Author Garth Nix continues his story of the Old Kingdom with the follow up to Sabriel, Lirael. In this installment the reader is thrown some fourteen years into the future to journey with Lirael, a daughter of the mysterious family known as the Clayr who, residing in the northern glaciers, are blessed with the gift of future sight. All except for Lirael it seems, and this is fact that has brought Lirael close to suicide several times.
Lirael looks different from the rest of the Clayr, thinks differently and, worst of all, cannot see the future. The Clayr of the current age have never seen Lirael in their visions either, until, that is, one faithful night when they perceive that Lirael’s fate is intertwined with the rise of a great evil. The Clayr send Lirael of on a quest to prevent the apocalyptic futures that they have foreseen, and at the same time set Lirael on a path to confront her true identity.
Lirael as a Rembrancer and the Abhorsen-in-Waiting
A considerable amount of time has passed since the events of Sabriel. Sabriel is now married to Touchstone, who has taken his position as King of the Old Kingdom. Together, they have restored much of the Old Kingdom's former glory, and side by side the two battle the restless Dead. Sabriel is also busy schooling her teenage children Ellimere, the future Queen, and Prince Sameth, the Abhorsen-in-Waiting.
During the course of Lirael, it emerges that Lirael is Sameth’s Aunt and Sabriel’s half-sister. Lirael’s inability to see the future is due to the blood of the Abhorsen that swims in her veins. As a result, Lirael will be the one to inherit the title of Abhorsen, not Sameth who has always feared Death. As an ironic side effect of this, Lirael finds that she is also a Rembrancer, meaning that she is unable to see the future but is capable of looking into the past.
The character of Lirael is instantly engaging. In her Garth Nix creates a heroine of untold strength, and yet she is a girl who has yet to tap that potential due to her understandable self pity at being different from the rest of the Clayr. Still, it is her differences from the other Clayr that make her strong, and with the help of the mysterious Disreputable Dog, her emerging power and individuality becomes a dynamic motif.
Sameth is, at first, less appealing. His near fatal encounter with the necromancer Hedge at the beginning of Lirael makes him cowardly and at times grating. By the end of Lirael however, the reader has slowly warmed to Sameth due to his kindness and good nature, and the synergy of his journey next to Lirael's own is a rewarding counterbalance author Garth Nix weaves together throughout Lirael.
The Necromancer Hedge and Nicholas Sayer in Lirael
The looming evil that the Clayr have seen is represented well by the necromancer Hedge. His command of the Dead seems absolute and his power is terrifying in its scope. This makes him a suitably dark nemesis on his own, yet he serves a master that is stronger still, the Destroyer, and, by ensnaring Sameth’s friend Nicholas Sayer into his plans, Hedge plots to unleash this awful creature on the world.
For his part, Nicholas Sayer is an entertaining if rather flat character. Due to the fact that magic doesn’t often work at the other side of the Wall in the more modern Ancelstierre, many of Ancelstierre’s citizens feel that magic and monsters are no more than superstition. With Nicholas infected by a piece of Old Kingdom magic, this in-joke creates comedy that is pleasing, if, at times, a little superfluous.
Garth Nix Expands the History Behind the Necromancer’s Bells in Lirael
Sumptuous and nourishing is Garth Nix’s attention to detail. His subtle expansion in the scope of the Old Kingdom, and the time he takes in explaining the history behind how the Charter was forged, further solidifies this gripping fantasy series. At the same time, the nature of the Disreputable Dog and the fact that she and Mogget seem to share a long and volatile history adds intrigue.
Spellbinding characters and vivid descriptions make Lirael, as the middle book in the Abhorsen Trilogy, an absolute joy to read that outstrips its predecessor Sabriel in both pace and fantasy narrative. Lirael leaves the reader eagerly anticipating the third and final installment in the Abhorsen trilogy, Abhorsen, in which Lirael and her friends must race against time to try and prevent Hedge from resurrecting the Destroyer.
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(528 pages; Publisher: HarperTeen; Date Published: New Edition Published April 5, 2004; ISBN-10: 0007137338; ISBN-13: 978-0007137336)
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