A Charter to Entrance (Sabriel - Garth Nix)

Member Name: grahamt

Product:	Sabriel - Garth Nix
Date:	04/01/06 (565 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A masterly first novel from an adept of the genre

Disadvantages: Not a single thing

I have looked at Garth Nix' novels on the shelves of book shops many times and been tempted to try them. However, what has put me off is that they have always been in the Children's section. Now, I realise that books that are classified as children's stories are often not truly so. Just consider Harry Potter. How often have you seen adults reading them? So I bought “Sabriel” and I'm glad I did.

Sabriel is the first book in The Old Kingdom trilogy. Sabriel is somewhat different from the remaining two books in that it is a self-contained story. At the end you aren't left wondering what happened next. It's almost like Nix only intended to write this story and then later decided to continue the theme.

The second story, “Liriel” and the third one “Abhorsen”, differ from Sabriel in that they are most definitely parts one and two of the same story. You almost sense that Liriel should end with a “To be continued” line.

But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's begin at the beginning.

Our story opens in a forest camp site where a child has been delivered to a dying mother. The child is also on the brink of death, indeed, may already be dead. But one man is not going to give up on the child. The man is The Abhorsen, the mother was his lover and the child is his daughter. The Abhorsen will do anything to rescue his child and that includes entering into the realm of Death to bring her spirit back to her body to bring her back to life.

But there is someone in Death, an old adversary, who has designs on the child and will fight The Abhorsen for her. But the child has a trick up her sleeve of her own. The Abhorsen has protected her mortal remains with a Charter Mark and this repels the adversary, giving The Abhorsen the opportunity to steal her back. The child is Sabriel.

And so we see that this is a story in the classic Swords and Sorcery tradition. The magical land is not here where our story begins. Here is Ancelstierre, a land that is modern in the sense that it has all the technology we would recognise, cars, telephones, planes...

Until you get too close to The Wall. The Wall divides the land of Ancelstierre from The Old Kingdom. And The Old Kingdom is a very different place indeed. You can tell this because the time of day and the season on the other side of The Wall is clearly not the same as it is in Ancelstierre even though they are visible to one another. As we will discover, things don't work the same in The Old Kingdom either, if they even work at all.

The Old Kingdom is a land of Magic. The Wall was built to prevent the Magic escaping but Magic has a habit of doing what it wants. Especially if it is Free Magic and Free Magic is the most dangerous magic of all. The Charter was created by ancient Mages to constrain and control Free Magic but there are those who want the power of Free Magic for themselves and will do anything, including trying to destroy the Charter, in order to obtain it.

Leaping forward 18 years we discover Sabriel at school in Ancelstierre. Sabriel is clearly different from her classmates. She has learned the secret of Death herself. She uses it to rescue spirits herself. When she receives a message from her Father back in The Old Kingdom she knows that all is not well and that she must travel back there to find out what is going on.

And so the adventure truly begins.

Garth Nix has created a story of truly gripping proportions. I have rarely read a book that has so concentrated my attention. Time after time I came to the end of a chapter but was unable to out the book down, having to read just a little more each time.

I said that the story is classified as a children's story but it is unusual in that the hero is female, and is not even a child, at 18. Nix weaves a story that calls on familiar themes but brings them together in a very logical and entrancing fashion. All the main characters are clearly drawn and have personalities that are not entirely sympathetic but to which we can all in some way relate.

With Sabriel, Nix has emerged as a writer of the first order. You will hope that Liriel and Abhorsen stand comparison and you will not be disappointed.

Watch this space.

Summary: A Magical tale of daughter's quest to save her Father from Dark Forces