Author:: Garth Nix
Pages: 518
Setting: Ancelstierre, the Old Kingdom, and Death.
Means of Aquiration: No longer sure.
Should it be read on its own? Absolutely not. While reading Sabriel is optional, you need to read Lirael in order to enjoy (and have any idea what is going on during) this book. Trust me. I read Lirael a couple years ago, and even so I found myself fervently wishing I had reread it before tackling Abhorsen. (Sabriel, though it deals with the same motley crew, is a completely seperate story. The events in Lirael and Abhorsen take place twenty years after those of Sabriel, and many of the book's characters have no idea what happened back then.)
Abhorsen is one of those books where I cry at the end. You know the kind--tragic and wonderful at the same time. Heart-racing, heartbreaking excitement--and suddenly you feel as though you've lost your best friend, only seconds after finding out how close you really were.
Absolutely infuriating. And if you happen to be reading in a public space (such as, say, your dormitory's television lounge), you have to make hasty plans as to how to make it back to your room before anyone sees the tears streaking down your face. Because you really don't want to have to explain, to another stranger that when you read books, you cry.
Not that it is a sad book. In fact, it was wonderful, and it even (a spoiler, I suppose, though you'd nearly expect it, anyway) had a happy end, after a fashion.
In any case, it's worth noting that before I first finished Shade's Children, I was enamored of Garth Nix. And by the time I had forgotten all about him and picked up Sabriel, years later (It took several months before I realised he was the fellow who had also written Shade's Children), he was my favorite author before I finished the third chapter. By the time I finished the book, I wanted to kill him--or marry him. It's hard to say with those things.
Of course, that has nothing to do with Abhorsen in particular, except to say that everything I loved and hated about those books was present once again.
In general, it's exciting--more exciting than you would expect, as it focuses for most of the book on a wearying journey and some scattered politics. Very enjoyable, and it brings everything to a thoroughly satisfying end. (After all, though I neglected to mention it earlier, I was smiling through my tears.)
Terrific book. Reminds me of just how much I adored Sabriel, and makes me realise not only that, but also that I love Lirael and Abhorsen in and of themselves, as well. ...though I still need to read Lirael again.
Posted by Sara at January 20, 2006 08:40 PM