Review: Sabriel

Sabriel (Abhorsen #1)
by Garth Nix
Fantasy
Amazon  /  Goodreads

Plot Summary:

Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him. She soon finds companions in Mogget, a cat whose aloof manner barely conceals its malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories. As the three travel deep into the Old Kingdom, threats mount on all sides. And every step brings them closer to a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own destiny.

With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen trilogy, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether.

Review:

Although I enjoyed reading Sabriel, it wasn't the amazing read I was hoping for.  I can see why it is such a beloved book because the adventures are captivating and also sometimes grisly, and Sabriel's dedication to see her mission through is really inspiring.  It is not easy for her to fulfill her destiny and it is stirring to go on this journey with her.

The world-building is where I was often disenchanted.  It felt like it took awhile to understand the world, because there was so much kept from Sabriel, and also many of the characters could not physically speak about what was going on.  I think if there was a clearer idea of the stakes earlier in the book, it would have held my interest better.  But there are a few other aspects of the world that felt more arbitrary because they were not very well explained or at least I didn't understand how the system came to be.  This was the most disappointing aspect for me, and made it difficult for me to really get into the story.

The characters in this story are varied and well drawn, but I did find that I was not always very invested in them.  I'm not sure why this is, because they all have an interesting dynamic and an exciting backstory but for some reason the combination did not capture me.  The romantic aspect of the story was very dull in my opinion - engineered and underwhelming.  I was underwhelmed by the villain of the story too, who lacked nuance, and was so relentlessly evil without much explanation for why he became what he was.

I have to say again that I did enjoy this story and my rating wavered between 4 and 3 stars.  But even with the exciting and tense climax, I didn't feel like this book had the depth and the intricate, well-explained world-building that would have made it more of a memorable read for me.  It is a good story overall though, and perhaps better when read with the rest in the series, so my personal preference probably plays a large part in how I felt about this book.