Liked Sabriel, love the worldbuilding. Loved Lirael, this second book really drew me into the world. Liked Abhorsen, the last in the trilogy. Really glad I read this trilogy and will probably keep it on my shelf to read again in the future. ( )

This is a huge book even by my standards, and to add to the confusion it is one of those that, by some strange reason is known under a different title depending on where in the world you live; for example in the Authors native Australia this book is entitled The Old Kingdom Chronicles. It is also a trilogy that not many fantasy readers appear to know about. As for me it took me some time to actually finish reading this, and that was not due to its size.

The characters in all three of the books, in my opinion, could have benefitted from a lot more time spent in their development. None of them really gripped me and made me want to invest more of my time in getting to know them. I really was expecting to like the characters, but they were flat and very one dimensional people who seemed to enjoy a lot of walking. You would have to read the books to understand that reference. Having said this, the character of Sabriel in the first book of the three was, by far, the most interesting of any in the Chronicles; she is a determined young woman with a definite plan for her life. When curve balls are thrown at her she is able to adapt and think on her feet making her the most impressionable of all the characters in these books. What really would have helped the characters come into their own in these books would have been more background and explanation into how they learned their skills and came to be in the place they are when the books open.

The world in which these books are set could have been so much more. It was a wonderful concept but I felt that the Author really did not do it justice and, like his character development, it would have benefitted from more time being spent in the descriptive aspects. At no time did I feel as if I had actually been transported into this world and was experiencing the events occurring; in a good fantasy novel a reader should feel themselves transported to the alternate world, as that is part of the pull of this genre.

After buying this trilogy on the recommendation of a friend, I now wish that I had kept my money in my pocket and will be donating my copy to the local library. If long and plodding fantasy books are something you enjoy, this is probably the book series for you; if not I would recommend you give this a miss.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/01/26/review-the-abhorsen-chronicles-the-abhorse...





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
( )

Audiobook narrator Tim Curry - very well done. ( )

This is a huge book even by my standards, and to add to the confusion it is one of those that, by some strange reason is known under a different title depending on where in the world you live; for example in the Authors native Australia this book is entitled The Old Kingdom Chronicles. It is also a trilogy that not many fantasy readers appear to know about. As for me it took me some time to actually finish reading this, and that was not due to its size.

The characters in all three of the books, in my opinion, could have benefitted from a lot more time spent in their development. None of them really gripped me and made me want to invest more of my time in getting to know them. I really was expecting to like the characters, but they were flat and very one dimensional people who seemed to enjoy a lot of walking. You would have to read the books to understand that reference. Having said this, the character of Sabriel in the first book of the three was, by far, the most interesting of any in the Chronicles; she is a determined young woman with a definite plan for her life. When curve balls are thrown at her she is able to adapt and think on her feet making her the most impressionable of all the characters in these books. What really would have helped the characters come into their own in these books would have been more background and explanation into how they learned their skills and came to be in the place they are when the books open.

The world in which these books are set could have been so much more. It was a wonderful concept but I felt that the Author really did not do it justice and, like his character development, it would have benefitted from more time being spent in the descriptive aspects. At no time did I feel as if I had actually been transported into this world and was experiencing the events occurring; in a good fantasy novel a reader should feel themselves transported to the alternate world, as that is part of the pull of this genre.

After buying this trilogy on the recommendation of a friend, I now wish that I had kept my money in my pocket and will be donating my copy to the local library. If long and plodding fantasy books are something you enjoy, this is probably the book series for you; if not I would recommend you give this a miss.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/01/26/review-the-abhorsen-chronicles-the-abhorse...





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
( )

These were fun books.
Sabriel is pretty much a stand-alone book, but the second two are really one novel - Lirael ends right smack in the middle on a cliffhanger, and Abhorsen starts right where it left off...
The trilogy gives us a dual world - one which very strongly resembles Britain in the early twentieth century - and then, across the Wall, the Old Kingdom, a magical land which is currently in a dire state of anarchy and seriously plagued by the Dead - which rise as zombies and make themselves the sort of nuisance that zombies generally do.
Sabriel has been raised at a girls' school in Ancelstierre (Britain), but has always been aware that her father is the Abhorsen, a powerful individual with magical influence over the Dead. But when her father disappears, and Sabriel sets out to find him, she realizes that she has never been aware of even half of her father's abilities and duties... duties which are now on her shoulders, as she realizes that more is at stake than merely her father's life...
The second story (Lirael/Abhorsen) takes place around 20 years later, and deals mostly with the next generation... of course, things are even worse, plots are afoot to bring about the end of the world, necromancers are causing problems, and our young protagonists, Lirael and Sam, must both discover who they truly are, find their path/calling in life, and, oh, save the world. With the help of the snarky magical cat (?), Mogget, and the Disreputable Dog. ( )