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author, book, book reviews, books, characters, fantasy, fiction, Garth Nix, novel, read, reader, review, Sabriel, writer, YA, young adult
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Point of View: Third (Sabriel & Touchstone mostly)
Pages: 491
Published: 1996
My Rating: 8/10 Stars
Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)
My Summary:
Abhorsen is a necromancer, but unlike ordinary necromancers he sends the Dead back to death. He lives in the land of the Old Kingdom, but life there is dangerous, so he sends his daughter Sabriel to a boarding school in Ancelstierre, which is protected from the magic in the Old Kingdom by a wall. Sabriel’s boarding school is on the border so she can learn Charter magic there while Abhorsen teaches her necromancy when he visits her twice a year.
Sabriel knows something is wrong when Abhorsen’s late for his visit. He sends her his sword covered in Charter Marks and his bells of necromancy. She knows he’s in danger, so she braves the difficult journey to his house in the Old Kingdom.
Sabriel meets a white cat at her father’s house who calls himself Mogget, (Yes, he can talk.) who is really an ancient being of Free Magic. He tells her that her father was on his way to the capital. On their journey to save her father she frees a guard of the royal family who has secrets of his own and is known only as Touchstone.
My Review:
The beginning of the book is slow, but it’s worth the wait. Once Touchstone comes in the story gets better. Though it’s awkward at first when he joins the point of view and we randomly jumps heads between Sabriel and Touchstone.
This is a fantasy novel, but there are horror elements as well. I’m usually bothered by this sort of thing, but I wasn’t in this book even though the Dead throughout are certainly grotesque.
The Good: The world building is fantastic. It truly felt like a real world with a rich history. Both Ancelstierre, which reminded me of the 1910s with its beginning technology, and the Old Kingdom’s crumbling Monarchy.
The magical system was complex and unique. I particularly liked the use of bells for magic and picturing marks in one’s mind. How they were hard to remember sometimes and easy at others depending on what the characters were going through.
Sabriel has a good solid plot. The pacing was just okay, because it’s slowed by descriptions and time passing, but in the end it really picks up.
Sabriel (the character) really grows up over the course of the novel and she’s a good influence on Touchstone.
The Bad: The romance was too slow then too all of a sudden. (If that makes sense) I wish that Sabriel and Touchstone talked more on their journey and gradually got to know each other. It felt like their secrets were blurted too suddenly since it was mentioned that they didn’t talk while traveling.
Sabriel (the book)’s weakness is the characters. They had potential, but they had no voice and therefore came off flat. It takes quite the book to make up for weak character building, but Sabriel manages it because the world building, magic system, and plot are all so good.
Nix is rather long winded when it comes to descriptions. For instance one time our characters reach a pine forest. That was all we really needed, he didn’t have to describe the pine needles on the ground, and the pine cones looking like skulls.
I didn’t like how the villain’s motivations were just stated, when the character speaking was really guessing. It made the villain seem simpler than he was.
The Ugly: That cover! What’s up with her hand? Yes, that is a girl…
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you can get through the beginning it’s defiantly worth it. Am I going to read the sequel? Yep.
Woven Magic Books 
The romance looks weird lol but it gets me very curious actually 😀 Also, I’m going to pick this up at some point because I love complex magical systems. Authors that can pull those off are amazing. Fab review, Molly. 🙂
Thank you. 😀 The romance was a bit strange, but the world and the magic made up for the character’s short comings. I’m interested to see what the sequel is like, but I have an omnibus of the last two books and it’s huge, so I don’t want to carry it to the hospital every day.
I tried reading this a really long time ago, but gave up because of its initial slowness, but your review makes me think I should try it again. I agree with you. That cover!
Yeah it took a while for me to get into it too, but it picks up as it goes, especially at the end. haha yeah, that cover is pretty bad. I think they redid them now though.
Sounds interesting, but still iffy on starting it. HAD NO IDEA that was a chick on the cover though O_O definitely not one of my favorite covers.
Yeah, it doesn’t have the best beginning. It’s supposed to be exciting, but I didn’t care enough about Sabriel yet. Plus she’s the main character so chances are she’s going to be okay. I thought the cover was a guy too!
First of all, that cover. I would never, in a million years, have picked up this book based on THAT monstrosity. Yikes. And that’s a girl!? My goodness. Looking on Goodreads, there are some covers that are less… fugly (I did try to think of a more appropriate word, but let’s just call a spade a spade, no?) but this one inexplicably seems to be the most prevalent.
Okay, enough judging a book by its cover 😉 It sounds pretty interesting actually! I don’t think this is my usual type of book, but I do love good world building and a good plot! The slowness worries me a bit though. Still, I think I just might have to check this one out! Such a great review!
Haha Yes, it is fugly! I think they just redid the covers because he wrote another one, a prequel to Sabriel. The new covers are so much better! My sister actually had the sequel on her shelf for years, (That cover’s pretty bad too) I found it this year and it looked interesting so I bought the first one.
Yes, it’s a pretty good book, I hope you decide to give it a shot. I’m interested to find out what happens next, because there’s a new main character in the sequel. Sabriel’s still in it, but she’s older.
Looks interesting but I think I’ll pass. The lacking characters make it hard for me to pickup. Great review!
Thanks. 🙂 Normally I’m the same way, but the rest of this book was so good it made up for the flat characters. The sequel has a different protsgonist, so maybe it’ll be better. Thanks for stopping by.
Haha, that cover is such classic fantasy, ugh! Good to know about the slow start. I keep being tempted to jump into this series since Clariel is coming out, but I’m afraid that I wouldn’t make it through a slower pace at this moment.
I didn’t even know about the fourth book until after I read Sabriel. I planned to read it for the dusting off the shelf read a thon, but then I couldn’t wait and read it in July. Yeah it probably helps to be in the right mood before starting this book. Yeah I liked some of the foreign covers better.