This is a great read involving a truly original fantasy. The ‘magic’ used here is not the overused theme involving witches and wizards, elves, dwarves and dragons, but is instead a world completely of Nix’s invention. Although Nix’s excavation of the world within the story is only at the tip of expansion even after the third book of the trilogy, he does an excellent job of developing the fantasy and creating characters that involve several layers within their motivations and personalities. Sabriel is an above average teenager, but she’s still riddled with many of the average teen issues: love for her father, blossoming love for Touchstone, the fear of death and isolation.
The story itself is not anything new, a girl of promise with special abilities is chosen to rescue an entire kingdom with just her wits and knowledge of necromancy. However, Nix delivers it well, and he does an excellent job of painting the world for the imagination of the readers and creating empathy for the characters by giving them depth and relatable human qualities. At no point does it seem that she only overcomes her difficult circumstances by blind luck or chance, or deus ex machina (a god from a machine) where it utilizes all of the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief to be convinced that the ‘good guys’ were able to win in the end. I recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and up.
Critique
This is a great read involving a truly original fantasy. The ‘magic’ used here is not the overused theme involving witches and wizards, elves, dwarves and dragons, but is instead a world completely of Nix’s invention. Although Nix’s excavation of the world within the story is only at the tip of expansion even after the third book of the trilogy, he does an excellent job of developing the fantasy and creating characters that involve several layers within their motivations and personalities. Sabriel is an above average teenager, but she’s still riddled with many of the average teen issues: love for her father, blossoming love for Touchstone, the fear of death and isolation.
The story itself is not anything new, a girl of promise with special abilities is chosen to rescue an entire kingdom with just her wits and knowledge of necromancy. However, Nix delivers it well, and he does an excellent job of painting the world for the imagination of the readers and creating empathy for the characters by giving them depth and relatable human qualities. At no point does it seem that she only overcomes her difficult circumstances by blind luck or chance, or deus ex machina (a god from a machine) where it utilizes all of the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief to be convinced that the ‘good guys’ were able to win in the end. I recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and up.
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