The charter stones are broken, the royal line is extinct and the dead walk among the living once more, this is the Old Kingdom, A once great land, where the charter magically bound all things, containing the free magic that is otherwise Inimical to life, but now it is a dying land, one that may never rise again.

Borne in the Old Kingdom, but raised in Ancelstierre, a kingdom to the south one where reality works differently and there is no magic, Sabriel is the Daughter of Abhorsen, a necromancer but not of the common kind, for Abhorsen is part of the charter, granted the ability to travel between life and death and given the power and duty to put the dead to rest. Shortly before Sabriel is to graduate, she receives a package from her father containing the grim tools of Abhorsen’s vocation. Sabriel must take up the sword with which AAbhorsen can slay the dead and free magic creatures alike, and the bells that ring out, commanding both the living and those living no more, but being only eighteen and knowing little of magic and even less of the Old Kingdom, is Sabriel ready for what lies in wait for her? Joined by a soldier frozen for two hundred years for failing the queen and a cat that is really a powerful free magic creature bound to serve the Abhorsen’s line, Sabriel must find her father and face down what ever was strong enough to slay A man who freely walked in death.

If you asked me how many times I’ve read this book, I’d not be able to tell you, at least once every couple years since I discovered it when I was fifteen. To me there is something timeless about this dark coming of age story. Garth Nix is a master of mood, knowing exactly how dark he can bring it before he needs to lighten things up a bit, so as to keep it from crossing from fantasy into horror. Sabriel herself is a delightful character, and watching her slowly grow into her power and realize that her quest isn’t to save her father but to take up his mantle is at once poignantly sad and somewhat cathartic. The rest of the main cast is small, really just being Touchstone the unfrozen soldier from before the kingdom declined, and listening to him doubt and pity himself is just as irritating to the reader as it is to his companions, but watching him overcome it and become who he was always meant to be is really inspiring, or at least I felt it was as a teenager with self-esteem issues, and Mogget a free magic construct in the form of a cat and bound to the Abhorsen’s line, who is really there to expos it to the reader, provide a little comedic snark and to prod the other characters into motion. Nevertheless, this literary trio found a way into my heart and have remained there for about twenty years now.

I do need to talk about the mood a little bit. This fantasy is dark, sometimes really dark, but not in the modern way, not in the no one is really good or bad and all do terrible things in a hopeless world kind of way. Sabriel is dark in a tragic kind of way, in a losing everything that makes you feel safe and normal kind of way, in a stepping into a nightmare that you really feel school should have prepared you for but absolutely didn’t kind of way. In short it’s dark in the capturing all the fear about growing up and turning it into a fantasy, well that and dead things, lots and lots of dead things, though surprisingly few on screen, or I guess on page deaths.

My one caveat for this book, before I go into who should read it is this, I don’t know how you might enjoy this, if you didn’t grow up with it. I tried to read it with an eye to adult sensibilities, but you know how it goes with those things you loved from your youth, no matter how you try, those rose tinted glasses get lodged firmly in place. So maybe give this a miss if you are at a stage in your life where coming of age stories don’t work for you anymore, and even a little teen angst is too much.

I’d recommend Sabriel to anyone who was ever overwhelmed about growing up and what that means, anyone who likes their fantasy on the darker side but with clear cut good guys, and teenage goths and those of us who are still teenage goths at heart.

Five out of five stars

If you’d like to get a copy, you can do that HERE, or audio HERE, it’s read by Tim Curry and it’s amazing, also check out Garth Nix’s site for books and all the other good things,

And if you want to buy our book, the amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising, you can do that on Amazon, from Barnes and Noble from Inkshares, or audio from Audible,

If you want to give any feedback or suggest a book for me to review, you can reach us at https://theamaranthchronicles.com/contact