Paperback, 358 pages
English language
Published Jan. 7, 2003 by HarperCollinsPublishers.
The Ninth was strong and fought with might But lone Orannis was put out of the light Broken in two and buried under hill Forever to lie there, wishing us ill.
So says the song. But Orannis, the Destroyer, is no longer buried under hill. It has been freed from its subterranean prison and now seeks to escape the silver hemispheres, the final barrier to the unleashing of its terrible powers.
Only Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, has any chance of stopping the Destroyer. She and her companions -- Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget -- have to take that chance. For the Destroyer is the enemy of all Life, and it must be stopped, though Lirael does not know how.
To make matters worse, Sam's best friend, Nick, is helping the Destroyer, as are the necromancer Hedge and the Greater Dead Chlorr, and there has …
The Ninth was strong and fought with might But lone Orannis was put out of the light Broken in two and buried under hill Forever to lie there, wishing us ill.
So says the song. But Orannis, the Destroyer, is no longer buried under hill. It has been freed from its subterranean prison and now seeks to escape the silver hemispheres, the final barrier to the unleashing of its terrible powers.
Only Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, has any chance of stopping the Destroyer. She and her companions -- Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget -- have to take that chance. For the Destroyer is the enemy of all Life, and it must be stopped, though Lirael does not know how.
To make matters worse, Sam's best friend, Nick, is helping the Destroyer, as are the necromancer Hedge and the Greater Dead Chlorr, and there has been no word from the Abhorsen Sabriel or King Touchstone.
Everything depends upon Lirael. A heavy, perhaps even impossible burden for a young woman who just days ago was merely a Second Assistant Librarian. With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her, and the rather mixed help of her companions, Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the Destroyer.
Before it is too late...
Well, I thought I cried more than humanly possible during the last Harry Potter book but I cried SO MUCH during the last disc of Abhorsen that it put HP to shame. I cried during the Seven, I cried during the Battle, I cried during the transformations, I even cried during the epilogue. I'm severely dehydrated but incredibly happy and thankful these books exist. Garth Nix, please come to my library so I can give you a hug.
I really do love this series.
And this may be my favorite book in it.
The trip through death was fascinating and kind of terrifying. It was cool to see the parts we never did get to see in Sabriel.
The well sequence is one of those things that has continued to haunt me since the first time I read it, which was just after the book first came out, which was unfortunately awfully close to the release date of The Ring, which I saw in theatres. Between the two of them, I now harbor a life-long and completely unshakeable fear of wells and the terrifying ladies that live in them. (I didn't find the sequence quite as scary this time around, but I am saying this in the safety of full daylight, so it should probably be taken with a grain of salt.)
Touchstone and Sabriel's story was a …
I really do love this series.
And this may be my favorite book in it.
The trip through death was fascinating and kind of terrifying. It was cool to see the parts we never did get to see in Sabriel.
The well sequence is one of those things that has continued to haunt me since the first time I read it, which was just after the book first came out, which was unfortunately awfully close to the release date of The Ring, which I saw in theatres. Between the two of them, I now harbor a life-long and completely unshakeable fear of wells and the terrifying ladies that live in them. (I didn't find the sequence quite as scary this time around, but I am saying this in the safety of full daylight, so it should probably be taken with a grain of salt.)
Touchstone and Sabriel's story was a bit more tightly written than I really wanted it to be. Since we know they are alive and get to see other parts of their journey, I would have liked to have seen a bit of them meeting up with the Clayr and Ellimere and hearing what was going on. Also, I was absolutely convinced they were dead on my first reading of the Prologue, and I was heartbroken.
I loved the epic ending with the bells and the binding. It just felt awesome to watch it all play out, and I teared up a bit in places. Like here:
"As I did then, so do I now," said the Disreputable Dog. "I am Kibeth, and I stand against you."
"Be free, Mogget!" shouted Sam, as he held a red collar high. "Choose well!"
"I am Yrael," it said, casting a hand out to throw a line of silver fire into the breaking spell-ring, its voice crackling with force. "I also stand against you."
Behind her, she heard Yrael speak, and Sabriel, and the brief chime of Belgaer, so strange after the massed song of all the bells, its single voice freeing Mogget from his millennia of servitude.
This continues and concludes the story from Lirael. I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to the prequel and sequel books that Garth Nix has planned for the series.
The conclusion to the Abhorsen trilogy doesn't really seem like the end of the series, but rather a percursor to another set of books based on the Old Kingdom.
sound conclusion to an excellent series
