Reviews
2.75 stars
this reminded me of the books i read when i was in elementary school - magic boarding school for magic kids in another dimension, except the characters have graduated. the tapestry vibes and i adored it. sabriel is wonderful. the character relationships are also pretty good too. i think some people would think it’s rushed, forgiveness doled out too quickly, but it reads as realistic to me.
** spoiler alert ** The book tells the story of Sabriel, the daughter of Abhorson. She received her father's necromancy tool, meaning he was either dead or alive. In an attempt to find her father, Sabriel leaves school. The adventure that follows is the story of her battle against the evil greater dead as the new Abhorson. This was a book I read in middle school. Sabriel was a decent fantasy novel. As far as the second book goes, I can't remember if I read it or not. The story relies heavily on an underdeveloped magic system. In my understanding, it involves speaking certain words that follow strict rules but are never fully explained to the audience. The most frustrating part is that there’s no build to the magic, it’s just there. I really wish I had liked Sabriel more than I actually did. I felt no connection with Sabriel since her emotions were rarely expressed, instead there was a massive amount of description about many other things that caused me to yawn endlessly. Her love interest is - well, not interesting. He was flat and dull. Between the magic mayhem and the bland-to-non-existent-love, I never formed an emotional connection to any of the main characters or the plot. It felt like I was being dragged on a journey rather than eagerly plunging into a new series. I don’t see myself continue this series.
I'm 27 years late on this book and what a wonderful adventure it was. One of my favorite reads of the year so far.
3.5
Reading this series is like coming home.
** spoiler alert ** The book tells the story of Sabriel, the daughter of Abhorson. She received her father's necromancy tool, meaning he was either dead or alive. In an attempt to find her father, Sabriel leaves school. The adventure that follows is the story of her battle against the evil greater dead as the new Abhorson. This was a book I read in middle school. Sabriel was a decent fantasy novel. As far as the second book goes, I can't remember if I read it or not. The story relies heavily on an underdeveloped magic system. In my understanding, it involves speaking certain words that follow strict rules but are never fully explained to the audience. The most frustrating part is that there’s no build to the magic, it’s just there. I really wish I had liked Sabriel more than I actually did. I felt no connection with Sabriel since her emotions were rarely expressed, instead there was a massive amount of description about many other things that caused me to yawn endlessly. Her love interest is - well, not interesting. He was flat and dull. Between the magic mayhem and the bland-to-non-existent-love, I never formed an emotional connection to any of the main characters or the plot. It felt like I was being dragged on a journey rather than eagerly plunging into a new series. I don’t see myself continue this series.
This was a book recommended to me by my friends Kelsy and Olivia back in college a few years ago. When I found a paperback copy at the local thrift store, I picked it up to finally give it a read. I was optimistic. I'm on the fence as to whether to give it 3.5 or 4 stars, so I gave it 4 on Goodreads. I found the world and the way that the magic worked to be really and truly interesting. I mean, how many stories have you read where magic is powered by musical instruments? The use of bells and runes together made for a really interesting system. Additionally, the way the world worked and how the magic was effectively cordoned off into one section of the world was truly creative. I felt those two aspects of the world were the best aspects of the story. Necromancy and magical kingdoms made this story's world truly memorable. My biggest complaint was that there were fairly few side characters in the book. It takes about 150 pages to get to even so much as meeting the first side character. From there, it's about another hundred I think to the second one. There are only three characters that progress along the main story line of the book. I dearly loved Mogget. He was by far my favorite of the three. I could have done without the romance angle in the story. To be honest, I didn't really think there was any chemistry between them, but maybe that was just me. Touchstone, I felt, was not as compelling a character as he could have been if he had been more developed as a character. Sabriel as a character was very convincing and real, actually. She's just a normal kid who gets a whole lot dumped on her plate and has no idea what to make of it initially but manages to work through it. In a way, it helped to grasp how complicated the magic and the world of the Old Kingdom was to see it through the eyes of someone who was relatively well learned but not as experienced as one such as her father, a famed necromancer in a line of famed necromancers. Ultimately, I think for the world and the magic alone, this book is definitely worth a read and something I would probably recommend to others. My friends, however, tell me that the second book, Lirael, is better than the first. I'm looking forward to continuing on in the Abhorsen series.
This was a difficult one to rate, as I am not the intended audience, neither for age nor genre. When I was in high school, my best friend (and boy did I have a crush on him) LOVED this book. After years of adulthood wasted on poor YA, I wanted to return to some of the roots of YA and read some "classics". I finally got the Audible on a whim, and man does Tim Curry ROCK IT. The story is unique and well-executed. So well written that it made its simplicity rather obvious, and I had to remind myself of the intended audience. This is how YA should be. Simplified, but well written. We've lost this, unfortunately (will I continue to read modern YA? absolutely, but it's equivalent to me watching crappy reality tv). I feel every ding I want to give it can be explained by its target age. I just wish he had written this story for adults and fully fleshed it out. I bought the second book to see if he furthers these concepts. But the story revolves around a girl at a magical school, whose father is a necromancer. Not just any Necromancer, but the Abhorsen, essentially THE necromancer and borderline spiritual leader of the old kingdom. Sabriel is raised in the new kingdom, knowing little of the old world beyond the education from her school and the minor education in necromancy. When the Abhorson goes missing on in death, Sabriel tries to seek him out and finds herself kneedeep in an ancient evil that has plagued many Abhorsens. She is the new Abhorsen until she finds her father, she teams up with a white cat from his house, and a 200-year-old guy whose been awakened to fight this ancient evil and save her dad. This book is smart, well written, and exciting, exactly what I hoped it would be, but so well done, that I want a beefier version for my adult self! I can't wait to read/listen to the rest!
Honestly i can read this book again and again. I love the world building and the difference between the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. Sabriel has a great POV and following her journey and development in this story is great. I read it when i was young and recently found a new copy of the book and read it again this year and it's well worth the time.
Fun, YA escapism. The world building is clunky and makes it difficult to empathize or understand what it going on at times.
