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A review by meghaha
Sabriel by Garth Nix
5.0
I stayed up to the 3am finishing this even though I was re-reading it. Granted, I forgot a lot of what happened since I haven't read Sabriel in years. Still, it's not often that I find it impossible to put a book down.
Coming back to this novel, it surprised me just how action-filled the plot is. There's never a moment's break, and it takes on the structure and beats of a thriller, while still managing to construct an amazingly imaginative fantasy world. There's consequently not as much character development as I thought I remembered -- there's just no time to explore the characters' feelings or personality in depth. Sabriel is going through a lot, but since she's fighting for her life the whole novel, there's barely any time for her to process it. Somehow, it works, though I think now that I'm older, I probably would've welcomed more slower scenes and attention to emotional arcs. Then again, maybe it's the pared down intensity of this book that makes it so good. I do recall Lirael, a longer book, as being my favorite of the series, though I can't remember if the extra pages are due to a slower pace or more expansive plot.
Again, I have to restate how impressed I am by how creative Nix is in his worldbuilding. At a glance, zombies and a magic wall aren't anything new, but the imagination lies in the details, like the named bells to do necromantic magic, the rules of the Charter Magic system, and the atmosphere created by juxtaposing a circa 1910's society on one side of wall with a magic kingdom on the other. These inventive details -- like the dead using a bridge of grave dirt to overcome running water, the recalcitrant sendings, a Sleeping Prince imprisoned in a ship's figurehead -- are all just so cool.
I always feel extremely pleased when a favorite from my childhood holds up when reread as an adult, and Sabriel is still one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.
Coming back to this novel, it surprised me just how action-filled the plot is. There's never a moment's break, and it takes on the structure and beats of a thriller, while still managing to construct an amazingly imaginative fantasy world. There's consequently not as much character development as I thought I remembered -- there's just no time to explore the characters' feelings or personality in depth. Sabriel is going through a lot, but since she's fighting for her life the whole novel, there's barely any time for her to process it. Somehow, it works, though I think now that I'm older, I probably would've welcomed more slower scenes and attention to emotional arcs. Then again, maybe it's the pared down intensity of this book that makes it so good. I do recall Lirael, a longer book, as being my favorite of the series, though I can't remember if the extra pages are due to a slower pace or more expansive plot.
Again, I have to restate how impressed I am by how creative Nix is in his worldbuilding. At a glance, zombies and a magic wall aren't anything new, but the imagination lies in the details, like the named bells to do necromantic magic, the rules of the Charter Magic system, and the atmosphere created by juxtaposing a circa 1910's society on one side of wall with a magic kingdom on the other. These inventive details -- like the dead using a bridge of grave dirt to overcome running water, the recalcitrant sendings, a Sleeping Prince imprisoned in a ship's figurehead -- are all just so cool.
I always feel extremely pleased when a favorite from my childhood holds up when reread as an adult, and Sabriel is still one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.