves fiction with action, suspense, strong female leads, magic, supernatural, romance, and the epic quest. It's a brilliant fantasy, aimed at the young adult reader but still thoroughly pleases all age groups.

Worth buying? YES!!!

Quotes from the book:

"Sabriel digested this in silence, staring at the swirls of fish and sauce on her plate, silver scales and red tomato blurring into a pattern of swords and fire. The table blurred too, and the room beyond, and she felt herself reaching for the border with Death. But try as she might, she couldn’t cross it. She sensed it, but there was no way to cross, in either direction – Abhorsen’s House was too well protected. But she did feel something at the border. Inimical things lurked there, waiting for her to cross, but there was also the faintest thread of something familiar, like the scent of a woman’s perfume after she has left the room, or the waft of a particular pipe tobacco around a corner. Sabriel focussed on it and threw herself once more at the barrier that separated her from Death." (p.73)

"'I am a necromancer, but not of the common sort, while others of the art raise the dead, I lay them to rest - or try too - and those that will not rest I bind, for I am Abhorsen...father of Sabriel.'"

"Sabriel rang the bells again, concentrating on the difficult counterpoint between them, forcing all her will into their magic. Kerrigor would fall under her domination, he would walk where she willed!"

"(She) whistled the notes of the lifting wind, visualising the requisite string of Charter marks in her mind, letting them drip down into her throat and lips, and out into the air." (p.96)

"The marks became silver blades as they left her hand, mind and voice, flashing through the air swifter than any thrown dagger." (p. 107) ( )

Here is the first book in a trilogy by Garth Nix. It tells the tale of Sabriel, a young girl with an unusual father, who lives in Ancelstierre. When she was five her father Abhorsen took her to a boarding school on the Ancelstierre side of the Wall, away from the magic and peril of the Old Kingdom where she was born. Abhorsen regularly visits with her, using Charter magic (the opposite side of this is Free Magic, without out of the rules that governs Charter Magic). But on one occasion he fails to make their rendezvous and Sabriel, realising that her father is in terrible danger, decides to travel into the Old Kingdom to find him.

On her journey she meets some intriguing characters, such as the cat Mogget and the mysterious young man she knows only as Touchstone. Sabriel is drawn into an age-old battle against evil when she takes her place as the Abhorsen (discovering that her father's name was more a title).

This book was incredible! I loved Sabriel - she is brave, clever and compassionate. I also enjoyed the irascible cat Mogget - and his terrifying alter ego. Once we had known Touchstone for a while, he became a character to invest in. Because the cast list of the book is so pared down the main characters really come alive and are definitely three dimensional. I really cared what happened to them by the thrilling climax of the story.

Nix introduces a truly original idea in the Abhorsen - a Charter mage who has the ability to travel beyond the veil into death and move people back and forth across that veil. I absolutely loved the different bells that Abhorsen/Sabriel uses to tie the dead and ensure they do her bidding. It is rare to find a fantasy book that produces a concept that is so completely unique.

This book - as well as being full of adventure and even a little bit of romance - was also incredibly scary! Sabriel's encounter with the Mordicant as she flees to her father's house kept me on the edge of my seat. The occasion when she meets Mogget's alter ego was even more terrifying, since Mogget had been til that point a character on the side of good.

The world-building was also of exceptional quality. Ancelstierre is created to look much like a Britain of the 40s/50s - motor cars are fairly rare and lanterns and candles are still the norm - while the Old Kingdom is, as the name suggests, older. Here, swords are used instead of guns and it feels more medieval. In the area around the Wall, magic is more erratic - especially the further you travel into Ancelstierre - and the soldiers who guard the waypoint use both machine guns and bayonet-type spears in order to force back the restless dead.

I can't praise this book enough - it was imaginative, compelling and full of wonderful characters. Not one part of the book felt like filler. I can't wait to pick up the sequel! ( )

Sabriel has finished school in Ancelstierre across the border from her homeland The Old Kingdom. Now she must decide what to do with her life, whether she will continue on to University in Ancelstierre or go home to be with her father to continue her training in binding the dead to death, the opposite of most necromancers. She anxiously awaits a visit from her father to discuss her future, when a monster shows up in his place and gives her his sword and bells. Now Sabriel must find out why her father seems to be trapped in death and how to stop the dangerous forces holding him there.

This book snuck up on me. I just picked it up out of the to-read pile when I didn't have something I was super excited about and loved it. I think one of the best things about Sabriel is how often she screws up. There's no doubt about it, she kicks booty, she is THE Abhorsen, the power of the Charter runs in her blood, and she is so normal. She pulls her awesome stone chain-mail on one leg at a time. Really entertaining. ( )

Thrilling, exciting read. My hands ache from tightly gripping the pages, my eyes are strained from the battle to speed read or slowly savor.

Sabriel is thrust into a world she knows little about and is expected to save it from an evil force that is responsible for the death of her father. Along the way she discovers of herself, her family legacy, and the history of her homeland and its inhabitants.

Can not wait to pick up the next installment. ( )

Beautifully written, strongly felt coming of age novel. Unfortunately for the heroine, she happens to be coming of age as the Abhorsen, charged with the responsibility of guarding Life against Death. Fantastically rendered worldbuilding and touching characters. I love Mogget, the Free Magic creature in the form of a cat. ( )

This book is about Sabriel, an adventurous girl who for many years lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom away from the power of free magic. But now her father, Mage Abhorsen is missing and Sabriel needs to return to the world of free magic to rescue him. She finds companions along the way such as Mogget and Touchstone who are powerful creatures of the magical world. With danger on all sides they only have each other to trust and must travel deep inside the Old Kingdom to a place battle which will put them in situations of life and death. Sabriel will be bought face to face with her own concealed destiny. This is the only way to find her beloved father.

The best thing about the book is that there are small events that gradually build up into the complication and also that the book is based purely upon magic and fantasy will take you into a new mysterious world. I didn’t like the way that at some parts the book dragged along which made it boring as there weren’t any sparks and sudden events which would make the reader more enthusiastic. You might like the book if you also enjoyed fantasy books or you have adored the series of Garth Nix as this is the first book of the series.

A good place to read this book would be in a quite and peaceful surrounding so you can use your imagination to take yourself into the book. So you can be creative and involve yourself in what you are reading. If this book was a film I think that Angelina Jolie would be Sabriel, Touchstone would be Will Smith, Mogget would be Sarah Kingston and the father would be Ross Ferrell. If it had a soundtrack it would be Everlasting World. ( )

I'm so glad I took the recommendation to read this... and I'm also very glad I pushed through the first 50 pages! I'll be honest, I was around page 45 and thinking "I really hope this picks up soon... why don't I like it yet?!?!", but just a few more pages in and I was hooked. It was entertaining, unique, and for the most part, well crafted. For the most part.

Nix obviously did his world building first, then placed his characters and story inside... because he neglects to explain how things work, and acts like the reader already knows the rules. Well, we don't, and it would have been nice to have a little rundown. Even a cliche monologue to tell us the rules. Anything. Really!

Fortunately, after page 50 or so, you get used to it and just figure it'll all work out in the end. It kinda does, and kinda doesn't, but the story is still very good and leaves you wanting more. I'll be searching out the next two books in the series, and hope that Nix takes the time to explain more (any?) world rules as the books progress.

With that warning in place: I definitely recommend this book. Let's face it, with a female necromancer as the lead character, how can you possibly pass it up? ( )

One of my favorite Fantasy Books of all time. Sabriel is the story of a young woman who is the daughter of the Abhorsen, a person who fights the dead. Sabriel is thrust into a situation she isn't prepared for, and learns how to grow into her legacy. Highly recommended for teens and adults. ( )

Sabriel is the daughter of Abhorsen, brought up in a world much like our own except for its proximity to the "Old Kingdom" which is a very different world indeed - where the dead walk, and magic works and technology does not. When her father goes missing - and is likely dead - Sabriel crosses into the Old Kingdom to search for him and learns that she is now Abhorsen, charged with controlling the walking dead, and keeping the people of both kingdoms safe.

The concepts in this novel are intriguingly different from the standard fantasy fayre. The idea of an old Kingdom with a crossing point into something we would recognise as the real world reminded me of Erik L'Homme's Quadehar books. There are perhaps other similarities in the magical concepts used, and in the office of a sorceror and the apprentice - but it is not at all clear that one book was written with any awareness of the other (both had UK publication dates in about 2002/2003 - but Quadehar was originally published in French).

But other than similarities with Quadehar the Sorceror, this book is really very fresh and written in a style not entirely like other works in the genre.

The book is, in my opinion, at least a teen read. That is partly down to the style, and partly down to the content. It is, however, a worthwhile read. ( )

I started this book some time time ago, it got late, I got sleepy, so I skimmed a little here and there to enable me to put the book down and go to sleep. Then somehow I kept not picking it up again. Since it's due back at the library I decided yesterday that I really needed to finish it even though I had somewhat lost interest. But by the end of the next chapter I was engrossed in the story and this time I just kept reading, picking up a lot that the here and there skimming had missed. I might even go for the sequel. Sabriel lives in a very interesting universe where the line between Life and Death is a bit fluid and part of her 'job' is to make sure that the dead mostly stay dead. An unusual and carefully realized world and a book that, in the end, I would recommend.

This is a great read involving a truly original fantasy. The ‘magic’ used here is not the overused theme involving witches and wizards, elves, dwarves and dragons, but is instead a world completely of Nix’s invention. Although Nix’s excavation of the world within the story is only at the tip of expansion even after the third book of the trilogy, he does an excellent job of developing the fantasy and creating characters that involve several layers within their motivations and personalities. Sabriel is an above average teenager, but she’s still riddled with many of the average teen issues: love for her father, blossoming love for Touchstone, the fear of death and isolation. The story itself is not anything new, a girl of promise with special abilities is chosen to rescue an entire kingdom with just her wits and knowledge of necromancy. However, Nix delivers it well, and he does an excellent job of painting the world for the imagination of the readers and creating empathy for the characters by giving them depth and relatable human qualities. At no point does it seem that she only overcomes her difficult circumstances by blind luck or chance, or deus ex machina (a god from a machine) where it utilizes all of the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief to be convinced that the ‘good guys’ were able to win in the end. I recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and up.-Lindsey Miller, www.lindseyslibrary.com ( )

Well constructed readable fantasy novel with an internally consistent world and an enjoyable story. ( )

It has a very original story line ( )

Sabriel is an eighteen-year-old schoolgirl at the beginning of the book, happily concerning herself only with her classes and classmates. All that is changed when she discovers her father may be in grave danger. She leaves behind the only world she's ever known to go off alone in search for him, armed only with her father's sword and bells-- tools of a necromancer.

I am so taken with the concept of this book. Having a young female as the main character has become trendy in recent years, but Sabriel is not a stereotype. She's not a tomboy, she's not an orphan, and she doesn't shy away from darker magics, either. In most fantasy books, the hero (or especially the heroine), if a magic-user, uses white magic. Sabriel, however, was taught differently. She is a necromancer, which means she learns off a book called Book of the Dead and her strength is in going into Death to bring back souls and banishing the waking Dead from Life. No sunshine and beauty and love here-- just death, rot, decay, and graveyard dirt. It's an unusual choice of magic to give, and in this way Nix immediately distinguishes this series from other fantasy novels. Sabriel gets her hands dirty. Repeatedly.

I wouldn't say that I am a huge fantasy fiction fan. While I have read a lot of the more "adult" novels (probably due to having a brother who was 11 years older and had more books than I did growing up), I usually stick to the young adult end of the genre. That said, I haven't read anything like what Garth Nix has created here. I've never seen necromancy so fully threshed out, much less be on used by the heroine rather than the villain. His ideas of Charter Magic and Free Magic, the different sounds and functions of the bells that a necromancer needs, and the wards to keep a Dead creature at bay are all marvelously imagined and well executed in the book. His world is teeming with life and rich with detail, and it's hard to ignore.

I kept stopping in the middle of the story to digest all the information being doled out. It's a new world, a fresh kind of magic, but it might all be a little too new. While there's a lot Sabriel doesn't know and which you learn along with her as the story progresses, she comes into the book fully possessed of her necromantic magic and a lot of it is never explained. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was reading the second book in a series instead of the first. I've finished the book, and still have no idea how Sabriel's world works. For example, I don't know exactly what the Great Charters are, how they came to be that way, or how they are related to Charter Magic. The book explains some of it, but glancingly, almost as if reiterating something already explained in detail before. But it wasn't. Reading the book gives you a good grasp on the gist of things, but I guess I'm just one of those people who want to know exactly how things work, and in that regard I'm a little disappointed.

The story itself, though, is faultless (aside from my usual gripe about underdeveloped romances in YA novels). This was a solid first book and a great addition to the genre. I will definitely be reading the next in the series. Highly recommended. ( )

A story with complex plotlines and a real life reflection a great book for any reader looking for a challenge. ( )

Strong heroine, good plot that kept me going.

Book 1 of the Abhorsen Trilogy. I read this back in 2002, and decided to reread it over Christmas break. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it! Any book that has a strong female lead is going to have a special place in my mother-of-two-daughters heart. Adventure, mystery, action, danger, with just a whiff of romantic attraction. This is what young adult fiction ought to be. ( )

It took me a little while to become involved with the world Nix created, but after I few chapters, I found myself unable to put this book down! It has a unique plot with strong characters, I can't wait to read the next one! ( )

This is one of my favorite fantasy series ever. The Old Kingdom setting is amazing, Sabriel is a wonderful, strong heroine, and Touchstone and Mogget are some of my favorite side characters. Add in Tim Curry's narration on the audiobook and I'm in heaven! That sounds so lame... but it's true! I can't recommend this series strongly enough. ( )

Sabriel, daughter of famed Necromancer Abhorsen, is recalled to her magical homeland in the Old Kingdom to save her father. Notably darker than most YA fantasies, Nix’s protagonist Sabriel lives on the mundane side of the Wall as a school girl until she receives a sending from her father that anoints her the new Abhorsen, one who bind the dead to death. Sabriel is a rather sober, deliberate character, but her connection to death is reason enough for an unaccessible emotional connection. The palpable fear and uncertainty from the protagonist, however, draws you into the plot; a complex, linear thriller that gives very little away as it winds through Sabriel’s dark adventures.
A strong sense of familial duty, responsibility, education, and coming-of-age runs through the plot. The setting is a rich medieval throwback, crossing from modern convenience on one side of the dividing Wall to a darker, fantastical land riddled with dark creatures and magic. Death weighs heavily over the text, a grotesque, action-packed exploration that makes this novel unsuitable for anyone under thirteen.
Nix’s style is engaging, but the high fantasy world loses half a star for unexplained mysteries and motivations of the characters and setting. ( )

Nice fantasy. Daughter saves father from death, etc. ( )