waiting on wednesday (73)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I read Garth Nix’s Sabriel, the first book in his Old Kingdom series, when I was in high school.  My main prerequisites for checking a book out from the library (my primary means of book discovery) at that point were that the cover look cool (granted, totally subjective) and that the book be substantial/long.  I read very quickly in those days (ah, I miss them!), had few distractions, and craved as long a reading experience as possible.  It is important to note that during this same period I read many James Michener and Leon Uris epics – solely due to page count.  Follies of youth and all that.

Anyway, Sabriel was a huge favorite, and so were the following books, Lirael and Abhorsen.  I actually asked for (and received from an obliging brother) a box set of the Abhorsen books for my nineteenth birthday.  An Old Kingdom novella was included in Nix’s collection of short stories Across the Wall, and that also joined my Garth Nix shelf.  What I am trying to say… is that I am flipping obsessed with this series, and the fact that there’s a new story coming out this year makes me want to spaz out like a child on Mountain Dew for the first time.  I have no idea how I will stay sane until Clariel’s release date (which is October 14, from HarperCollins).  So so so so so so so excited!!!

Clariel is the daughter of the one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom, with blood relations to the Abhorsen and, most importantly, to the King. When her family moves to the city of Belisaere, there are rumors that her mother is next in line for the throne. However, Clariel wants no part of it—a natural hunter, all she ever thinks about is escaping the city’s confining walls and journeying back to the quiet, green world of the Great Forest.



But many forces conspire against Clariel’s dream. A dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the old and withdrawn King Orrikan. When Clariel is drawn into the efforts to find and capture the creature, she discovers hidden sorcery within herself, yet it is magic that carries great dangers. Can she rise above the temptation of power, escape the unwanted marriage, and save the King?

What books are you waiting on?

sabriel

Alyce at At Home with Books has started a weekly tradition of revisiting past reading favorites and bringing them into the spotlight.

My pick this week is Garth Nix’s Sabriel, which I just re-read the other day for probably the sixth time. Throughout my teenage years I’d go and scour the Young Adult section at my local library, looking for anything new, or at least anything that seemed interesting. I’m pretty sure I pulled Sabriel off the bookshelf primarily for its size – it’s pretty thick, and at that point, fat books = the best books.

I was immediately sucked into the world Nix had created - a world divided by a Wall. On one side was Ancelstierre, a modern society, a reality identical to my own; the other side, the Old Kingdom, was rife with magic. Sabriel, the young protagonist, faces perils and dark adventures, but she learns, grows and changes as she meets these challenges, and eventually finds that she has the strength to accept her fate and defeat evil. The story is told along a journey, reminiscent in some ways of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, though Nix has a considerably more modern (and less protracted) narrative voice. It’s a wonderful, un-put-downable, dynamic fantasy, and I’d recommend it to anyone craving a well-crafted and persuasive high fantasy in the tradition of heroic romance.

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. She soon finds extraordinary companions and embarks on an epic journey as threats mount on all sides. Every step brings them closer to a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own destiny.

Sabriel is 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.

Sabriel is the first of the Abhorsen trilogy, but also functions as a stand-alone novel. Other stories in the Old Kingdom world include: Lirael, Abhorsen, novella “Nicholas Sayre and The Creature in the Case” in Across the Wall, and upcoming Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen.