Goldenhand

Who writes a series of books over the span of 20 years and manages to make every book good? Garth Nix does. I've read so many bad sequels or sequels not nearly as good as the original, but every book in this series has been great, interesting, added and expanded on the world without going completely off the rails or destroying the characters. They evolve, but they stay true to themselves, and you are interested in following them.

In shorts, if Garth Nix wants to write another five sequels in this series, I'm totally here for it. If he leaves it at this, I'm happy too, because I have five awesome books I can reread.

Yay, finally a proper sequel to the Abhorsen series, and a wonderful one at that! There’s no way that anyone reading the finale of the previous book would think that a powerful magic-user like Chlorr would be vanquished in single form, so this book provided a much-needed conclusion to her story (as begun in the second-most-recently published book, Clariel, in this series began). As well, it was wonderful to bring Lirael into adulthood and further in her training an Abhorsen-in-waiting and to see the entire cast of characters from various short stories and novellas tie together. We get the major battle settled at the Greenwash Bridge, we get appearances by both Moggot and the Disreputable Dog, we get a glimpse of Sabriel’s and show more Touchstone’s new royal household, and we get a continuation of the story begun in “the Creature in the Case” (which ties into larger scheme of Lirael’s and Nick’s lives). The finale of the book ties the story up quite nicely, but as always I’m crossing my fingers for a sixth book! show less

Garth Nix can't write a convincing romance, and I think long time fans of his know it. I've accepted that and it doesn't bother me. I'm not reading this series for the romantic relationships. On their own, I like, if not love, most of the characters. I definitely love the world-building, the magic, and the history (I'll never shut up about how I want a historical compendium of some kind to be published.) This book delivers on this front, even though the romance is lacking. I might say that it's the most annoying romance of the three he's written across the entire series and that it takes up more of the book than it should. But I still enjoyed being back in the world and with events after those of Abhorsen. Basically this is on par with show more how I felt about Terciel and Elinor. I liked reading about the plot and being back in the world, but the poorly written romance takes up space that could be better used by more plot or history or something.

If you're already a fan of the series, I don't see the need to avoid this book, maybe just check your expectations going in. If you liked T&E well enough, then I also think you'd like this well enough too. I'll still read any book he puts out related to this series. show less

As I would expect from one of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom novels Goldenhand is chockful of suspense, bravery and fortitude. What I didn't see coming were the inklings of young love, not once but twice, but what I did hope for were resolutions of threads that had been left slightly hanging from previous books in the series, and in this I was not disappointed.

If in the end I was disappointed it was in the actual execution of those resolutions, which felt a bit perfunctory in the last few chapters. This isn't to detract from the otherwise masterful storytelling which had this reader continually tempted to read just a few more pages, and perhaps a little bit more after that; or from the convincing worldbuilding that has suffused and sustained show more the Old Kingdom sequence now for five novels and a couple of novellas.

Lirael, the sympathetic protagonist of the second of the novels, is now Abhorsen-in-Waiting and a powerful Charter Magic necromancer. When the Abhorsen Sabriel (focus of the first book in the series) decides to take a well-earned honeymoon with King Touchstone, young Lirael is left in charge to take responsibility for dealing with reanimated dead creatures plus a Free Magic entity which suddenly emerges to create a crisis to the south of the Wall. Meanwhile, in the far north of the Old Kingdom a young woman named Ferin is being pursued by malevolent beings who track her flight to the south. Is her mission linked with the troubles Lirael is facing further south? You can guarantee it. And what else is it that binds the fates of these two resourceful young women?

The author presents this long novel (over 400 pages in the paperback edition) in a very cinematic way: the settings are as vivid as ever, and our attention is constantly shifting from one protagonist's woes to another. Cliffhangers sustain our attention from chapter to chapter; we sense that many 'extras' (as it were) have an existence beyond the action, however brief their appearance on these pages may be; and the action is carefully and realistically paced, with no obvious longeurs when the action appears to be freeze-framed for a bit of info-dump. All very skilful.

Then there are the mysteries to be solved, those ones that the protagonists can't fathom and which drive the action forward. To me it seemed the plotting was less about the what or the why, more about the how. How does Lirael discover what happened to her mother? How does Ferin get her message to Lirael? How does any protagonist ascertain the connection between Chlorr of the Mask, the Witch With No Face and Clariel, this last being the protagonist of the prequel bearing her name? How do certain couples who are clearly attracted to each other reveal their hopes and declare their feelings? And how long will it be before anyone grasps the true nature of Nicholas Sayre's transformed being?

This was certainly an ambitious project, to draw these threads together. There is so much to enjoy in Goldenhand -- details that make me smile, old objects and acquaintances that make a reappearance -- that it feels a mite churlish to be critical. But those threads I mentioned were tied up far too neatly -- and sometimes too quickly -- almost as if the author was getting bored or, more likely, alerted to the increasing length of this instalment. In particular the treatment of young love, sensitive though it strove to be, appeared at times to be mawkish, icky even; but maybe I'm just a little too jaded to relate to it -- been there, done that, worn the proverbial T-shirt.

What next? Well, this novel definitely extends our knowledge of what exists beyond the Old Kingdom. As Mike Schley's new illustration indicates, the lands beyond Mogget's map (which graced previous instalments) have increased fivefold, with new features and settlements marked in, and it distorts any vision of the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre being stand-ins for Scotland and England. We see deserts, steppes, mountain ranges, rivers and a great rift valley to the north and west, only some of which we explore in Goldenhand.

From all this I wonder if those plot strands weren't all tied up, that maybe there are yet more threads to tease out and admire. show less

Goldenhand is the fifth book in Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. I have mixed feelings about this book. It felt good to be back in the Old Kingdom again after being away for so long. This world and these characters are some of my favorites. Garth Nix's writing is great as always. Yet the story felt strangely flat.

Chlorr of the Mask had retreated to the far north after her defeat at the hands of Sabriel, seemingly disappeared and no longer a threat. Or that's what everyone wanted to believe. A young nomad woman named Ferin has been tasked with a mission to deliver a message to the Clayr: the Witch With No Face has gathered the clans together and is preparing to launch an attack on the Old Kingdom. Hunted by the witch's supporters and chased show more by her creatures Ferin must deliver the warning in time if the Kingdom is to survive the attack to come.

The story is told from two alternating points of view, Ferin's and Lireal's. The first half of the book is Ferin running from pursuers while Lireal worries over Nicholas Sayre. This throws the pacing of the story off. At around 60% the stories come together, the pacing evens out and the climax and final battles are satisfying, if rushed. Now that I think about it, most everything feels rushed. I think this would have been better being split into two full length books so Nix could explore ideas, new areas of the world and character relationships more.

I'm glad to have read it and to have closure for some loose ends from the previous four books. While enjoyable I don't see myself rereading this one where I definitely plan to reread (or relisten to) the original trilogy at some point. show less

While this installment of the fabulous Abhorsen series has been a long time coming, it does an excellent jobs of returning readers to the world and continuing the story. It's a pleasure to meet Liriel again, and watch her grown into a more confident self. I loved hearing more about the Northern nomadic tribes, as Nix continues to flesh out complex geography and pulls together tatters of history that have been hinted at all along.

“Your librarians go into battle?”

“When they must,” said Lirael. “The Library is very old, and deep, and contains many things that have been put away for good reason. Creatures, dangerous knowledge, artifacts made not wisely, but too well . . . books that should not be opened without proper preparation, some books that should never be opened at all.”

“Creatures?”

Goldenhand continues the story of the Abhorsens in the time of Sabriel, Lireal, et al, dealing with some of the fall out of the battle with Orannis the Destroyer: specifically, Chlorr. It focuses primarily on Lireal and Nick along with newcomer from the North Ferin.

Main character wise, I still really like Lirael. The unsure young woman that doesn't belong is show more gone, replaced by the Abhorsen in waiting who saved the world--and is still learning how she fits in the world. Throw in Nick and a probably too sudden falling in love (to be fair, they're teenagers or not much beyond) and you get a nice mix of magical and technological upbringing that I've always thought the series could use more of.

The other new POV character Ferin is interesting in that she comes from a culture we really didn't see much of before. Unfortunately, she mostly felt like a plot device, running through most of the book. I'd like to hear a bit more from her after how she ends the books. If there's ever an Abhorsen #6, I guess there's a chance?

Once everyone meets up in the Claryr's glacier's the final half of the book really picks up. We're back on familiar ground and have a concrete threat to fight. The journey to the broken land far far in the north is a fascinating bit of world building--go to far and there's just literally no atmosphere any more--and we get the worldbuilding we need to finish binding Clariel to the rest of the books.

I wish we could have seen a bit more of the relationship between Sabriel and Lireal. We've never really had a chance to see an Abhorsen and well trained Abhorsen in waiting interact. Unfortunately, we don't get much of that here. Even with big bad Chlorr of the Mask, Sabriel has little to do on screen in the final battle(s). So it goes I guess.

Overall, a solid continuation to the series. Not quite as good as the first three, but still well within the level of books I will put on my list to re-read some day. Worth the read. show less