Book Review
Aug. 29th, 2018 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariClariel
by Garth Nix
Although this is the fourth book of the Abhorsen series, it takes a break from the main narrative to give us a prequel set about 600 years before Sabriel. Here we get to see the Old Kingdom flourishing and perhaps decadent. It is a world in which the practice of magic has fallen out of fashion, and the Abhorsen is largely idle since there hasn't been a real threat to the kingdom in a couple of generations. In the midst of this, we find Clariel, a teenager who has recently been uprooted from her beloved forest home to the capital city of Belisaere where her mother, a vastly talentedgoldsmith, is pursuing advancement within her guild. Clariel chafes against her new milieu and the conventional future her parents have planned for her, wanting only to return to the forest and live the solitary life of a Borderer or hunter. Unfortunately, Clariel quickly finds herself caught up in the sinister and ultimately deadly political machinations of the guilds.
While I still enjoyed reading Clariel, it was somewhat unsatisfying, since it is a story about how things can go very wrong when someone's dreams and desires are thwarted, with little to nothing offered in return. Clariel was something of a frustrating character, because she makes so many terrible choices. Yet I never stopped being interested in her and the path she was taking. On the other hand, it was pretty cool to see the Old Kingdom in happier times, when it was a stable, safe, and prosperous place, and to get some questions about magic and the world answered.
by Garth Nix
Although this is the fourth book of the Abhorsen series, it takes a break from the main narrative to give us a prequel set about 600 years before Sabriel. Here we get to see the Old Kingdom flourishing and perhaps decadent. It is a world in which the practice of magic has fallen out of fashion, and the Abhorsen is largely idle since there hasn't been a real threat to the kingdom in a couple of generations. In the midst of this, we find Clariel, a teenager who has recently been uprooted from her beloved forest home to the capital city of Belisaere where her mother, a vastly talentedgoldsmith, is pursuing advancement within her guild. Clariel chafes against her new milieu and the conventional future her parents have planned for her, wanting only to return to the forest and live the solitary life of a Borderer or hunter. Unfortunately, Clariel quickly finds herself caught up in the sinister and ultimately deadly political machinations of the guilds.
While I still enjoyed reading Clariel, it was somewhat unsatisfying, since it is a story about how things can go very wrong when someone's dreams and desires are thwarted, with little to nothing offered in return. Clariel was something of a frustrating character, because she makes so many terrible choices. Yet I never stopped being interested in her and the path she was taking. On the other hand, it was pretty cool to see the Old Kingdom in happier times, when it was a stable, safe, and prosperous place, and to get some questions about magic and the world answered.
