Product Description

E-book extra: A "work-in-progress" sneak preview of Abhorsen, the third book in the trilogy.

Book Two of the Sabriel-Lirael-Abhorsen Trilogy.

It is Lirael in whose hands the fate of the Old Kingdom lies. She must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil -- one that threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, to help her, Lirael must find the courage to seek her own hidden destiny.

Book I: Sabriel; Book III: Abhorsen (January 2003)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10440 in eBooks
• Published on: 2001-05-15
• Released on: 2001-05-15
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

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

good
Though this book wasn't as action packed and enthralling as I'd hoped, I still love it. I'm disappointed with the fact that it really was a couple hundred pages just to set up for the final installment, but I can't help but love it in spite of myself. I'll probably read it again in a few years :)

Purchases Lirael by Garth Nix
Received it quickly and in the condition it stated. Very inexpensive also. Thank you very much! It was a great book!

Well developed characters and magic abound
"Lirael" is the sequel to "Sabriel" and serves as the second novel in Garth Nix's award-winning Abhorsen trilogy.

Lirael is a discontent girl who has come of age but has not received the gift of Sight, being able to see possible futures, as have all the other daughters of the Clayr by whom she is surrounded in their icy mountain fortress. Abandoned by her mother and having no knowledge of her father's identity, she knows that she is different, but she is able to seek solace from her despair in her dangerous yet enlightening role as a librarian, preserving and protecting the ancient magical books and secrets hidden in the Clayr glacier. The day comes, however, when she must leave the home of the Clayr and seek her own identity with only her trusted companion, the Disreputable Dog, by her side, for Lirael's destiny lies beyond the world of the Clayr.

"Lirael felt a shiver pass through her entire body as the old Clayr spoke. Her voice carried so much conviction, Lirael could almost see the desolate ruins herself. But how could the whole world be burnt and broken?"

As with "Sabriel," though the main character is female, there are also well developed male characters introduced, particularly towards the middle to end of the story. This fantasy series is packed with magic, danger, and adventure, and it develops a plot line in which the veil between life and death is much more malleable and less solid than it is in our ordinary everyday world.

After finishing "Sabriel," I quickly read through the last two books in the Abhorsen series. "Lirael" managed to build a momentum and tension that captured my interest more keenly than the first. The story features a cliff-hanger ending that will entice readers to continue with the third in the series, "Abhorsen," so I recommend purchasing both the second and third books at the same time, as one does seamlessly feed into the next.