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What are readers saying about Sabriel?
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-29 10:23:15.
(Language: English)
 
This book would have been a lot better if I had been a lot younger when I read it. I picked it up as a thank you to the author because he gave away a book that I enjoyed during read an ebook week. That one was about a mannequin that was actually an android with some serious martial arts abilities and some major artificial intelligence. This was all about magic, a good necromancer who sets out to face and then save the world from the more run of the mill evil necromancer with an overlord complex. It was well written, but it is definitely a coming of age in a fantastical setting, and we all know how much patience I have for moody teenagers. Still, it was a good read
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-06 11:52:22.
(Language: English)
Interesting and somewhat intriguing, sometimes even exciting. It is more than a little naive though, I guess I'm a bit too old to really appreciate it. It does however present some new concepts but the overall feeling is that "Sabriel" is yet another fantasy book that proves that just because of that it doesn't end up as a great book. I might however recommend it to younger readers (12-17 or so).
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Tammy posted a review at 2011-03-08 12:58:47.
(Language: English)
I can't say that it's not a good book. I started to read it but couldn't get into it. Just not my genre I guess.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-01 07:52:39.
(Language: English)
An epic dark fantasy, complete with zombies, necromancers, seers, magic swords, machine guns, and a really badass cat. This story has a more original take on the standard Medieval Europe fantasy setting, which is a nice break from the usual. The characters are interesting, realistic, and very well-written (as is the entire book). A must-read for anyone who enjoys stories about undead monstrosities. And badass cats.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-23 04:54:10.
(Language: English)
Although the mood of the book is dark it is just like a good horror movie or a good roller coaster it leaves a big grin on your face and a satisfied feeling inside. It requires a bit of maturity but is directed towards teens. Sabriel is a refreshingly human heroine who is thrust suddenly into a plot thicker than she can imagine. Her bewilderment is very genuine and the reader easily empathizes with her. Her rather out of touch companion Touchstone (it's a long story let's just say that there was a dead magician who delighted in tampering with time) provides both comic relief and valuable insights into the extraordinary plot. The ending leaves you hanging a bit but it's only the first book. I only hope the sequel is just as good. An extraordinarily original novel that is a classic in the making.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-09-27 03:54:32.
(Language: English)
My favourite book in this entrancing series!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-03 04:00:02.
(Language: English)
all i can say is pageturner i loved reading this book fantastic teenager/adult read. i am very keen to read the rest of the series. garth nix has written another winner and i would love to see ths film become a movie. i can not praise Nix enough and i cant find describe how good this book is. a highly recommend read for any one who loves a pageturning and exiciting fantasy novel. Nix deals with how an 18 year old deals with a giant responsbilty of keeping the dead dead and the loss of her father and also frist love. a wonderfull read
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Heather posted a review at 2011-04-27 03:29:21.
(Language: English)
AHMAZING BOOK! The whole series is EPIC!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-19 03:40:12.
(Language: English)
It's odd to be classifying a book about a necromancer as just right for teens and tweens, but it is. It's a decent story for a grownup to read also.
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Jenna posted a review at 2012-01-27 11:25:09.
(Language: English)
Absolutely amazing. Couldn't put it down - from start to finish! I seriously cannot wait to pick up the second book in the series!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-18 01:22:11.
(Language: English)
My mum picked this up one summer when I was in middle school to read herself...and then my Da and I lied it too. Sabriel was born in the Old Kingdom, on the other side of the Wall. The Old Kingdom is crumbling, besieged by a decay that is about to complete its quest to destroy the Charter, that which keeps order in the Old Kingdom. But she has been educated in Ancelstierre, on the side of the wall where magic does not work but electricity does. She is the daughter of the Abhorsen, the person who's job it is to combat necromancy and keep the Dead in death. This involves an intimate knowledge of necromancy and Death itself. When her father falls prey to the forces that seek to tear apart the Old Kingdom, Sabriel returns to her homeland to try to save him...but there is much that she does not know and the forces she must combat are far beyond her ability. She is reluctantly aided by sarcastic Mogget, a terrible creature usually bound to serve the Abhorsen, and by Touchstone, a mysterious young man who was trapped in death, though not dead. I love this book, the whole world. Garth Nix really created a special, interesting, and darkly romantic world. I really liked Sabriel herself, and of course, I appreciated Mogget a lot.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-12-08 12:43:00.
(Language: English)
Very nice book. It's a fantasy book though it all felt "real". Garth Nix has created a solid world where magic and danger coexist. It's a thrilling marriage of adventure, choice and sacrifice, death and life, cat and prince. It was great reading it. Hard to get into the story at the beginning, slow and confusing, but then it gets positively absorbing. I'm looking forward to reading Lirael and Abhorsen. I can't hide though how disappointed I was when I found out that Sabriel was not the main Hero in these sequels. I hope they are just as good as the first book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-03 05:22:52.
(Language: English)
Sabriel, first in a trilogy, is a very good book. It is one of the first books for the author and therefore I'm quite lenient with the rating. I think it's more like a 4-4.25.... because it had a few flaws. For example, the first 60 pages are terribly boring; filled with lengthy descriptions. The next 60 pages get better and after that the book comes into its own. I suppose I understand why there's so much description in the first half of the novel. Nix is trying to paint a completely different world from our own (altho it's quite obviously mirroring the border between England, "Angleterre" in French, and Scotland, divided by a completed wall- Hadrian's). The fact that Sabriel travels alone for that half of the book into the old kingdom (erm Scotland!) only takes away from the book because there is no dialogue nor much of interaction. What makes me give this book a 4.5 is the fact that Nix does manage to create a wonderfully imaginative world, full of detail and the most beautiful ideas on death and it's connection to music and necromancy. Definitely will read the rest of the series!
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-07 05:58:16.
(Language: English)
After Sabriel's father sends her his necromancer's sword and bells, Sabriel leaves her school and travels into the Old Kingdom to find him. Throughout her journey, she must continually pass through death. Along the way, Sabriel befriends Mogget, a seemingly innocent white cat that hosts a dangerous free magic spirit inside, and Touchstone, a prince who has been awakened from sleeping the past 200 years and is plagued by horrible memories. Together, the three of them fight death creatures and eventually make it to the reservoir, where Sabriel's destiny is revealed. She and Touchstone fight to survive when death's call is so inviting; to save the Old Kingdom from evil and keep the few remaining Charter Stones standing.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-04 06:35:15.
(Language: English)
If you enjoy reading fantasy, and would like a new take on it in general, and on magic and even death, specifically, then this is a must-read. It includes bells used to control the Dead, Dead spirits returning to Life and wreaking havoc, and a teenage girl who suddenly has the fate of an entire Kingdom resting on her shoulders, with very little besides her wits, bells, a talking cat named Mogget (who is more that what he seems), and the Book of the Dead to help her against seemingly impossible odds. This is a wonderful book, well thought-out and beautifully written.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-08 10:24:43.
(Language: English)
My intrest in Nix's books came about as I received a pep talk from him because I was doing NaNoWriMo. After finding out he was an author, I wanted to read his work(since Im nerdy like that XD).What can I say about Sabriel that does it justice? It's a great book is too...bland. A wonderful epic fits better. A wonderfully well written amazing epic might just do the trick. The main character Sabriel is probably the most original character I've ever read about. It helps that this is the first fantasy novel dealing with people who could go between life and death. Great original characters, one kick ass plot/heroine/action...need I say more?
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-28 10:32:33.
(Language: English)
Just finished the first book in the trilogy. I thought it was excellent. Written for the "young adult", but quite enjoyable for adults as well. In fact, the writing is fantastic - particularly the metaphors. It's a fantasy, and the world creation and story are both fantastical and quite original. I'm already in to the 2nd book. (And FYI for those such as myself who screwed up the order and read the third volume first...the story of the third book is generations ahead of the first and so everything is new and original, so it all worked out well!)
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-25 01:40:11.
(Language: English)
Brilliant fantasy, aimed at the young adult reader but like many such books, with a far wider audience. It's a world you half-recognise, full of magics that you don't. This is the first book I've ever read which handles Death in this way... Sabriel's father the Abhorsen kept death and dead things dead, back on the right side of death. Now he's gone and Sabriel, half-trained, sets off into the old kingdom to try to find him. She has to enter the waters of death herself, and try not to be trapped there, unable to return to life... It's chilling and uplifting too, and Sabriel is a warm and likeable heroine. Ten our of ten to Nix, whose other books are well worth a look.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-04-10 08:06:57.
(Language: English)
An amazing book series everyone should read!!
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Jenna posted a review at 2012-02-17 05:32:08.
(Language: English)
An excellent end to a wonderful trilogy! Might be the strongest book out of the whole series!
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-17 06:47:18.
(Language: English)
Decent read with interesting magic concept but otherwise pretty standard fantasy. Enchanted bells to control the dead is curiously similar to old Chinese zombie movies. Unfortunately, these concepts are not elaborated enough. The story itself is nothing special and quite cliche. The plot flow seem a bit forced. There are instances where the next place to go just felt tacked on right then to advance the plot. The author also likes to use commas a lot which can be detracting from enjoying the story.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-15 04:44:59.
(Language: English)
Very interesting story. Kind of like Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter. This is the first book in the Abhorsen series. It involves a young girl who has the blood of a necromancer in her. While at school she gets a message from Death. Her father, the Abhorsen is trapped there. This begins a quest that Sabriel must follow to save both her father and the old kingdom; becoming the new Abhorsen along the way. Very good. Can't wait to bury my nose in Lirial.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-08-08 07:27:26.
(Language: English)
My favorite out of the whole series
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-26 12:40:23.
(Language: English)
I read this book for my Fantasy class and am now re-reading it! It is awesome! Sabriel is the first book in the Abhorsen Trilogy and it is very cool! Sabriel goes to finishing school and is thinking about her future until a messenger tells her her father Abhorsen (which unknown to her is his title) has gone missing and she goes on a dangerous quest to the Old kingdom to rescue him, joined by Free Magic cat/servant Moggart, and Touchstone, who's lost his memory and discovers her own very special destiny--one that she's not exactly happy about.
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Jennifer posted a review at 2009-11-15 04:55:11.
(Language: English)
Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com The first thing that hit me when I finished reading this book was that I should have read it much sooner. I'd been meaning to read it for the past six or seven years but never quite getting around to it--and that was a mistake. In SABRIEL, Garth Nix introduces the reader to a compelling fantasy world that comes alive through the actions of the title character and others. The Old Kingdom is a place of magic, both Charter magic, wielded by those with some connection to the ancient Charter that bound magic to benevolent purposes, and Free Magic, the creatures that escaped the binding and defy the Charter. Free Magic is also used by necromancers desiring to defy the Charter by animating dead bodies. Only one person, the Abhorsen, combines use of Charter and Free Magic for the purpose of returning dead spirits to their final rest and dead bodies to their graves. As the Abhorsen's daughter, and herself Abhorsen-in-Waiting, Sabriel must learn how to use the Abhorsen's tools to venture into Death and bind destructive spirits so they cannot cause harm to others. However, things in the Old Kingdom are becoming more and more dangerous by the minute, and as a result Sabriel grows up in Ancelstierre, the Old Kingdom's southern neighbor, close enough to the border that she is able to learn and practice Charter Magic, but far enough removed that she is ignorant of the customs and traditions of her home country. The story begins when eighteen-year-old Sabriel, about to finish preparatory school in Ancelstierre, receives a messenger from her father, carrying the bells and sword of the Abhorsen, a signal that he is in danger and requires her help. Sabriel must cross over into the Old Kingdom, a place she knows little about, and somehow find a way to save her father from whatever fate has befallen him before his spirit is pulled too far into Death. Along the way, she meets a fickle magical spirit in the form of a talking cat named Mogget, the traditional helpmeet of a long line of Abhorsens, and a former Royal Guard called Touchstone who has been frozen in the form of a ship's figurehead for the past two hundred years. Together, Sabriel, Mogget, and Touchstone journey through the Old Kingdom as they learn more about the necromancer who has tried to kill Sabriel's father and who will wreak destruction upon the land on both sides of the border if they cannot stop him. Nix's writing is lean and easy to read, creating characters whose thoughts are clear and whose motives are intensely human. The relationship that develops between Sabriel and Touchstone is emotionally real and rich, and I enjoyed reading about all of their interactions. Even secondary characters are detailed and have personalities of their own. I was also impressed by Nix's concept of magic, which is deeper and more textured than the point-and-spell world of Harry Potter or countless other similar stories (although this book will certainly appeal to fans of the former class of fantasy). In the Old Kingdom, performing magic depends upon a deep knowledge of the required Charter marks, and in Sabriel's case, upon her mastery of the seven bells that assist the necromancer's trade by helping command the dead. This book is truly original--I have not seen anything like it before.
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