Lirael : Daughter of the Clayr

Rating:
Summary: AN IMAGINATIVE TALE EXCITINGLY READ
Review: He's menacing, he's mesmerizing - he's Tony Award nominee Tim Curry reading a fascinating sequel to "Sabriel" (1996).

Imaginative Australian author Garth Nix gives new zest to fantasy fiction with this return to the Old Kingdom. We focus on Lirael and who she is. Unaware of her parentage and abandoned by her mother, she is unlike any other clairvoyant living in the Clayr's Glacier. Moreover, she does not posses what should be her birthright, the Sight, the gift of being able to see into the present and future.

Nonetheless, it is on her young shoulders that the very existence of the Old Kingdom rests. There is much to oppose her, including an age old evil force. Lirael has little to help her save her own heart, courage, and the ever faithful Disreputable Dog.

Those hoping for a neatly packaged and happy ending will not find it. Instead the story concludes whetting appetites for more with hints that there is greater danger and adventure to come in Nix's third in this series, tentatively titled "Abhorsen."

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: AN IMAGINATIVE TALE EXCITINGLY READ
Review: He's menacing, he's mesmerizing - he's Tony Award nominee Tim Curry reading a fascinating sequel to "Sabriel" (1996).

Imaginative Australian author Garth Nix gives new zest to fantasy fiction with this return to the Old Kingdom. We focus on Lirael and who she is. Unaware of her parentage and abandoned by her mother, she is unlike any other clairvoyant living in the Clayr's Glacier. Moreover, she does not posses what should be her birthright, the Sight, the gift of being able to see into the present and future.

Nonetheless, it is on her young shoulders that the very existence of the Old Kingdom rests. There is much to oppose her, including an age old evil force. Lirael has little to help her save her own heart, courage, and the ever faithful Disreputable Dog.

Those hoping for a neatly packaged and happy ending will not find it. Instead the story concludes whetting appetites for more with hints that there is greater danger and adventure to come in Nix's third in this series, tentatively titled "Abhorsen."

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr
Review: Lirael is a girl who lives in the Clayr's glacier. Almost all the Clayr get the Sight, the ability to see the future, by the time they reach their 14th birthday. The story starts on Lirael's 14th birthday. She still does not have the Sight, so she decides to commit suicide, but ends up hearing an important conversation. The Great Clayr see her, and erase her memory, and ask if there is anything she would like to do. She decides to become a Librarian. She finds a cool dog statuette, and then decides to make a sending (a being made of magic who cannot leave the boundaries in which it was made) that looks just like it. When she does, she accidentally transforms the dog statuette into a real dog. Her name is the Disreputable dog. Lirael finds a secret room, and I won't reveal what happens because it's really cool, but she finds a book, some panpipes, and a dark mirror. Lirael has never been Seen by the other Clayr before, but on the day she finds these things they see her at a place called Red Lake. They send her on a mission to stop a terrible thing from happening there. Something is being dug up. She gets a boat, and starts traveling down the river Ratterlin. At the same time this goes on, Sameth, the son of Sabriel and Touchstone, and the Abbhorsen-in-waiting, runs away. He runs into a forest, and plans to travel to see his friend Nicholas. He had been burnt on his wrists by an evil Free Magic sorcerer and necromancer, Hedge when he was coming home from a cricket game. A necromancer is a person who bring dead spirits back from dead, and binds them to do whatever the necormancer wants them to do in Life. Sameth is afraid of the Book of the Dead, and the bells of the Abbhorsen which his mother have to him. He calls himself Sam the traveler. Mogget, a free magic being, bound and enslaved to the Abbhorsen's will, finds him, and they start traveling to find his friend, and rescue him from whatever dangers are sure to befall him in the Old Kingdom. Eventually they are chased by Shadow Hands (fresh, rotting corpses, that are inhabited by dead spirits). They come to the river Ratterlin, and jump into a metal washing tub that sails them down the river, safe from anything dead, for dead cannot cross running water. Of course Lirael and Sam are destined to meet, but how will they save the Old Kingdom from Hedge and his army of thousands of dead, who are even more powerful than the Shadow Hands?
Lirael is an excellent and intelligently written book, about a girl who breaks the normal mold, a misguided and fearful prince, a disreputable dog, and a free magic creature, bound to form and to serve. All of these characters have an important part to play in the exciting and cliffhanging story of their intertwined destinies, and the close save, or the fall, of the Old Kingdom, a land of magic, evil, and the dead. Each charcter has different qualities, and are desendents of the 7. The 7 are the creators of the Charter (the magic that Lirael and her friends use).
Lirael, published by HarperTrophy and written by Garth Nix, is a thrilling fantasy book that involves friendship, courage, and hope. This book is one of the best I have read in a long time. It has a prequel (Sabriel) and a sequel (Abbhorsen). All of these books tell a story about everything that is important, friendship, love, and a will that will never die. The best part of this book is all the twists. You never know what to expect, and that makes it really fun. You should definitely read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Really Great Book
Review: Lirael was a wonderful book, I couldn't put it down and i read it twice.Lirael is about a teen who isnt gifted with the ability to see into the future like the rest of the daughters of the Clayr.She wants to commit suicide, but then is given another chance to be a librairian. There she finds many thing sabout herself and discovers some magical objects that help her in a journey. She is called by the Clayr and is told that they Saw she would be somewhere, but it was far away, so she begins a journey to get to that place, and an this lon gjourney she meets some very important friends, and learns more about herself than ever seemed possible. It has awesome action and suspense, great twists,the characters are awesome, and I could go on and on about how wonderful it was. I Couldn't wait to read the sequel, which I did and it was great too.And I read the one before it, Sabriel. Garth Nix is a great author, I became a fan of his when a friend of mine recomended the Seventh Tower series. I recomend Lirael to any fantasy lover, or any book lover for that matter. Definitely a rewarding read.

Rating:
Summary: Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr
Review: Sabriel was an awesome novel that left many readers hanging with questions and anticipation. The same can be said for Lirael. I was quite skeptical when it first came out because sequels usually aren't nearly as good as the first one. However, this wasn't the case. It took a while to get used to some new characters, and put the old ones on hold, but the story line was very gripping. Lirael doesn't answer all of the questions left from Sabriel, but it does introduce a new abhorsen and foes. It also creates the same chilling mood with more necromancers and greater dead. By the end I couldn't wait for the third and final novel to be released, which I'm sure will be just as good.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Sequel
Review: Sabriel was an awesome novel that left many readers hanging with questions and anticipation. The same can be said for Lirael. I was quite skeptical when it first came out because sequels usually aren't nearly as good as the first one. However, this wasn't the case. It took a while to get used to some new characters, and put the old ones on hold, but the story line was very gripping. Lirael doesn't answer all of the questions left from Sabriel, but it does introduce a new abhorsen and foes. It also creates the same chilling mood with more necromancers and greater dead. By the end I couldn't wait for the third and final novel to be released, which I'm sure will be just as good.