Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (Abhorsen Trilogy Series #2)

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Overview

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 against 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 bestselling author Garth Nix weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Garth Nix's critically acclaimed novel, Sabriel, first introduced us to the magical world of the Old Kingdom. In Lirael, the story begins in the Old Kingdom once again, only this time it centers around the Clayr, who were only touched upon in the first book. The Clayr are a group of women who are known for their ability to see into the future. It is here that we find Lirael, who at 14 years old has yet to come into her magical ability -- and who is deeply ashamed of it. Her adolescent feelings of depression and alienation are compounded by the death of her mother. And she has never met her father. She is totally alone. Like it or not, Lirael is forced upon a journey of self-discovery.

As in Sabriel, there is a great deal going on with necromancers -- evil sorcerers who invoke the dead. (Sabriel, like her father, is an Abhorsen, someone who binds the dead and undoes the evil necromancy. Sabriel has been quite busy because there is a new evil in the land that threatens to destroy the entire kingdom.) There are basically two stories being told in Lirael. The first involves the title character, and the second revolves around Prince Sameth. Both characters must deal with their destiny, each yearning for something but not knowing exactly how to go about getting it. All Lirael wants is to have the sight, while young Sameth's wish is not to be the Abhorsen-in-waiting. Sameth has gone into Death, confronted the necromancer Hedge, and was nearly killed. He has no desire to return to that world. In the end, it is inevitable that both stories merge into one.

Just like his mother, Prince Sameth and his older sister Ellimere have been educated outside the Old Kingdom in the town of Ancelstierre. We are introduced to Sameth as he is about to graduate. His royal sister, being two years older, has already been back to the Old Kingdom preparing to be Queen. Sameth is a self-assured young man who enjoys life. Nicholas, his best friend, is not from the Old Kingdom, and he has never really believed in the Old Kingdom and its magic. After Sameth confronts Hedge, it is Nicholas who attempts to do what Sameth could not -- namely, to try and destroy the necromancer. Unwittingly, Nicholas becomes a pawn of Hedge.

While back home recuperating from his injuries, Sameth has changed. He desperately does not want to be the Abhorsen. Rather than completing his studies, he decides to go after his friend Nicholas, who has come to the Old Kingdom. While he is en route to find Nicholas, he meets up with the magical cat Mogget. It is after they are together that they finally connect with Lirael.

Lirael, in the meantime, has reached the age of 19 without receiving the sight. For the past few years she has worked in the Clayr library, which has afforded her the ability to keep her distance from her fellow Clayr. She doesn't feel like an outsider when she is working within the library's walls. And this library is not the usual sort; it is not only filled with books, but also houses the documentation of past prophecies, as well as many secret rooms filled with enchantment.

On her 19th birthday, Lirael goes exploring in the library with her magical pet, the disreputable Dog. It is then that she comes upon her real fate and is immediately sent upon a mission. The Clayr have seen a horrible future unfolding and, since Lirael is also in this vision, they send her to meet her destiny.

Garth Nix has written a story of epic proportions, filled with characters we can really believe in. We are sorry to see it end. Or does it? (Rosemary Marotta)

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. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

More Reviews (6) Fewer Reviews

From The Critics

In this powerful and complex sequel to the much-praised Sabriel (HarperCollins, 1996), Nix returns us to the Old Kingdom, a land of dark magic, where evil necromancers can too easily bring the dead back to a hideous semblance of life. We also return to Ancelstierre, the Old Kingdom's neighbor to the south. In that nation, magic doesn't work, except, that is, in the northernmost reaches when the wind blows south across the Wall. Lirael, a daughter of the Clayr, has lived here her entire life within the Clayr's Glacier in the far north of the Old Kingdom. There, she is a misfit and an outsider, abandoned by her mother, not knowing her father. Lirael has hair that is the wrong color for a daughter of the Clayr and, worse yet, at age fourteen has not acquired Sight, the psychic ability to see into the future that is the heritage of her people. All of the other girls gained this power at around age eleven, but not Lirael, who is so depressed by her circumstances that she seriously considers suicide. Half-way across the world, Prince Sameth, the heir to the throne of the Old Kingdom, is attending school in Ancelstierre. Although his talent for playing cricket assures his popularity, he is nonetheless, regarded as something of an exotic oddity by his schoolmates. Then, one day when the wind is blowing strongly from the North, the bus carrying Sameth's team is kidnapped and driven toward the Wall. Just at the point where the bus stalls and, not coincidentally, Sameth can sense dangerous Free Magic in the air, he and his mates are attacked by Dead Hands, reanimated monsters controlled by a necromancer named Hedge. Most of the boys survive the attack, but Sameth's best friend, Nick, encounters theevil sorcerer face to face and, unbeknownst to Sameth, becomes his slave. In Sabriel Nix developed a complex theology and history for his world, all of it based on the opposition between Charter Magic, which is lawful and controlled, and Free Magic, which is neither. The latter, although not necessarily evil, is readily used for such purposes by sorcerers, necromancers, and a variety of truly ghastly supernatural creatures. The Old Kingdom is ruled over by King Touchstone and his queen, Sabriel, hero of the first book in the series. Like her father before her, Sabriel is also the Abhorsen, a good magician of great power. At the very beginning of the novel, we learn that the necromancer Hedge is preparing to dig up an ancient and overwhelmingly dangerous "something" that has lain buried for centuries and protected by powerful spells under a desolate hill. As the novel continues, we discover that he has set in motion a complex plot which also involves the attempted kidnapping of Prince Sameth, Nick's enslavement, and the promotion of political unrest in Ancelstierre and other nations to the south of the Wall. Hedge is also able to use his magic to hide what he is doing from the Sight of the Clayr and thus from King Touchstone and the Abhorsen, who only know that things are going badly wrong all around them. As the novel ends, Lirael and Sameth have each learned important new information about themselves. So allied with two magical animals, the Disreputable Dog and Mogget, a centuries-old cat, they are about to embark upon what may well be a foolhardy attack on Hedge. Nix's universe is both darker and more ambitious than those created by the common run of YA fantasy writers. There is some comedy in the tale, most of it involving Lirael's interactions with the Disreputable Dog (who is a truly wonderful character), but there are also a fair number of gruesome scenes in the novel and any number of characters, including several children, end up dead. In terms of both difficulty and maturity of outlook I'd place Lirael somewhere between the Harry Potter books and Philip Pullman's more complex His Dark Materials series. Lirael is an excellent novel and I look forward to the promised third book in the series, Abhorsen. 2001, HarperCollins, $16.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Michael Levy SOURCE: The Five Owls, September/October 2001 (Vol. 16, No. 1)

Children's Literature

This book is the second of a proposed trilogy, and it might be a good idea to read the first book, Sabriel, first, for certain quirks of the plot. Lirael, a girl of the glacier-dwelling, ritual-obsessed, magic-using Clayre people, is an obvious misfit. With her dark hair and eyes, she is the only one surprised by her failure to develop "The Sight," which should have appeared by puberty. But by page 133, we are thoroughly captivated by her trials and her charm. She conjures up a "companion" dog, using skills she's not confident she can handle. Even if that dog is the "Disreputable Dog" of legend, it clearly is almost real, and very doggy. So when the scene suddenly changes to the Old Kingdom, where Prince Sameth is happily playing cricket, we want to know why the shift. What happened to Lirael? Then suddenly the young prince, unhappy with being viewed as heir, not only to his father the king, but to his mother the "Abhorsen," (whatever that is), becomes as interesting as Lirael. The two protagonists meet, collide and clash as the secret of Lirael's birth is slowly revealed. An experienced fantasy reader will have discovered the secret long before the plot characters. Both Lirael and Sam have some serious maturing to do. Of course Sam with his cat, Mogget, and Lirael, with the Disreputable Dog, soon become companions and—dare we say it—friends. The end of the book is obviously not the end of the story, and the reader is left impatiently waiting for Volume Three. Recommended for sci-fi/fantasy fans, but not as an introduction to the fantasy genre. 2001, HarperCollins, $16.95 and $16.89. Ages 11 to 15. Reviewer: Judy Silverman

KLIATT

Those who enjoyed Sabriel will find familiar ground in this fantasy, another coming-of-age tale. Here the protagonist is Lirael, who despairs of ever getting the Sight that runs in her family. Lonely and about ready to commit suicide, Lirael encounters Sabriel and her husband in deep conversation. Other forces also come into play, and Lirael awakens to find herself assigned to the library as an assistant. There she discovers that she can read the past, and she also conjures up a new friend in The Disreputable Dog. Lirael finds that her gifts are unique, and is summoned to a harrowing mission that could reveal her real destiny, different though it might be from what she or anyone else imagined. Along the way, she finds that she has more supporters than suspected—and more inner strength than realized. The story is long, but Nix provides enough twists to keep up the reader's sense of suspense and discovery. Nix also does a good job of getting inside the skin of a female teenager, which is welcome in this genre. Librarians will certainly enjoy this volume since the library is filled with wonders (and dangers), and reading is a key to success and survival. (Sequel to Sabriel) Category: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, HarperTrophy, 706p., , Long B

VOYA

In this well-written sequel to Sabriel (HarperCollins, 1996/VOYA April 1997), set twenty years later, the Old Kingdom finds itself again besieged by the Dead. Led by a powerful necromancer, Hedge, who serves an unnamed, terrifying being, both Ancelstierre and the kingdoms farther to the south are caught in the coming maelstrom. Touchstone, the King of the Old Kingdom, and his wife, Sabriel, the Abhorsen (one who battles the Dead on their own turf), are busy handling diplomatic or magical crises. Their children, the rather-too-cocksure Ellimere, and Sameth, a discouraged and frightened seventeen-year-old presumed by everyone but himself to be the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, are left to run the kingdom. Far to the north, the other main thread of the story follows Lireal, one of the Clayr, women who can see the future. Lireal, however, does not have the Sight. To prevent her from being completely despondent, on her fourteenth birthday she is put to work in the Library. It is within the confines of this Borgesian labyrinth that she begins to unravel the twin mysteries of her birth and her destiny. Sound world-building, swift plotting, and superb characterization, including some of the strongest animal characters in recent fantasy, make this sequel must reading for those who have read the first volume and a brisk, involving experience for those who have not. The cliffhanger ending guarantees an audience for the projected third volume. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, HarperCollins, 496p, $16.95. PLB$16.89. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Ann Welton SOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)

School Library Journal

Gr 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 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In a riveting sequel to his acclaimed Sabriel (not reviewed), Nix recreates his trademark mélange of horror and fantasy. For the 18 years that King Touchstone and Queen Sabriel have battled necromancers and their Dead minions, orphaned Lirael has grown up among the Clayr sisterhood. Bereft of their prophetic Sight, she finds consolation in their labyrinthine library, honing her magecraft amid its ancient tomes and artifacts, and solace in the company of the Disreputable Dog of ambiguous magical provenance. Meanwhile, Prince Sameth has left school, shamed by his less-than-regal character, and terrified of inheriting Sabriel's duties opposing the Dead. But when a long-buried evil begins stirring up necromantic menaces and meddling in inter-kingdom politics, Lirael and Sam are forced to abandon their fears and dreams in order to shoulder burdens they could never imagine. This is pure-quill epic fantasy, with satisfyingly intricate world building that still propels the plot. Nix subtly invests minor characters, objects, even the landscape with vivid life, and his villains are acidulous distillates of pure malevolence. Lirael and Sameth possess rich personalities, sufficient to sustain the complex parallel narrative in which they do not meet until near the conclusion; in a refreshing departure from gender stereotypes, Lirael is mature, restrained, and analytical, while Sam is passionate, impulsive, and creative. The sarcastic feline familiar, Mogget, and the engagingly enigmatic Disreputable Dog add charm and sly humor to a tale that would otherwise be desperately grim. Readers who like their fantasy intense in action, magisterial in scope, and apocalyptic in consequences will revelin every word, especially the last three: "To be continued." (Fiction. YA)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780060005429
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 5/28/2002
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 720
Sales rank: 130,984
Age range: 12 - 17 Years
Lexile: 0950L (what's this?)
Series: Abhorsen Trilogy Series , #2
Product dimensions: 4.18 (w) x 6.75 (h) x 1.44 (d)

Meet the Author

Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. A full-time writer since 2001, he has worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. Garth's books include the award-winning fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen, and the science-fiction adventure A Confusion of Princes. His fantasy novels for younger readers include The Ragwitch, the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence, The Keys to the Kingdom series, and Troubletwisters, co-written with Sean Williams. More than five million copies of his books have been sold around the world; his books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian, and the Australian; and his work has been translated into thirty-nine languages. He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two children.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

An Ill-favored Birthday

Deep within a dream, Lirael felt someone stroking her forehead. A gentle, soft touch, a cool hand upon her own fevered skin. She felt herself smile, enjoying the touch. Then the dream shifted, and her forehead wrinkled. The touch was no longer soft and loving, but rough and rasping. No longer cool, but hot, burning her --

She woke up. It took her a second to realize that she'd clawed the sheet away and had been lying facedown on the coarsely woven mattress cover. It was wool and very scratchy. Her pillow lay on the floor. The pillowcase had been torn off in the course of some nightmare and now hung from her chair.

Lirael looked around the small chamber, but there were no signs of any other nocturnal damage. Her simple wardrobe of dressed pine was upright, the dull steel latch still closed. The desk and chair still occupied the other corner. Her practice sword hung in its scabbard on the back of the door.

It must have been a relatively good night. Sometimes, in her nightmare-laced sleep, Lirael walked, talked, and wreaked havoc. But always only in her room. Her precious room. She couldn't bear to think what life would be like if she were forced to go back to family chambers.

She closed her eyes again and listened. All was silent, which meant that it must be long before the Waking Bell. The bell sounded at the same time every day, calling the Clayr out of their beds to join the new day.

Lirael scrunched her eyes together more tightly and tried to go back to sleep. She wanted to regain the feel of that hand on her brow. That touch was the only thing she remembered of her mother.Not her face or her voice -- just the touch of her cool hand.

She needed that touch desperately today. But Lirael's mother was long gone, taking the secret of Lirael's paternity with her. She had left when Lirael was five, without a word, without an explanation. There never was any explanation. just the news of her death, a garbled message from the distant North that had arrived three days before Lirael's tenth birthday.

Once she had thought of that, there was no hope for sleep. As on every other morning, Lirael gave up trying to keep her eyes shut. She let them spring open and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes. But the stone had not changed overnight. It was still grey and cold, with tiny flecks of pink.

A Charter mark for light glowed there too, warm and golden in the stone. It had shone brighter when Lirael had first awoken and grew brighter still as she swung her feet out and felt around with her toes for her half-shoes. The Clayr's halls were heated by the steam of hot springs and by magic, but the stone floor was always cold.

"Fourteen today," whispered Lirael. She had her half-shoes on, but made no move to rise. Ever since the message of her mother's death had come so close to her tenth birthday, all her birthdays had been harbingers of doom.

"Fourteen!" Lirael said again, the word laced with anguish. She was fourteen, and by the measure of the world outside the Clayr's Glacier, a woman. But here she must still wear the blue tunic of a child, for the Clayr marked the passage to adulthood not by age, but by the gift of the Sight.

Once again, Lirael closed her eyes, screwing them tight as she willed herself to See the future. Everyone else her age had the Sight. Many younger children already wore the white robe and the circlet of moonstones. It was unheard of not to have the Sight by fourteen.

Lirael opened her eyes, but she saw no vision. just her simple room, slightly blurred by tears. She rubbed them away and got up.

"No mother, no father, no Sight," she said as she opened her wardrobe and took out a towel. It was a familiar litany. She said it often, though it always made her feel a terrible stab of sorrow in her stomach. It was like worrying a toothache with her tongue. It hurt, but she couldn't leave it alone. The wound was part of her now.

But perhaps soon, one day she would be summoned by the Voice of the Nine Day Watch. Then she would wake and say, "No mother, no father, but I have the Sight."

"I will have the Sight," Lirael muttered to herself as she eased open the door and tiptoed down the corridor to the baths. Charter marks brightened as she passed under them, bringing day from twilight. But all the other doors in the Hall of Youth remained shut. Once, Lirael would have knocked on them, laughing and calling the other orphans who lived there to an early bath.

But that was years ago. Before they had all gained the Sight.

That was also when Merell was Guardian of the Young, one who had governed her charges with a light hand. Lirael's own aunt Kirrith was Guardian now. If there was any noise, she would emerge from her room in her maroon-and-white-striped bathrobe, to order silence and respect for sleeping elders. She would make no special allowance for Lirael, either. Quite the reverse. Kirrith was the exact opposite of Lirael's mother, Arielle. She was all for rules and regulations, tradition and conformity.

Kirrith would never leave the Glacier to travel who knew where, only to return seven months gone with child. Lirael scowled at Kirrith's door. Not that Kirrith had ever told her that. Kirrith wouldn't talk about her younger sister. The little Lirael knew about her mother came from eavesdropping on her closer cousins" conversations. The ones during which they discussed what to do about a girl who so obviously didn't belong.

First Chapter

Lirael (adult edition)
Daughter of the Clayr

Chapter One

An Ill-favored Birthday

Lirael scrunched her eyes together more tightly and tried to go back to sleep. She wanted to regain the feel of that hand on her brow. That touch was the only thing she remembered of her mother. Not her face or her voice -- just the touch of her cool hand.

Lirael opened her eyes, but she saw no vision. just her simple room, slightly blurred by tears. She rubbed them away and got up.

But perhaps soon, one day she would be summoned by the Voice of the Nine Day Watch. Then she would wake and say, "No mother, no father, but I have the Sight."

But that was years ago. Before they had all gained the Sight.

Lirael (adult edition)
Daughter of the Clayr. Copyright © by Garth Nix. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Anonymous

Posted April 9, 2012

A must read!

If you enjoyed Sabriel, you wont be disappointed with this second book in the series. Its a fantastic story with amazing characters and plot. I very highly recommend, and i cant wait to read the final book, Abhorsen.
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Anonymous

Posted October 29, 2011

Reminds me of old tales. Intriguing

It has the familiar comming of age and quest aspects, but the writting is magnificent. It has the feel of something much older and magical and secretive then the norm.
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6286888

Posted July 1, 2011

Love this series

BEST SERIES EVER
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Anonymous

Posted May 15, 2011

Excellent book!

I read this book before Sabriel, and really loved it. It's a totally awesome book, but it just really bothers me that you can't buy it in the original cover on the nook site when Abhorsen and Sabriel both have the original covers.
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Cougar_H

Posted December 6, 2010

more from this reviewer

This is an amazing book, read it!

Lireal is the sequal to Sabriel, which itself is a very good book by Garth Nyx. Lireal wants to be a Clayr, but after her fourteenth birthday, she still doesn't have the Sight. My favorite part is when her and the dog meet Prince Samath, son of the Abhorsen and king Toughstone. The reason you should reead this book, if you're into magic and the dead and all that, is because it's a very descriptive. The way Nyx describes the magic and nature is fantastic. I won't spoil the ending, so you should check it out to see what happens. Sabriel, the prequal to Lireal, is also a great book, taking place about eighteen years before the start of Lireal. Sabriel is about...well...Sabriel, before she is the queen and the 'True' Abhorsen. Both of these books are great, as is the third book in the trilogy, Abhorsen. Abhorsen is the third and final book in the series, and is amazing, just like the first two books. If you want something great to read, check out the entire series!
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my3cairns

Posted September 13, 2009

I Also Recommend:

Loved the series

I like this book very much, as well as the complete series. They are young adult books, but please don't be deterred by this. These books are very interesting reading and I am not a "young adult".
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Anonymous

Posted July 25, 2009

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It's not too shabby

This book is a good read for summer or for a rainy day, not the best of plots but it is memorable. The characters is what draws you in. I loved the previous title Sabriel, and when Abhorsen came out, I went out and got it just to finish the storyline, it was nice to see Lirael come into her own. Not bad, but definitely one to give to a younger sibling as a hand-me-down...
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Christinewannabe47

Posted February 28, 2009

more from this reviewer

I love this series!

I love this series, it's really one of my favorite ones. Lirael is a very long book, but not boring at all. The way the story flows is wonderful. Though i wish there would have been more about Sabriel and Touchstone's marriage(sorry I'm sort of a romantic), I like the way it moves with the rest of the story. Still have to read Abhorsen, but it's an excellent series.
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TeensReadToo

Posted November 3, 2008

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Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

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.
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ZoeL

Posted October 25, 2008

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Lireal: Daughter of the Clayr

Lirael was an amazing read. In this epic fantasy, Lirael finds out her true meaning. She always felt like an outcast because she didn¿t have the sight. She becomes a librarian and discovers many things about her glacier. Before long, she, with her newly made friend the Disreputable Dog, find themselves fighting their way through the old kingdom with none other than Prince Sammeth himself. Prince Sam is the son of Sabriel, the Abhorsen, and Touchstone, the King. Since his sister is older, he is the Abhorsen in waiting, and Ellimere, his sister, is to be queen. Sammeth has run away to escape his duties, but mainly to find his friend from school. His friend doesn't believe in magic, and foolishly crosses the wall with a strange guide named Hedge. On his journey, Sam meets Lirael. Lirael was sent from the glacier to find Sam¿s friend because the other Clayr saw her helping him out. During this journey, Lirael learns of her past and future.
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harstan

Posted December 9, 2008

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intriguing reprint of a young adult quest fantasy

In the Old Kingdom, the daughters of Clayr all have the gift all except one. Lirael is ¿Sightless' while all the other women have the ¿Sight¿. Already feeling like an outsider as her mother deserted her years ago, her difference leaves her even lonelier as she believes everyone seems to look down on her since she failed to move on two years ago like they all did. --- Now fourteen years old, Lirael releases a Stilken (female human crustacean from a glass- coffin). That kindness leads Lirael to meet her great-great-grandmother, a renowned healer. The elderly woman encourages her descendent to befriend the insolent 'Disreputable Dog'. She and her disrespectful companion meet tense Prince Sameth, son of Sabriel (title star of the first book not yet read by me). This trio of alienated outcasts soon uncovers a plot to destroy the Old Kingdom. --- This is an intriguing reprint of a young adult quest fantasy that grips readers from the moment Lirael meets her ancestor and never slows down in fact nothing critical is resolved by the end leaving the audience disappointed yet anxious for ABHORSEN. The lead trio is solid fully developed characters with the two humans having anxiety issues and the dog remaining an unresolved enigma. Newcomers and those who read the first tale will feel spellbound by the Old Kingdom¿s magical realm in which the paranormal seems normal. --- Harriet Klausner
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Anonymous

Posted February 23, 2008

Loved

This is one of my favorite books and my favorite in the series. Lireal's journey with finding herself and her destiny can be considered very uplifting.
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Anonymous

Posted December 22, 2007

A Must Read

This book is by far my favourite of the abhorson trilogy but in saying that they are al brilliant.Garth Nix has a real talent in creating his world , you become so engrossed in it and you dont question the rules as they are made with such precision.I have read this book many times and it still hasnt failed to entertain me.
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Anonymous

Posted August 1, 2007

My Fav

This is one of my favorite books! I think Lireal was a good book because some of us out there just don't fit in and when you read about her you can relate to her.
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Anonymous

Posted February 16, 2007

Gorgeously described! Fantasy lovers if you haven't read it you are missing out

Okay this book was so cool I think I might like it better than Sabriel. I love Lirael because after the first book I really was interested in the Clayr and now they talk all about it. The descriptions were exquisite, Garth Nix just knows how to write with the most beautiful fluency! This book is for all ages and just can't be described with words. You can relate to Lirael and the other characters, the landscapes are amazing, you just can't beat this world. The charter marks and necromancy are just so interesting it is impossible to put down. All bow down before the Abhorsen trilogy it will not dissapoint you
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Anonymous

Posted January 5, 2007

S--l--o--w!!!!

Horribly slow but written very well.... ummm, sabriel is better!!
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Anonymous

Posted October 22, 2006

Wonderful

A great book, a must read. Garth Nix is highly acclaimed by me for both his Keys to the Kingdom Series and the Abhorsen Series. This is an extremely interesting book, and it seems as though there is one twist after another. Although I was somewhat able to predict the end, I am glad about what happened to everyone. He has also added humor in a very good form. Very recommended to those who like books such as Eragon.
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Anonymous

Posted December 1, 2006

fantacy lover

this book was extreamly good , and i loved that it was bgger than the last one. the characters were awsome, my favorite being the dog. this is a must read!!
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Anonymous

Posted July 5, 2006

Better than the first

When I read what this book was about I was disapointed that it would not be about Sabriel, but when I began to read it I came to find that the story must go on with different characters. I also belive that Lirael is a much more interesting character. The life of a Clayr is fasinating. I would recomend these books to any fantasy book lover.
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Anonymous

Posted June 10, 2006

Awesome

Lirael is the best book of the trilogy, in my opinion. It's also quite a bit longer than Sabriel and Abhorsen. It was good because it kept you guessing throughout it. It was a little scattered, though, because it switched between Lirael and Sameth a lot, but that's okay becase you needed to know a lot about both of them to understand it. Awesome book, though!
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A must read!

Reminds me of old tales. Intriguing

Love this series

Excellent book!

This is an amazing book, read it!

Loved the series

It's not too shabby

I love this series!

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

Lireal: Daughter of the Clayr

intriguing reprint of a young adult quest fantasy

Loved

A Must Read

My Fav

Gorgeously described! Fantasy lovers if you haven't read it you are missing out

S--l--o--w!!!!

Wonderful

fantacy lover

Better than the first

Awesome