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A tale of dark secrets, deep love, and dangerous magic! Since childhood, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who refuse to stay dead. But now her father, the Charter-Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that world. With Mogget, whose feline form hides a powerful, perhaps malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage, Sabriel travels deep into the Old Kingdom. show more There she confronts an evil that threatens much more than her life--and comes face-to-face with her own hidden destiny. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
electronicmemory Both books have beautifully written prose, elegantly sketched worlds, and stories that stay with you long after you've finished. Two young protagonists must face overwhelming dark forces as they struggle with isolation from their peers and allies.
140
cmbohn Features a strong female protagonist, some creepy characters, and great combat.
30
ed.pendragon Both titles involve musical instruments (cwidder in one, bells in the other) which have extraordinary magical powers in the correct hands.
20
sandstone78 The roles of Chrestomanci and Abhorsen are similar- magicians who police the use of magic. Both books feature their protagonists growing into these roles.
20
amaranthe Abhorsen and The Rifter are both unique and distinctive stories, but they are also similar enough in tone and in certain other elements that people who like one may well enjoy the other. The Rifter is a little more obviously aimed at adults.
humouress A young girl carries the burden of her father’s heritage and has to venture into lands beyond the boundaries of reality - which also happen to be her homelands
Corinne-pixel Kind-hearted protagonist on a quest with unlikely companions
Member Reviews
This has been on my TBR list for over a decade - one of those books everybody says you have to read because it's amazing, and for some reason you never get around to it. Well, the LSG book club voted for this book, and immediately people came out of the woodwork saying this book was THE BEST BOOK EVER.
So I sat down with it expecting THE BEST BOOK EVER.
Spoiler: It wasn't.
That wasn't to say it was a bad book, mind, but when you're expecting to be blown away, it's a bit confusing when you aren't.
My main complaint was I never connected with Sabriel or Touchstone (I did like Mogget, though, but I have an affinity to talking cats). I never understand their motivations, their character, or even their feelings. The romance between them seemed show more almost obligatory and contrived and wasn't set up as well as it could have been - perhaps because it was almost entirely on Touchstone's side (I think he impressed on Sabriel after she rescued him) and we had Sabriel as the POV, not him.
The plot was also slow for a good portion of the book, and it wasn't really until they were on the boat that I started being actively engaged in the story.
I will continue with the series. I have been assured by book club members in the know that the second and third books are much better. And I already own them, so I will pick up the next one eventually. show less
So I sat down with it expecting THE BEST BOOK EVER.
Spoiler: It wasn't.
That wasn't to say it was a bad book, mind, but when you're expecting to be blown away, it's a bit confusing when you aren't.
My main complaint was I never connected with Sabriel or Touchstone (I did like Mogget, though, but I have an affinity to talking cats). I never understand their motivations, their character, or even their feelings. The romance between them seemed show more almost obligatory and contrived and wasn't set up as well as it could have been - perhaps because it was almost entirely on Touchstone's side (I think he impressed on Sabriel after she rescued him) and we had Sabriel as the POV, not him.
The plot was also slow for a good portion of the book, and it wasn't really until they were on the boat that I started being actively engaged in the story.
I will continue with the series. I have been assured by book club members in the know that the second and third books are much better. And I already own them, so I will pick up the next one eventually. show less
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 show more 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! show less
On her journey she meets some intriguing characters, such as the cat Mogget and the mysterious young man she show more 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! show less
Sabriel is the daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, grown up cloistered away at boarding school in Ancelstierre, to the south of the Old Kingdom. When her father goes missing and a messenger arrives with his magical implements, she knows something terrible has happened and sets out to find him. But the road north is filled with dangers, one more terrifying than the other, but fortunately Sabriel manages to make some friends along the way. Will she be able to locate her father and defeat the evil that's coming to engulf both the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre?
I'm constantly amazed by the quality of the literature that young adults can draw on these days, and this book, the first in a fantasy series about necromancy, is no exception. Like show more many other YA heroes and heroines of YA novels, Sabriel is thrown from a sheltered life headlong into her destiny and danger, completely unprepared for the difficult tasks ahead, and she has to learn how to deal with the undead quickly and grow up fast. The action resembles a rollercoaster: relentless pace followed by short periods of breathing space and some light relief provided by Mogget, a Free Magic being bound in the form of a cat, before the action hurtles along once again at break-neck speed. This is dark fantasy at its best, and the undead are suitably creepy and definitely not suitable for younger readers. I loved the imagery of the seven bells the Abhorsen wields to control and banish the Dead, and the river symbolising death rushing through the Nine Gates. And how cool is the role reversal, a young woman for once being the action hero and getting torescue the prince ?
The book was originally published in 1995, and I wouldn't be surprised if J.K. Rowling and G.R.R. Martin took inspiration from it (the Battle of Hogwarts and eternal winter north of the Wall, with the dead refusing to stay dead).
Even though the ending doesn't exactly constitute a cliff-hanger, it's clear that the story continues, and I'm glad I've already got Lariel, the sequel, lined up. show less
I'm constantly amazed by the quality of the literature that young adults can draw on these days, and this book, the first in a fantasy series about necromancy, is no exception. Like show more many other YA heroes and heroines of YA novels, Sabriel is thrown from a sheltered life headlong into her destiny and danger, completely unprepared for the difficult tasks ahead, and she has to learn how to deal with the undead quickly and grow up fast. The action resembles a rollercoaster: relentless pace followed by short periods of breathing space and some light relief provided by Mogget, a Free Magic being bound in the form of a cat, before the action hurtles along once again at break-neck speed. This is dark fantasy at its best, and the undead are suitably creepy and definitely not suitable for younger readers. I loved the imagery of the seven bells the Abhorsen wields to control and banish the Dead, and the river symbolising death rushing through the Nine Gates. And how cool is the role reversal, a young woman for once being the action hero and getting to
The book was originally published in 1995, and I wouldn't be surprised if J.K. Rowling and G.R.R. Martin took inspiration from it (
Even though the ending doesn't exactly constitute a cliff-hanger, it's clear that the story continues, and I'm glad I've already got Lariel, the sequel, lined up. show less
I have picked this book and almost taken it home with me probably dozens of times. I love the cover art and the story sounded good, but at first I didn't want to read a fantasy book that was part of a story and then when I figured out it was the first in a series I didn't want to start a new series - I'm hard to please. In between times I would forget about the book, be attracted to the cover, pick it up, remember it, and have the argument in my head about it all over again. This time I picked it up because I misread the title and thought it was named Sabrie. Sabrie is the name of the top-level mage I played in WoW. She was undead and had purple hair, eventually became a guild leader, did tons of role-playing and was lots of fun until I show more got burned out on the game. Once I realized my mistake I started to have the usual argument in my head and then thought, "Oh just read the freakin' book," (I'm sure you're thinking the same thing). So I did.
What a lovely book this is. I'll be looking for the other two in the series, too. The book combines high fantasy with a coming of age tale whose hero isn't a hero, but a heroine - and what a heroine she is. A born necromancer who sets out across the border between the here and now and the there and then, Sabriel fights zombies, rescues a King, and befriends a talking cat who isn't really a cat. Smart, funny, whimsical, and charming this is a great read for lovers of fantasy of all ages. I'm glad I stopped arguing with myself about it! show less
What a lovely book this is. I'll be looking for the other two in the series, too. The book combines high fantasy with a coming of age tale whose hero isn't a hero, but a heroine - and what a heroine she is. A born necromancer who sets out across the border between the here and now and the there and then, Sabriel fights zombies, rescues a King, and befriends a talking cat who isn't really a cat. Smart, funny, whimsical, and charming this is a great read for lovers of fantasy of all ages. I'm glad I stopped arguing with myself about it! show less
Audiobook performed by Tim Curry
4****
When her father goes missing, a young woman must leave her (relatively) safe boarding school to go up against the Dead creatures who are threatening not only the Old Kingdom, but all society.
What an extraordinary fantasy adventure! I have to admit that when I began the novel I was struck by similarities to a certain young wizard – mark burned on the forehead at birth, orphaned, sent to boarding school, just beginning to learn the craft of magic, and up against a diabolical villain that wants him/her dead. Sounds a lot like Harry Potter… Ah … but Sabriel was published two years before the first HP book!
I love that Nix chose for the hero a young woman – Sabriel – who is smart, resourceful, show more courageous and determined, if inexperienced and sometimes rash. The plotting is wonderfully complex and full of danger. I was literally on the edge of my seat several times, worried whether Sabriel and her companions – Mogget (a powerful, and potentially malevolent, spirit in the form of a seemingly harmless white cat), and Touchstone (a young man, long imprisoned by magic but freed by Sabriel, who has his own secret history) – would manage to overcome.
The hardcover edition I had from the library included a drawn map of the Old Kingdom, which helped me track the explorers on their trek. But Nix’s descriptions were wonderfully exact, and allowed the reader to easily imagine the surroundings (I might have liked a little LESS gross description of the putrid, fetid, decomposing dead things … ). The rules of magic in this kingdom seemed to make sense to me, and I didn’t notice any discrepancies with these fantastical elements. I was impressed, too, by the way in which Nix created the world of Death, with the various gates and river obstacles.
I don’t know if I’ll read any more in the series (this kind of fantasy is just not my genre of choice), but I’m glad I read this one.
Tim Curry is nothing short of fantastic performing the audio version. His voices for the various malevolent creatures about scared the pants off me. And the ease with which he switched from voice to voice during several dialogue passages involving two or more people was nothing short of brilliant. Bravo! show less
4****
When her father goes missing, a young woman must leave her (relatively) safe boarding school to go up against the Dead creatures who are threatening not only the Old Kingdom, but all society.
What an extraordinary fantasy adventure! I have to admit that when I began the novel I was struck by similarities to a certain young wizard – mark burned on the forehead at birth, orphaned, sent to boarding school, just beginning to learn the craft of magic, and up against a diabolical villain that wants him/her dead. Sounds a lot like Harry Potter… Ah … but Sabriel was published two years before the first HP book!
I love that Nix chose for the hero a young woman – Sabriel – who is smart, resourceful, show more courageous and determined, if inexperienced and sometimes rash. The plotting is wonderfully complex and full of danger. I was literally on the edge of my seat several times, worried whether Sabriel and her companions – Mogget (a powerful, and potentially malevolent, spirit in the form of a seemingly harmless white cat), and Touchstone (a young man, long imprisoned by magic but freed by Sabriel, who has his own secret history) – would manage to overcome.
The hardcover edition I had from the library included a drawn map of the Old Kingdom, which helped me track the explorers on their trek. But Nix’s descriptions were wonderfully exact, and allowed the reader to easily imagine the surroundings (I might have liked a little LESS gross description of the putrid, fetid, decomposing dead things … ). The rules of magic in this kingdom seemed to make sense to me, and I didn’t notice any discrepancies with these fantastical elements. I was impressed, too, by the way in which Nix created the world of Death, with the various gates and river obstacles.
I don’t know if I’ll read any more in the series (this kind of fantasy is just not my genre of choice), but I’m glad I read this one.
Tim Curry is nothing short of fantastic performing the audio version. His voices for the various malevolent creatures about scared the pants off me. And the ease with which he switched from voice to voice during several dialogue passages involving two or more people was nothing short of brilliant. Bravo! show less
In the Old Kingdom the dead need some help staying dead. The Abhorsen, a kind of super-necromancer, is the sole person charged with the knowledge and power of the Great Charter to do this. There is only ever one Abhorsen at a time. Sabriel hasn't quite graduated from her school, over the wall from the Old Kingdom, in Ancelstierre--a quirkily contemporary-ish world--when she is called to a rescue her father, currently the Abhorsen. The dead, naturally, feed on the living to gain strength, and they are running riot in the Old Kingdom. But a truly powerful entity of the Great Dead (there are many many categories and many gates one must pass through before being really and truly dead enough not to return) has returned and might just take show more over the Old Kingdom if Sabriel can't stop him. There is a handsome prince and a cat that isn't at all what it appears to be. It all works. I found myself thinking that there is something dead about those who are simply power-hungry to no other purpose than to dominate. The magic here is fresh and while it observes many familiar magical conventions, Nix does so with a fresh take and offers a few new contributions (the bells). So on to book 2 which deals with another branch of the Lines of the Great Charter. **** show less
*Sabriel* has a certain kind of fantasy trope to it where as the book goes on, more and more things are explained and the world continues to expand. This is different from a lot of children's fantasy books; for example in the *The Hobbit*, you learn a majority of what you need to know very early on (in the first few chapters), and the continuation of what's happening is just the places the characters are going to. There's further mythology, but no further explanation for what's happening in terms of the plot (save some Lake-Town mythology). However, in something like *The Last Unicorn* it continues to build over time, but the world is trope after fantasy trope, and intentionally so. In *Sabriel*, by comparison, everything seems to be show more unfolding from a completed thought. Everything is layer by layer peeled away, as opposed to trope after trope, piled on.
This is accomplished mainly by the fact that the character Sabriel is unknowing of her own world. She is, in standard fantasy trope fashion, supposed to inherit a highborn role: that of lead anti-necromancer. But when she unexpectedly has to assume that role, she realizes she doesn't know half of what she thought she did. It's a fantastic story that doesn't live in the shadow of certain other fantasy giants, and somehow yet crafting its own totally fulfilling world.
I'm glossing over a point that is probably incredibly important. Sabriel is a forceful female lead character in a fantasy book. It's not that this hasn't been done before, but rather that it's still so uncommon. A maid in a high tower this isn't, and she shares a lot of similarities to Tolkien's Luthien in subverting the need for, and in fact saving, the Prince.
I highly recommend the audio book version by the undeniably great Tim Curry. His Mogget, the small white cat-who-is-not-a-cat cannot be missed. show less
This is accomplished mainly by the fact that the character Sabriel is unknowing of her own world. She is, in standard fantasy trope fashion, supposed to inherit a highborn role: that of lead anti-necromancer. But when she unexpectedly has to assume that role, she realizes she doesn't know half of what she thought she did. It's a fantastic story that doesn't live in the shadow of certain other fantasy giants, and somehow yet crafting its own totally fulfilling world.
I'm glossing over a point that is probably incredibly important. Sabriel is a forceful female lead character in a fantasy book. It's not that this hasn't been done before, but rather that it's still so uncommon. A maid in a high tower this isn't, and she shares a lot of similarities to Tolkien's Luthien in subverting the need for, and in fact saving, the Prince.
I highly recommend the audio book version by the undeniably great Tim Curry. His Mogget, the small white cat-who-is-not-a-cat cannot be missed. show less
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Author Information
Garth Nix was born in Melbourne, Australia on July 19, 1963. He graduated from the University of Canberra in 1986 and worked various jobs within the publishing industry until 1994. After a stint in public relations, he returned to books and took up writing as a career. He is the author of Blood Ties, Clariel, Newt's Emerald, the Old Kingdom show more series, The Seventh Tower series, and The Keys to the Kingdom series. In 1999, he received a Golden Duck Award for Australian Contribution to Children's Science Fiction. To Hold the Bridge was named Best Collection by the 2015 Aurealis Awards. His novella, By Frogsled and Lizardback to Outcast Venusian Lepers, was named Best Science Fiction Novella by the 2015 Aurealis Awards. In 2018, he won the 2017 Aurealis Award for the Best science-fiction short story. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Narrativa [Nord] (181)
TEAdue [TEA] (1455)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Sabriël
- Original title
- Sabriel
- Original publication date
- 1995
- People/Characters
- Abhorsen; Miss Greenwood (Magistrix of Wyverley College); Horyse (Colonel); Kerrigor; Mogget; Sabriel (show all 8); Terciel (Sabriel's Father); Touchstone
- Important places
- Ancelstierre; Old Kingdom; Abhorsen's House; Belisaere; Death
- Dedication
- To my family and friends.
- First words
- It was little more than three miles from the Wall into the Old Kingdom, but that was enough.
- Quotations
- 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... (show all) 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 focused on it and threw herself once more at the barrier that separated her from Death. -- p.73
The marks became silver blades as they left her hand, mind and voice, flashing through the air swifter than any thrown dagger. -- p. 107 - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Yes," said Sabriel, with some surprise. "I am."
- Blurbers
- Pullman, Philip; Alexander, Lloyd
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.914
- Canonical LCC
- PZ7.N647
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fantasy, Fiction and Literature, Teen, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 823.914 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ7 .N647 — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 1
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- 26