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Jan 04, 2011

Osho rated it:

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2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2011

Suna rated it:

The messages in this book are brilliant. They are truly about being different from the norm, rather than pretending to be, a trap a lot of YA writers fall into.
(Yes, Scott Westerfeld, I mean you.)

It seems that's because Garth Nix first and foremost wanted to write this story, without the need to shove any polemic down the readers' throat.
And such a story.

Even though her deep unhappiness with her life as an Unseeing Clayr was painfully true, Lirael contemplating suic More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Moontail rated it:

As in "Sabriel" and "Lirael," Death is a riverine chasm from which the dead can be called back to the living by powerful necromancers. Only the Abhorsen (Sabriel) or the Abhorsen-in-waiting (Lirael) can pass from life into the river of Death, through the eight Gates of fog, whirlpools, waterfalls, and shadow, and do magical combat with the necromancers in their own dark realm...

Well, the Disreputable Dog can splash into Death, too and in "Abhorsen" you'l More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2007

Jillian rated it:

So now that I'm done with the trilogy I'll say that it was Great. I read the last book so fast, I think I read it in two days? Maybe three. Anyways, the climax is good (and not painfully predictable like book 2) and the characters are developed so well by the end that I was just sucked in. My face even scrunched up at the end when one character... you know. It always happens to someone. The fact that I even thought about crying is quite a feat for an author, since I pride myself on stoicis More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2011

Levina rated it:

Abhorsen takes three-hundred-plus pages to take Lirael, Sam, the Dog and Mogget from Point A - the Abhorsen's house in the Old Kingdom - to Point B - the Lightening Farm in Ancelstierre. Throughout the book, the main goal was to go there, fast fast fast, hurry hurry hurry hurry. It is much the same in the first book, Sabriel. Some might find it exciting and adventurous but I simply found it tiring.

When they reach Ancelstierre, they must stop stop stop the hemispheres hemispheres hem More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2008

Anne rated it:

A continuation of the prior book, Lirael, Abhorsen picks up in the middle of the action, as Lirael and Sam get ready to face what lies ahead. They know they need to rescue Sam's friend Nick, but they have no clue as to the Evils they will face on the way. Through turmoil and heartache the two must draw on every strength they possess, but will they prevail against the Destroyer?

I did like this book, but the whole time I knew I was reading it because of the unfinished Lirael. So, it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Krissa rated it:

So everything I held against Book Two, Lirael, was released in Abhorsen. The book races, literally and figuratively - I read it in a day. The climax is beautiful, BEAUTIFUL, with all the characters you love and hate from all three books playing their part with some powerful punches. It also drags torturously through some characters' descents into madness which is, well, maddeningly written, curse Nix and his talent.

I adored this trilogy and wish people would stop resisting me forcin More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 08, 2011

Debora rated it:

E così si conclude la triolgia di Garth Nix.
Misteriosa, affascinante, ambigua ma assolutamente impalpabile.

Da leggere, rileggere e ricordare.

Recensione dettagliata al più presto!

________________________________

Questa volta ho deciso di fare un'unica riflessione complessiva su tutti e tre i volumi (Sabriel- Lirael- Abhorsen) perchè trovo questa saga decisamente complessa ma meritevole di essere letta.

Iniziamo con il dire che Sabriel, il primo, potrebbe essere benissimo considerato un'opera autoco More...

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Nov 24, 2010

Margaret rated it:

Abhorsen is the third book in a series, and it says something about the author s skill that when I opened my mind to his world, I had no trouble at all following what was going on. (Admittedly, that s a skill of mine, but if the author hasn t put the hooks in place, I m just as lost as someone who can t do that.) The story is an end of the world/good vs. evil tale with likeable characters who are struggling to handle what they ve been given. Both of the main characters, Lirael and Sam, gre More...

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Dec 02, 2011

Majanka rated it:

already reviewed the first two books of this trilogy, Sabriel and Lirael, and I have to say that out of all three of these books, I enjoyed Abhorsen the most. It’s like everything finally comes together in a great climax: the characters are well-defined and familiar, so we don’t have to get to know them all over again, which brings us straight into the action. Finally we learn why Prince Sameth is scared of the Realm of the Death, why he never wanted to be an Abhorsen, and what the heck he is if More...

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Nov 10, 2011

Cindy rated it:

A great end to a fantastic trilogy. I'm lumping in my thoughts on Lirael with Abhorsen. Altogether, I have only three minor complaints about the pair of them. First, Lirael got off to a very slow start. Made it a bit hard to get into, especially because I loved the character of Sabriel so much. It would have been better if the book had started with something exciting right away to get readers to transition from Sabriel to Lirael better. Second, Lirael's progression as a character suddenly seemed More...

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May 30, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Garth Nix is one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint me. It has a good balance between suspense, action, and conflict, and the characters are likable and realistic. I do think it drags just a bit, though. It takes forever for them to get anywhere or get anything done, and the climax starts about two thirds of the way through. I guess it's because this book and the second one in the series, Lirael, could pretty much be combined together into one giant book and work. Regardles More...

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Jan 03, 2011

Marc rated it:

Many of you may not have heard of this series… I picked it up by complete chance about 5/6 years ago when visiting a relative. I forgot the book I was currently reading (Magicians Guild) and was kinda bored over the weekend there. Still having 5 days left on my trip, I walked past a charity shop and sat in the window was a book called ‘Sabriel’. Now, to me it looked ‘fantasy-ish’ so I picked it up…

The book was so amazing that by the end of the holiday I was almost finished on the third More...

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Feb 10, 2010

Amanda rated it:

In the Beginning there were nine Bright Shiners. One of these, Orannis, was also known as the Destroyer. Seven of the nine bound Orannis and broke his entity into two hemispheres. In the process they also bound Yrael - a Free Magic entity who was not willing to join the Charter. This binding and the co-operation of the Seven led to the creation of the bloodlines - the royal family, the Clayr, the Abhorsen - in the future. These carry the Great Charter in their blood - and are the only people abl More...

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Jan 03, 2010

Beth rated it:

This highly-anticipated sequel is a conclusion to Sabriel (Harper ,1996) and Lirael (Harper, 2001) that doesn't disappoint. The delicate balance between good and evil is once again upset in the Old Kingdom. The dead are restless after nearly eighteen years of rebuilding and peace under the reign of King Touchstone and Queen Sabriel, while the New Kingdom grows more corrupt with each passing day. The Clayr are unable to see a clear future, and as the king and queen go missing (believed to be dead More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2012

Jamie rated it:

This is the final book in the Abhorsen trilogy. Book 2 left us on a major cliffhanger with Lirael and Sameth rushing to the Red Lake to try to stop an unknown force from awakening. In this final book, Lirael must not only confront the Destroyer, but she comes into her own powers as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting.

This book was much more action-packed than the previous 2 books in the series. I felt the others were a bit slow and were hard to get through - not this one! I couldn't put it dow More...

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Jun 30, 2011

Matt rated it:

Wow. I can't even begin to describe how good this book and this series is. Garth Nix weaves an extremely original tale, but unlike some other authors, he made the originality work so that it felt like the book was reality and reality was fiction. Lirael is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, a special person who weilds the seven bells of the necromancer, but unlike the necromancer's who use the magic in the bells to raise the dead, Lirael uses them to send the dead back into Death and beyond the ninth gate More...

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Mar 24, 2011

Maree ♫ Light's Shadow ♪ rated it:

I thought this was a great final ending to the series! Sam wasn't nearly as pathetic this time around and Lirael kind of found her place in the series. I appreciated the backstory on the world and the bells, and about the Dog and Mogget. Though they were both a lot simpler than I had hoped. I also thought that this book finally allowed the bells to be used a little more and expanded Death a lot more.

<spoiler>But can I just say that binding is a stupid way to stop things? The More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Liz rated it:

I have to agree with other reviewers that _Abhorsen_ feels more like it should've been part of the last book instead of by itself. It does have that "chapter" feel to it, but being able to go directly from the last book to this one helps to alleviate some of the problem. I imagine it was much worse if you had to wait a year for the conclusion. There are still plenty of point of view problems and indeed, Nix seems to have fallen in love with descriptive prose near the end. It becomes ve More...

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Aug 16, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

This book has prompted me to write an alternate ending as part of my review. If you've read Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, it might be funny. If not, it might still highlight some of the problems I had with this book.

As the Seven progressed up the hill into the chaos of ultimate destruction, they were surprised to feel the fire and wind die away. Instead of a pillar of smoking darkness, Lirael saw a red-haired man sitting quietly on a rock, a bundle tied to a stick thrown carelessly ove More...

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Jun 08, 2011

Rhett rated it:

Nix has a habit of making pro storytelling choices. His characters often take actions of the [step over the dead zombie to open a door marked "do not open: zombies and serial killers inside"] variety. For half of the book, the protagonists go on life-threatening adventures with very little direction or justification. Nix gets greedy with his plot, holding on to too many secrets and the story suffers. Halfway through, they the author finally opens the bag and returns a sense of purp More...

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Sep 12, 2009

Becky rated it:

Wow! That was quite a ride. Abhorsen both starts and ends with a bang, literally. Nix does know how to suck a reader right into his stories, and has the prologue technique used to do so perfected, I think. In all three books of the series, the prologue just grabbed me and yanked me into the story. I love that.

So, Lirael, the book, left off with Lirael, the character, and Sam and Mogget making their way to Edge for reasons unknown, except that the Clayr had seen Lirael there. In Abho More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

I liked this, the third and final book in the Abhorsen trilogy. It was a very direct continuation of the 2nd book, Lirael. In it, we follow Lirael and Sameth as they try to stop the necromancer Hedge from unleashing the unknown destructive power in the hemispheres he has dug up at the Red Lake. We also spend some time experiencing Hedge's own experience through the person of Nicholas, Sam's school friend who has been possessed, for lack of a better word, by the dark entity Hedge is serving.
More...

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Apr 18, 2011

Annie rated it:

I think I liked this better than Lirael because the action finally started to come together and people came into themselves and their powers so it was more interesting.
Ideally, I think I'd like for them to have been published as a single book since they really are so much of a single story. Even if that would be a very long book.

At first, I really disliked how the book opened, but I'd absolved him of it by the end. A little bit I felt like it ended too abruptly. Mostly just More...

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Feb 07, 2010

Ktomaskovi rated it:

After the intense last chapter of 'Lirael,' I was about to pee my pants if I couldn't get a copy of 'Abhorsen.' Of course, living in Taiwan makes it difficult to come by books in English- particularly juvenile fiction for nerds like me. However, once 'Abhorsen' was obtained, I finished it in a day. I was quite happy to discover there was absolutely no lag in any of the action that Nix might have been tempted to fall into, in order to properly introduce the book to the morons who might have forg More...

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Jan 23, 2011

~♥Alyssa♥~ rated it:

Wow. Just wow.

....Actually, I'll say a little more than that. I LOVED this series, and this conclusion was great. The ending is completely realistic and satisfying. However, at times I was confused, and it seems to me that there are some loose ends. I still have some questions, like: Is the Disreputable Dog dead or what? Is Mogget free, gone, or still bound? What does Nick end up doing? What happens to Lirael, Sam, Sabriel, etc.?

Though the world and his More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2011

sabisteb rated it:

Song oft the Charter
Der Totenbeschwörer Hedge hat ein dichtes. politisches Netz gesponnen, das nicht nur das alte Königreich umfasst, sondern auch viele Länder jenseits der Mauer. Krieg, Hinrichtungen und Kriegsflüchtlinge sind Teil seines perfiden Plans, erdacht von einem Strippenzieher, der seit Generationen auf der Lauer lag, dem Zerstörer, einem der neun allerersten freien Geister des Anfangs, einer Zeit vor der Charter. Wenn es Hedge gelingt, die Kriegsflüchtlinge ins alte Königreich z More...

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May 28, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Although “Sabriel” is still my favorite book in this trilogy, that isn’t saying so much considering how great the rest of the books are. This final piece is nearly nonstop action and, while it doesn’t include many path-changing surprises like the first two, it’s still great reading. There are more than enough adversaries for the protagonists to deal with, not to mention a subplot including Sabriel (my favorite character). While there are still questions left over at the conclusion, Nix does a go More...

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Aug 15, 2009

Meg rated it:

This series isn't a trilogy so much as it is a single book (Sabriel) and a two part sequel set 20 years later. I was not as thrilled with this book as I was with the first two. Maybe it felt a little predictable within the framework set up by the previous two books. My favorite part of this series is that it is a strong twist on the standard fantasy setting. The universe is familiar to fantasy readers (a magical land alongside a non-magical one) but it's handled in a way that feels fresh.
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Risen rated it:

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4 comments like (1 person liked it)

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