I have had the pleasure of reading the Old Kingdom series this year. To be honest I have no idea what to expect when initially approaching it. I thought it was just another standard state-of-the-art fantasy bildungsroman coming of age story. Not to mention that I thought Sabriel was a male based on the book cover. However, I was thrust into the kingdom of Ancelstierre having to pick up a pawn the different magic systems of charter magic and free magic. I found that you need halder is a wall which separates not only two kingdoms but how the magical influence of one Kingdom affects the other. I like how we are kind of thrust into the action by having her dad sent a message for her to find him. She then has to cross the border, become reacquainted with using the bells in order to go into the different precincts of death, having to go to the Abhorsen's house where she meets Mogget (who takes on the form of a cat), gets served by Sendings, then takes off on a Paperwing . She then revitalizes Touchstone who was really a member of the royal family from centuries ago, eventually finds her father in death, confronts and defeats Kerrigor.
I also like the direction they went in the sequel "Lirael", where the titular character is struggling to figure out why she is different from her peers by not the Sight yet and also try to find her and role in Clayr society. I do like how she is regulated to the library, finds the disreputable dog, accidentally frees the Stilken and defeats it, and is sent on a journey from the Clayr's glacier. I also like the introduction of Sabriel and Touchstone's son Sameth and daughter Ellimere and Sam's friend Nicholas Sayre. I like how Sam and Lirael's paths eventually cross (one of my favorite scenes was when Lirael had to lie about her age). There was no major battle at the end for "Lirael" but I do like the revelation of her identity in the end.
As I'm making this post, doing talk to text (not to mention you cannot talk-to-text the proper nouns of this series), there is no way I can remember and cover all six books in the series as they are not the freshest in my memory and I've read other books in between the books in this series . However, I do remember snippets of each which I like. I like how at the end of abortion, everyone unites and gives part of their power in order to defeat Orannis, though Mogget and the disreputable dog have roles to play too. I consumed "Clariel", the prequel story of the tragic figure who would later become Chlorr. I heard a fair amount of fans of the series may not like this book and find it to be the weakest. However I found it to be quite interesting and though it is a bit of unrealized potential as we could have went a lot deeper with how things turned out for Clariel, like when did her frustration with having to conform and her suddenly obtaining the free magic creatures eventually corrupt her? Like what was she up to for those hundreds of years and when did she be come the Chlorr of present day? I do like how in "Goldenhand", they introduced Ferin and the dynamics of all of the different tribes. Lirael plays a major role as she reunites with Nicholas, finds the identity of her mother, and goes deep into death where she confronts Chlorr and frees Clariel. Personally, I think Lirael would have been better suited with Sam, but of course that's not going to happen due to the nature of their relationship. However the strong, friendly familial platonic friendship that those two have are one of my favorite relationships in the book. "Terciel and Elinor" was a fine book but not the most memorable; it was a serviceable prequel as it reveals what Sabriel's parents were like and what they went through.
What do you think of this series?
by thunderdragon517