Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2743 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 526 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Middle books in fantasy trilogies are sometimes disappointing, but Garth Nix has created in Lirael a fine successor to Sabriel that both complements its precursor and sets up a mouth-watering dénouement for the final instalment in Abhorsen. Nix continues by setting this new story in the neighbouring worlds of Ancelstierre (no magic) and The Old Kingdom (lots of magic) but introduces several new and substantial characters that are as strong and fascinating as those in the first book.

In the Old Kingdom, while the Abhorsen Sabriel is off fighting the undead, who are waking in worryingly ever-increasing numbers, Lirael is alone in the glacial mountain kingdom of the Clayr dreaming of when she will receive the gift of "the sight"--which all true daughters of Clayr possess. She fills the long wait with years of self-taught charter magic and investigations into what lies in the depths of the Clayr library--a truly vast and ancient place.

In Ancelstierre, Prince Sameth, son of Sabriel and designated Abhorsen-in-waiting, is battling with his own inner demons. His own familiarity with charter magic is limited and it even sometimes scares him. This weight of expectation is crystallised when he is attacked by an evil necromancer intent on killing him. Sameth barely escapes with his life.

In these times of increased undead activity, Sabriel suspects a greater force at work. Sameth must return to the Old Kingdom and learn fast to help counter this enormous threat while Lirael too must play her part. She is a girl with an important destiny and is sent out towards the area of darkness and mystery that holds the key to what has been happening. Nix's imagination continues to impress all and his Sabriel trilogy is so far proving to be the award-winning spectacle that it has promised to be. The book is recommended for ages 10 and above. --John McLay

Synopsis
When the future is unclear, who holds the key to destiny? Sequel to the spellbinding, award-winning fantasy adventure, SABRIEL. Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Abandoned by her mother and ignorant of her father's identity, Lirael resembles no one else in her large, extended family living in the Clayr's Glacier. She doesn't even have the Sight -- the ability to See into the present and possible futures -- that is the very birthright of the Clayr. Nonetheless, it is Lirael in whose hands the fate of the Old Kingdom lies. she must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil -- one that opposes the Royal Family, blocks the Sight of the Clayr, and threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, to help her, Lirael must find the courage to seek her own hidden destiny. Garth Nix draws readers deeper into the magical landscape of the Old Kingdom and weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny and danger.

From the Publisher
Question and Answer with Garth Nix:

What is your favourite piece of clothing?
My R. M. Williams elastic-sided boots
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 3 things would you want to have with you?
I presume a satellite phone is out of the question, so:
1. "The How to Survive on a Deserted Island Manual"
2. A knife or machete
3. A very large clear plastic tarpaulin
Describe yourself in 3 words.
Absent-minded writer guy
What time do you get up in the morning?
Usually between 4:45am and 7:00am depending upon my young son. Preferably closer to 7:00am!
Do you have any pets? What are their names?
No pets, unless you count the two swallows that are building a nest under the canopy above my office door. Maybe I should give them names.
What are 3 things you love about where you live?
The sea, the trees, the birds
What makes you most happy?
A cup of tea, a good book and my family around me
Did you like school? What was your favourite subject?
I sometimes liked school. My favourite subject was History. Or maybe English. Or Drama.
When did you start writing and what gave you the inspiration to start?
I started writing stories when I was six or seven, but didn't seriously try to write and get published till I was nineteen.
What do you like to read? And what book are you reading now?
I like to read all sorts of books. I'm currently reading a history of Venice by John Julius Norwich.
What was the first book you can remember reading?
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
What is your favourite TV programme and pop band?
My favourite TV program is an old one, Dr Who. My favourite pop band changes, but I guess my all-time favourite would be The Beatles.
What is your perfect holiday?
Taking it easy at a beach house on the NSW South Coast in late Spring, before lots of people go there
If you could travel back in time, who would you be and why?
I would like to be all sorts of people, but I wouldn't mind being a long-lived, healthy medieval king who died in bed at an advanced age, mourned by all.
What is your favourite food?
Sausages and mash
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Give some of it away, invest the rest in interesting projects like making films, or producing a play, or re-publishing some old books that have disappeared
What is your favourite sport?
Fishing
If you could be invisible for the day, where would you go?
The Invisible Club, though it's a pain to find and you keep bumping into people
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Where I live now, near the beach in Sydney
What is your ideal Saturday/weekend?
To be at home with my family, with no obligation to do anything or be anywhere
If you had 3 wishes from a genie what would it be?
That would depend upon the nature of the wishes. If I could make really big wishes for other people I would wish:
* For everyone in the world to be healthy and vigorous (and if that was too hard for the genie, then I'd try for all children to be healthy and vigorous)
* For all the weapons in the world to turn into flowers
* For everyone to be able to experience compassion and understand kindness
If the wishes had to be for myself, I would wish for:
* A really good singing voice
* Extremely good health for my whole family
* A small very comfortable castle on a large private island in Sydney Harbour

Customer Reviews

Daughter of magic
Garth Nix changed the face of dark fantasy (usually just horror with a prettier cover) with his instant hit "Sabriel." It spun up an alternate world full of un-cute talking animals, deadly and dark magic, and a likably strong heroine.

And he doesn't disappoint in "Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr," a strong sequel that reenters the world of the Old Kingdom, and brings out a new threat and new heroes to combat it. Without missing a step, "Lirael" follows in "Sabriel"'s footsteps, with the same dark blend of humor and horror.

Lirael is a daughter of the Clayr, but she won't be a full Clayr until she gains the Sight. On her fourteenth birthday, she is the oldest girl to not yet have gained the Sight.

After contemplating suicide, Lirael is assigned to work in the library, and inadvertently sets loose a hideous Free Magic creature. Desperate to deal with her mistake, Lirael calls up the Disreputable Dog (somehow made both of Free and Charter Magic), and soon finds ancient birthrights and buried secrets in the Clayr's citadel. And before she knows it, she's being sent off to deal with a rising evil in the Old Kingdom...

Elsewhere, Sabriel's teenage son Sameth has his final day of school disrupted by a swarm of Dead, and a mysterious necromancer who is attempting to enslave him (but nabs his best friend Nick instead). After months of ever-growing fear and confusion, Sameth sets out in secret to accompany Nick to the Old Kingdom -- but he finds that he's in far more danger outside the castle walls...

"Lirael" is somewhat different from Garth Nix's first Abhorsen book, in that it takes a long time to wind up to the action. Instead, he takes the time to explore the rich world of modern/high fantasy that he's conjured, and spins up an increasingly complex plot with everything from endangered immigrants to a masked necromancer of mysterious origins.

And Nix spins a truly exquisite little world in here -- we have glacial citadels, medieval castles and British boarding schools, full of ice, shadows, malignant creatures and dark forests. And there's plenty of gruesome content -- rotting bodies, the Book of the Dead, or the secret plot of the evil necromancer. Yet he never forgets to include little moments of humor, such as the magic-animals' frequent snippy remarks, Nick's flaky missives, or Sameth's schoolmates singing their school song during an attack from the military and Dead.

And old favorites return -- we have thirtysomething Touchstone and Sabriel, as well as a cameo by the dangerous kitty Mogget. And while they often seem rather overburdened with angst, Nix handles Lirael and Sameth well -- one of them is a perpetual outsider who is only just finding her place in the world, and the other is a prince who is literally terrified of what is expected of him. The scenes where he gets panic attacks at the Book of the Dead is well done, and makes the dissatisfied boy seem like more than a bored prince.

The Disreputable Dog is a lot like Mogget, in that she's more than she seems and a handy source of info, but not as quietly menacing as Mogget was and is. She's more humorous and maternal. Ellimere was the one character who fell flat; she seemed a little too "bossy princess" with few dimensions beyond that.

The biggest problem with "Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr" is that it ends on a "to be continued" note. But from beginning to end, this delicious sequel is dark, funny, creepy, and gloriously creative.

Slightly Disappointed

After reading Sabriel which i loved, i was slightly disappointed with Lirael, i felt it dragged on an little, i really liked the character of Lirael and the Disrteputable Dog and loved the part of the story about them and it was great to welcome back Mogget, but i felt Sameth was a bit dull, his charachter started off very well when they were attacked coming from the Cricket, he was in the thick of it sorting out everything but i felt it kinda went on a little too much about the fact that he didnt want to be the Abhorsen in Waiting, and he came across to be a bit whiney about it all.

Overall the book was good and i am looking forward to Abhorsen and the Finale of the Series.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
The second book in Garth Nix's ABHORSEN trilogy picks up fourteen years after Sabriel leaves off, and begins to focus on a new generation of characters; for this reason, it's definitely best to read the trilogy in order. Part One is centered on Lirael, a member of a race known as the Clayr, renowned for their ability to See into the future. Unfortunately, Lirael at the age of fourteen still has not received the Sight, something nearly unheard-of in Clayr society. To make matters worse, her dark hair and pale skin mean that she doesn't even look like the other Clayr. Her mother, a Daughter of the Clayr, disappeared in Lirael's childhood, and she never knew the identity of her father. Eventually, Lirael begins to work in the Library in the Glacier where the Clayr live, but even the work she does there cannot distract her from her continued lack of the Sight.

Meanwhile, problems are mounting both in the Old Kingdom and in Ancelstierre. The Abhorsen Sabriel and her husband, Touchstone, restored to his position as King, have been ruling the Old Kingdom and doing the best to keep the Dead from disrupting life, but after twenty years of their rule things are still chaotic. Prince Sameth, their youngest child and widely known as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, encounters a necromancer while at school in Ancelstierre, there are wars in the far South, and unrest mounts within the Old Kingdom itself. A series of events lead Lirael to leave the Glacier in search of a boy the Clayr have Seen her with, since they have also Seen that this possible future is the only way to avoid the destruction of their world as they know it. Along the way she meets Sameth, with his own personal reason for finding the same young man as Lirael, and the two of them try to work out the secrets of their shared past and uncertain future.

While at first I was disappointed that the story no longer focused on Sabriel, who I'd come to love in the previous book of the trilogy, Lirael quickly grew into a character in whom I was equally interested. Her personal struggle between her desire to belong as Clayr and the nagging knowledge that she was meant for some other purpose in the world was well-written and believable. Her companion, a construct of Free and Charter Magic known only as the Disreputable Dog, was a satisfying enigma of a character. And while Sameth was at times more annoying than regal, there is no denying that his fear of Death and pursuing the calling of the Abhorsen was compelling. I was also glad to see that Sabriel and Touchstone didn't disappear entirely from the narrative. Though they played dramatically smaller roles in the storyline, I enjoyed every scene that they were in together.

The end of this book took me by surprise, as the major external conflict had not been solved by the end of it. It's not a book you want to finish if you don't have the following novel on hand! However, the book does come to an emotional climax and conclusion; although the external threat has not been dealt with, the characters are certainly in a different place at the end of the story than at the beginning, and the development of this book proves necessary for the actions that they undertake in the third and final book of the trilogy. If you're looking for lots of apocalyptic battle sequences, this is not quite the right book, but as a story of emotional and personal growth, the novel sparkles.

Reviewed by: Candace Cunard