Sabriel

Title: Sabriel

Author: Garth Nix

Rating: 4 stars

Summary: Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him. She soon finds companions in Mogget, a cat whose aloof manner barely conceals its malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories. As the three travel deep into the Old Kingdom, threats mount on all sides. And every step brings them closer to a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own destiny.

Review: This is a high-fantasy book, but there is a wall separating the magic world (The Old Kingdom) from the semi-modern world (Ancelstierre). Sabriel must battle the Dead, which are these shadow zombie things. The magic is mainly focused on necromancy: the powerful magic user is the Abhorsen (a necromancer); some can travel into Death, which is a river flowing through nine gates; the main enemy is an evil guy who gave up his Life for power and his army of Dead. The Abhorsen has a powerful sword, but mainly uses seven bells to get rid of the Dead, and each bell has a different power. I know that in another book I thought it was stupid when they just rang a bell to get rid of a demon, but this is much better. Each bell does something different, and they are very powerful. Using the wrong one at the wrong time would have catastrophic effects. There was a tiny bit of romance, but it was, thankfully, simply a side note to the story. Though Mogget can be annoying sometimes, I thought he was pretty awesome, because wise talking cats who are actually evil things are always awesome.