Review: Sabriel - Garth Nix

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Sabriel (Abhorsen #1)

Rating {★★★★☆}

This book was not what I expected in so many ways. And yet it was very good. 

I picked this book up having been recommended by Goodreads because I like Tamora Pierce. I think I expected this to be more like one of her stories - filled with adventure and yet a young YA book. While definitely filled with adventure and packed with action, this is a much darker YA book and not necessarily filled with happy endings. There is sacrifice, there are difficult decisions and there is a dark and forbidding tone throughout. 

It's not an easy read. Nix is sometimes overly descriptive but the overall style is serious and straightforward. While a wonderfully unique fantasy world it was quite a slow starter but once the plot picked up it was well paced through to the end. The character development wasn't great, and the onset of a sudden romance didn't make sense to me, but I feel the series is well worth the while. Will be picking up the next book ASAP.

See more of my reviews of books in this series:

→Lirael (Abhorsen #2)

Comments

  1. Did the rest of the series redeem the shortcomings of the first book? I'm debating whether to skip this one altogether...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it absolutely did. It has actually become one of my favourite series of this type! I am still to read the 4th and newly released 5th book in this same world, but the series ended well enough with Abhorsen to be a standalone trilogy so I am not feeling too pressed into it. It is however on my very next to read list just because it was that good ;)

    ReplyDelete

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