The first book in the Old Kingdom trilogy. Yes I've finally gotten round to reading the whole thing, regardless of the fact that it was originally quite far down my reading list. Nicholas borrowed it from me, and another guy subsequently borrowed it from him, and I the other guy told me that it was worth the time. It convinced me that maybe there was something exceptional about this book after all, now that Khairul wasn't the only person who was telling me 'Sabriel is good!'.
As Khairul has mentioned in his review, the story opens with the birth of the main character, then immediately jumps to a point in her life where she's about to embark on her journey to save her dad (who happens to be a necromancer. Lots of dead things mentioned in this book), which leads her from one thing to another. The world is drawn nicely, though there wasn't so much emphasis on descriptions. This was both a good thing and a bad thing, in my opinion. Good because the descriptions didn't bore me and drag too long, just enough to get me interested in the world, bad because it got me interested, but didn't care enough to satisfy my curiosity. The world in this book is attention-grabbing enough, but in the end it left me feeling that there was a lot more to it than the author was going on about.
For the storyline, it felt quite linear to me. But maybe that's because I've just read one too many fantasy novels. Though I like journeys, and there was a plus point that the setting was a cold place, and the end of it all. it feels like going somewhere, oh, go somewhere else, oh, go somewhere else, fight the bad guy, end. There was a total of one twist throughout the story which was of any significance, as far as I was concerned, but it felt quite lame in the grand scheme of things, which ended up with me not liking the main couple so much. The characters are alive, but like the world they are alive enough to warrant wanting to find out more- something you'll never get. If there was a character that I felt satisfied with, it was Mogget, the talking cat. Sarcastic and mean, he adds life to the story which the other two characters- Sabriel and Touchstone lacked in one way or another.
It didn't help that the bad guy was just the bad guy and nothing more. I expected a lot more character dynamics, and that left me feeling a tad bit disappointed.
On the whole scale though, its adequate for a fantasy story. Though it introduces a few new concepts, the delivery of it felt rushed and the characters weren't as endearing as they could have been. But apart from that, it should be alright, especially if you're new to this genre. Otherwise you'll feel like it could have been so much more.
6 out of 10. At least it's not 'The Light Ages'. (pukes)
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