Product Description

Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Now, two years past the time when she should have received the Sight that is the Clayr's birthright, she feels alone, abandoned, unsure of who she is. Nevertheless, the fate of the Old Kingdom lies in her hands. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, Lirael must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil.

In this sequel to Sabriel, winner of the Aurealis Award for Excellence in Australian Science Fiction, New York Times best-selling author Garth Nix weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #995922 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-01
• Released on: 2004-08-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.com Review
Fourteen years have passed since the necromancer Sabriel bound the Greater Dead Adept Kerrigor beyond the Ninth Gate and helped restore King Touchstone to the Old Kingdom throne. Now she rules at his side as Abhorsen, the sole necromancer of the Old Kingdom, keeping the people safe from the dark power of Free Magic. But this is not just Sabriel's tale. It is also the story of Hedge, a mysterious necromancer who is digging up a monstrous evil that could utterly destroy the Old Kingdom. And it is the story of Prince Sameth, Touchstone and Sabriel's only son, who would rather fight an entire army of Dead than disappoint his beloved parents. And Sam's friend Nick, who has unknowingly loosed Free Magic into the Old Kingdom, blissfully ignorant of its complete malevolence. But mostly, this is the tale of Lirael, the only daughter of the future-seeing Clayr who does not possess the Sight. Burying the pain of her Sightlessness in the Clayr's great library, Third Assistant Librarian Lirael's insatiable curiosity will soon lead her to an unbelievable destiny that may even be connected with that of the great Sabriel herself.

Garth Nix's stunning sequel to Sabriel, full of Mages, Moggets, and even a Disreputable Dog, is on par with the equally superb works of Philip Pullman and William Nicholson. And fantasy lovers of all ages will be thrilled to discover that Lirael ends with more questions than answers, which will mean a third dip into Nix's beguiling Charter Magic. Both exhilarating and mesmerizing, this fine novel is pure enchantment. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From Publishers Weekly
In Nix's sequel to Sabriel, readers return to the entrancing and complicated Old Kingdom: a world of necromancy, seers, dangerous monsters and talking animals (the cat Mogget is back). The relationships between the Kingdom's various realms and the magic may take some unraveling for readers new to the series, but the heroine's plight will be instantly compelling. Lirael is the only one of a community of clairvoyant women not to be gifted with "the Sight," and the mystery of her parentage contributes to her alienation. Just after her 14th birthday, Lirael releases a Stilken (half-woman, half-crustacean) from a glass-covered coffin. Her act leads to a meeting with a healer (Lirael's great-great-grandmother) who fortifies her and urges her to take as her only friend the impertinent "Disreputable Dog," a creature of suspicious magical origin whose true nature remains unknown. The overall plot may follow the expected course an evil magician threatens the well-being of the Old Kingdom and Lirael finds her destiny linked with that of handsome, nervous Prince Sameth (son of Sabriel) but startling subplots abound and keep the pages turning. The book ends on a cliffhanger, and Nix leaves nearly every major question unanswered. The evil is still at large, the Disreputable Dog still unexplained and Lirael's mother's desertion of her unresolved. Readers hoping for a satisfying ending will have to wait for the third in the series, to be titled Abhorsen, and tentatively scheduled for fall 2002. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Lirael has never fit in with her hundreds of cousins, the Clayr. Orphaned, lonely, shy, and painfully aware of her physical differences from them, she also lacks their Sight of the future. However, when her skill with magic and her companion, the Disreputable Dog, help her accomplish a quest foreseen hundreds of years before, the Clayr entrust her with an even more perilous search. Elsewhere in the Old Kingdom, Prince Sameth, son of King Touchstone and the Abhorsen Sabriel, is convinced he is unfit for his inherited duties. Slated to succeed his mother in protecting the Kingdom from the ravages of the Dead, he finds that his first journey into Death has left him too frightened to return. Despite his fears, he sets out to rescue a friend headed into danger. Lirael's and Sameth's paths converge, and they learn more about their pasts and the nature of the Old Kingdom's magic as they continue their quest together. While less immediately appealing than Sabriel, the heroine of Nix's first book about the Old Kingdom, (HarperCollins, 1996), the two teen protagonists share a mixture of insecurity and courage that will speak to adolescent readers. The fast-paced plot is packed with harrowing encounters with necromancers and magical foes. Nix continues to unfold the mysteries of the Old Kingdom, exploring the haunting and unusual, exhaustively and flawlessly conceived connections among its rulers and guardians, and the magic that infuses them all. A must-read for fans of the first book, Lirael will also fascinate readers new to the series.
Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

"Daughter" a worthy successor
Garth Nix changed the face of dark fantasy (usually just horror with a prettier cover) with his instant hit "Sabriel." It provided fans with a unique type of magic, a well-crafted alternate world, and talking animals that were anything but cute. 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 inadvertantly sets loose a hideous Free Magic creature: a Stilken that will call other Free Magic creatures and destroy the Clayr. Desperate to deal with her mistake, Lirael calls up the Disreputable Dog (somehow made both of Free and Charter Magic) and soon ends up finding out more about her past -- and her future.

Elsewhere, Sabriel's son Sameth is pursued by the Dead, and is almost killed in the process; the only thing he gets for his trouble is a threat from a mysterious necromancer. Sam is supposed to be the future Abhorsen, but the problem is that he's petrified by the things his mother handles easily. And he's helped loose Free Magic on a world increasingly torn by a mysterious masked necromancer...

Nix takes the rich world he created in "Sabriel" and makes it even richer. It's a bit like a melding of typical high fantasy with an early twentieth-century setting (phones, buses, cricket matches, electricity, guns). Old faves like Sabriel, Touchstone, and Mogget appear here (although Mogget's appearance is a bit brief), along with new and equally likable characters.

Some readers may not like Lirael as well as they liked the more self-assured, kick-butt Sabriel, but Sabriel knew who she was, where she was coming from, and knew what she needed to know. Lirael is only learning those things, which makes her a more vulnerable, confused heroine. She becomes stronger and more self-assured as she learns more about Charter magery and her background.

"Lirael" has the same balance of humor and horror as the first book. We have things like the bodies of refugees being turned into decayed Dead Hands, the clawed insecto-human Stilken, or just the aura of darkness around the Book of the Dead. But we also have funny things like Nick or the running joke about the Dog and food.

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 Sam is endearingly unsure of himself, and is one of the few fantasy characters to be genuinely terrified of his "duties," not just apprehensive. His sister was the one character who fell flat; she seemed a little too "bossy princess."

The biggest problem with "Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr" is that it ends on a "to be continued" note. So be sure to have the concluding novel, "Abhorsen," ready while you read this book. Dark, funny, creepy, and immensely well-written.

One of the best libraries in fantasy
"Lirael" is neither the beginning nor the end (thank goodness) of this remarkable fantasy series by Garth Nix. If you haven't already read "Sabriel", you might want to put "Lirael" aside and begin at the beginning. The middle book could stand alone, especially the story of Lirael herself, but you will miss nuances of the Philosophy and Geography of Death if you don't start with "Sabriel". The only work I can compare this series to is Philip Pullman's "Golden Compass" trilogy, although I prefer Nix's magical world-building. If I ever die and go to fantasy heaven, I hope it resembles his immense library beneath glacier and mountain, where each door opens into a separate mystery. In the catacombs beneath the library, Lirael discovers how to turn herself into an ice otter or a barking owl, reads "The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting", and duels with the monstrous Stilken.

However, "Lirael" isn't just about Lirael. Prince Sameth, heir apparent to Sabriel as the Old Kingdom's champion against evil necromancers, also comes of age in this volume. There are plenty of evil necromancers to go around. In fact, at the end of this book, it appears as though they are winning the war to turn the Old Kingdom into a kingdom of the dead.

One fault should be noted. The two main characters spend too much text feeling sorry for themselves. Lirael pursues an impossible dream, while Prince Sameth tries to escape from an impossible nightmare. I think the author's editor must have read "Sabriel" and said, "Garth, this is a great fantasy but your heroine, Sabriel is pretty darn self-sufficient. Readers can't relate to that. You need to make your characters more vulnerable." So that's exactly what Nix did in Volume Two. Vulnerability often shades over into self-pity in "Lirael"---too often for my liking. It's not enough of an annoyance to bypass this fantasy. Hopefully, in the yet-to-be-published "Abhorsen", Lirael and Prince Sameth will stop whining and take up the burden of defending the Old Kingdom. Lirael is already headed in that direction, along with her friend the Disreputable Dog.

Garth, I advise you to stop listening to your editor. You were pitch-perfect in "Sabriel". Retune `Astarael, the Sorrowful' that "casts all who hear it deep into Death" and finish this marvelous trilogy the way you began it.

NOTE: the 'adult' version has exactly the same text as earlier printings of this book. Only the cover is different.

(1) Sabriel (2) Lirael (3) Abhorsen
"Lirael" is neither the beginning nor the end (thank goodness) of this remarkable fantasy series by Garth Nix. If you haven't already read "Sabriel", you might want to put "Lirael" aside and begin at the beginning. The middle book could stand alone, especially the story of Lirael herself, but you will miss nuances of the Philosophy and Geography of Death if you don't start with "Sabriel". The only work I can compare this series to is Philip Pullman's "Golden Compass" trilogy, although I prefer Nix's magical world-building. If I ever die and go to fantasy heaven, I hope it resembles his immense library beneath glacier and mountain, where each door opens into a separate mystery. In the catacombs beneath the library, Lirael discovers how to turn herself into an ice otter or a barking owl, reads "The Book of Remembrance and Forgetting", and duels with the monstrous Stilken.

However, "Lirael" isn't just about Lirael. Prince Sameth, heir apparent to Sabriel as the Old Kingdom's champion against evil necromancers, also comes of age in this volume. There are plenty of evil necromancers to go around. In fact, at the end of this book, it appears as though they are winning the war to turn the Old Kingdom into a kingdom of the dead.

One fault should be noted. The two main characters spend too much text feeling sorry for themselves. Lirael pursues an impossible dream, while Prince Sameth tries to escape from an impossible nightmare. I think the author's editor must have read "Sabriel" and said, "Garth, this is a great fantasy but your heroine, Sabriel is pretty darn self-sufficient. Readers can't relate to that. You need to make your characters more vulnerable." So that's exactly what Nix did in Volume Two. Vulnerability often shades over into self-pity in "Lirael"---too often for my liking. It's not enough of an annoyance to bypass this fantasy. Hopefully, in the yet-to-be-published "Abhorsen", Lirael and Prince Sameth will stop whining and take up the burden of defending the Old Kingdom. Lirael is already headed in that direction, along with her friend the Disreputable Dog.

Garth, I advise you to stop listening to your editor. You were pitch-perfect in "Sabriel". Retune 'Astarael, the Sorrowful' that "casts all who hear it deep into Death" and finish this marvelous trilogy the way you began it.