Abhorsen by Garth Nix

[meganbmoore]

I found Sameth much less annoying here than I did in Lirael, but then, he didn’t have time to whine. I still would have rather been reading about Lirael and Ellimere.

I didn’t like this as much as I did Lirael, mostly because it didn’t have the Library, and because Lirael had already done most of her character growth in Lirael, and mostly just needed to get it all tied together. But I really liked the revelation about Mogget and Disreputable Dog’s identities, and I wish there had been more of Sabriel and Touchstone. (And wasn’t this the first time we learned Touchstone’s real name? Or did I just forget it?) I liked Sabriel and was ok with but not interested in Touchstone in Sabriel, but really like their older versions.

I feel like, since this is a continuation of Lirael, instead of a new story, I said everything I had to say when I posted on Lirael. But now people don’t have to bite their tongues when commenting on it!

I know that Across the Wall is a collection of short stories, at least one of which is set in the same world, but has anyone read Nix’s other series, or know if he plans to write anymore in this world? (Preferably about Ellimere or set later in Lirael’s life, but I accept that writers don’t get paid just to cater to me.)

Comments

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

Would you believe I actually believed Sabriel and Touchstone were dead? Either I am a total dork or that was quite well done.

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

I am a total dork along with you then. I thought they were dead too.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I figured they were alive purely because they had to see Lirael and Sameth having grown up.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I honestly did not know what to think! Genre expectations had me thinking "well, of course they miraculously survived, they're far too powerful and too important to their world and the other characters to be bumped off so early, and in such an ignominous fashion". But between Abhorsen getting killed off at the end of Sabriel, and Lirael's subversion of those same sorts of genre expectations for what should usually happen when an unhappy orphan discovers their long-last family background and special magical heritage...I really couldn't tell which direction he was going to go for.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

"Well, of course they survived, this is a fantasy book" was my first thought, but then I just couldn't shake the thought that no, he'd really killed them off For Real. I think the way this trilogy made me doubt my own genre expectations (even if ultimately reinforcing them) was a big point in its favor for me.

[genarti]

Same; I was leaning towards going with genre expectations, but I fully believed Nix to be capable of subverting that for the punch of it. So I wasn't exactly surprised when they resurfaced alive, but I wasn't totally certain they were going to.

[snarp]

I third the total dorkitude. I absolutely believed it. I felt like they'd doomed themselves by having that family conversation about Contingencies in the last book; when parents initiate the conversation, but keep adding, "Not that anything will happen to us!", I generally expect something to happen to them.

[snarp]

(In books, that is. I do not mean to imply that my family are the guardians of any mystical natural order. I mean, I have no proof of that, except for the silver-eyed unicorn that has watched sternly over us all for seven generations.)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Across The Wall only has one Old Kingdom story in it; the rest is a fairly mixed bag of stuff -- fables, an odd take on an Arthurian character, a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure parody, even a couple of pieces without any fantasy elements.

I haven't read any of his other series myself, but have heard some rather "meh" reactions from folks who loved the Old Kingdom stuff and found his other work deeply disappointing. The non-OK bits in ATW never managed to be more than mildly interesting to me, so between that and the negative reviews I've definitely been in no rush to check out the other stuff.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...maybe I'll just wait until the other series are finished, and see if any collected editions come out.

[annwyd.livejournal.com]

Some information on Garth Nix's future plans (http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNKNKY3YXHEOS9W).

I really would have liked to know more about Lirael and Nick and what their relationship became when they got to know each other. But I guess I'll be content with the Dog-decreed knowledge that it would be something important--and hey, maybe it'll crop up in the sequel when it comes out in 2011 (if it does).

The only other book of Nix's that I've read is Shade's Children, which was...really weird and very different from the Old Kingdom trilogy. I liked it well enough, but it did have a lot of elements that appeal to me personally (creepy body horror, post-apocalyptic setting...), so I can't really say how much you'd like it.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Post-apocalyptic is actually rather popular in these parts...

And a book about Chlorr sounds excellent.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

The thing I found oddest about Shade's Children -- at least I think that's the book I'm remembering -- is the way one scene seemed directly borrowed from Tolkien... and yet the setting was so different from Tolkien's that the scene was totally incongruous.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Which scene was that?

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Rot13 (http://rot13.com/index.php): Gur ohvyqhc gb gur pyvznk, vvep, vaibyirq avar rivy orvatf jub jrera'g Anmthy fcrrqvat gb gur zbhagnva gung jnfa'g Zbhag Qbbz.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I really liked Shade's Children, and I have but haven't yet read Ragwitch.

[chomiji]

I have to say I hated Ragwitch. It's hard to believe that the same person wrote it. "The Keys to the Kingdom" struck me as similarly bad.

[mymorphine.livejournal.com]

I did enjoy Keys to the Kingdom, if only for the psycho-but-fabulous concept behind it all. ^^

[kakkobean.livejournal.com]

He's already started another series that takes place in space, and then another young adult series...don't remember what it was called...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Keys to the Kingdom and Seventh Tower, I think.

[mymorphine.livejournal.com]

Sabriel is still my favourite. I don't know, she grabbed my heart more than Lirael did.

Only one story in Across the Wall is set in that world, and I don't think he intends to write more of that world, but he's been rather prolific about publishing nonetheless. The Keys to the Kingdom series come with a whole new set of phenomenal ideas, and while it's directed at perhaps a slightly younger audience, I had no shame in reading them religiously. :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think Sabriel is easier to like, but Lirael more interesting. The thing about Sabriel is that she doesn't have character growth because she doesn't need it. As a person, she's already where she needs to be at the start of the book. And while that's nice to read about, it isn't as compelling for me as a character who needs to grow and change.

[mymorphine.livejournal.com]

I know where you're coming from. At the same time, I suppose, her growth was mostly her love, and as a reader I found that if you could root for them the way Twilight readers root for Edward/Bella they were very definitely interesting, indeed.

Besides, Sabriel's sassiness was endearing. ^^

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

This is something I discussed back on Red's journal back when I first read it, but in a nutshell I liked and admired Sabriel the character, and enjoyed her first book immensely, but she didn't really grab my heart. (But she is exactly the sort of competent, ass-kicking heroine I was DESPERATE for back when I was at the target age, and I suspect if this book had only been out back when I was in my tweens or a little younger, I would have been head-over-heels in love with it.) Lirael, OTOH, on an intellectual/critical front I found the book a little more interesting because of the subversion of genre tropes, and emotionally I was just hopelessly identified with Lirael due to lots of similar Issues in my own background. So her books just wound up squeezing at my heart in a way Sabriel, deeply enjoyable as it was, did not. (Not to mention that the Disreputable Dog and the Library were of course utterly irresistible to me.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Aside from identifying with her issues (to a degree...I don't identify with characters a lot, but I come pretty close there) that's pretty much my feeling on the subject.

Really, in a lot of ways, it's the library that makes that my favorite of the trilogy.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Same. I love Sabriel to bits.

[mymorphine.livejournal.com]

Hurray! We should make t-shirts or something.

I RPed her once. Had a fantastic time. ^^

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I bet!

[genarti]

I agree with you about Lirael's character growth, and about wanting to read about Lirael and Ellimere. I was torn on Sameth's annoyingness; sometimes I sympathized with him (because even if it's annoying in a fictional character, I have totally been that person, although I hope more introverted and non-annoying about it) and sometimes I just wanted to smack him. And I adore older Sabriel and Touchstone; I love happily married adult couples, and they totally were that.

Abhorsen is probably my least favorite of the series, but talking about it now has me wanting to reread it anyway.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Few things in fiction make me happy the way happy, stable couples being presented as being interesting does.

[genarti]

I agree with this 100%. And it's so weirdly rare!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There's an assumption that together/happy/stable=boring.

What I find boring is the convolutions a lot of fiction (I'm looking at you, shoujo romance, and you, kdramas) goes through to make things "interesting."

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Seconded. I didn't mind the Sabriel/Touchstone ship in the first book but it didn't really make me feel anything, either; but I loved, loved, loved that here they were shown as an established, longtime couple, and parents of near-adult children no less, who still are clearly crazy about each other, and work together marvelously as a team.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

In Sabriel I thought Sabriel/Touchstone was a decent pairing, but it didn't do much for me. Ithought they were much better and more interesting as a pairing after years of marriage.

(Of course, I also think I'm the only person in the worldf who counts Zoe/Wash as their favorite Joss Whedon pairing, so...)

[luckychan.livejournal.com]

Um, Zoe/Wash is my favorite Joss Whedon pairing ever. ^^; Which is why I'm still pretty brokenhearted about them...

I love happily married couples too, and even when from the beginning I already liked Sabriel/Touchstone, I loved them even more when they were shown in Abhorsen. In Abhorsen, what I also found really interesting, by the way, the possibility of something that could go on between Lirael and Nick. ^^ It's hinted in Across The Wall, but I really would have liked that explored more. (I remember them being awkward and cute, even in Abhorsen.)

As for his other books, I read Mister Monday, and while it's not as absorbing as Sabriel was, I thought it was...okay. But that's probably just because there was a character there that I particularly liked.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There's something there with Lirael and Nick. Maybe it'll get explored in the upcoming book.

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

I like his series "Keys to the Kingdom" and have read five of the six currently available, but I know others aren't really fond of them. It wouldn't really be worth buying "Across the Wall" as most of the stories really aren't interesting, but I did enjoy the story based in the Abhorsen world, and the choose-your-own-adventure story was amusing.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I guess maybe I should just find the Old Kingdom story somewhere.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I'd second that it's probably not worth buying unless you find it insanely cheap used or something. I keep waffling about whether I should put my own copy on BookMooch or not -- I'm half of a mind to ditch it for the sake of shelf space because only the OK story and the weird Arthurian one strike me as rereaders, but then again I half want to keep it just for the completism because the OK story is really, really fun, and I utterly adore the cover art...

[animeshon.livejournal.com]

I believe that Nix is planning to write at least two more books set in the Old Kingdom, and Across the Wall has one story about Nick's attempt to get back to the Old Kingdom