Stowe Free Library

In this series, Garth has created a world of almost tangible solidity. His characters have a welcome depth, and the world works. He leaves no gaps in the explanations of why things work, and yet never has to bore the reader with unnecessarily long descriptions.

 

The first book in the trilogy, Sabriel, is about a young girl named Sabriel. She goes to school in Ancelstierre, a place much like our own. The people are normal, electricity and technology are the norm, but North of there is the Wall. This is the border between Ancelstierre and The Old Kingdom.

 

The Old Kingdom is a place of magic, where death doesn't have to be the end. When something captures her father, the abhorsen, who is charged with keeping the dead in their place, she must travel back to the Old Kingdom to try and save him.

 

This first book is really an amazing novel, and has all the elements of a good story. It has romance, magic, fighting, tragedy, and even comedy at parts.
If you liked the first book, then the second, Lirael, should be next on your reading list. Lirael is a young girl, outcast from society, with little hope to ever become normal. She is a Daughter of the Clayr. The Clayr are all tanned, with blond hair and proportionate. She is tall and gangly, with dark hair, and pale as could be skin.

 

The Clayr have a gift, when they reach a certain age, they gain the sight. This allows them to see the future. She should have come of age years ago. She is different, and despairs that she will never receive the sight.

 

After years of depression, she finds a friend, the disreputable dog, and they explore the Clayr's glacier together. However, for the sake of the world, they must go on a quest to discover what is happening where the clayr cannot see.This book is a good story of an outcast finding friends in places she could never have thought possible, and the final realization that you don't have to be like everyone else. The cast of characters are the same, as Lirael will eventually meet with characters from the past book.

 

The third book in the series is Abhorsen. This is the culmination of everything that has happened in the past two books. Ancient powers clash, with Lirael, Sabriel, and all your favorite characters standing in the middle of it. The incarnation of evil, the seven incarnations of law, who wins?

 

This trilogy is definitely one worth reading at least once, I myself have read three times. It is good for teens and anyone younger up for it or adults as this book is not written for a younger audience, though it was catered to teens as that is the age of the characters. It is classified as dark fantasy, but it isn't depressing, just has a lot about walking dead, and theories about death. In short I would highly recommend this to any one who loves a good fantasy.