As it’s International Women’s Day today, I thought it would be nice to celebrate one of my favorite female characters and also provide a series recommendation.
I have loved fantasy since I was in middle school, and often browsed the library for books that simply looked cool. And one day I picked up this book called “Sabriel” by this guy named Garth Nix. On the front was a young woman holding a little bell in one hand and a sword in the other with this cool blue surcoat on and a bandolier of bells across her chest. Behind her is a really scary-looking dark cloud with an evil face in it. So I checked the book out, took it home, and have loved it to this day.
“Sabriel” contains some of my favorite fantasy elements: there’s magic, there are swords, there’s a powerful and mysterious book, there are talking animals who aren’t quite animals, and there are powerful objects you use to channel magic. The story begins in sort of an early 20th-century setting in a country called Ancelstierre, but takes place mostly in The Old Kingdom, which is a land of magic and quite a bit of danger and has more of a medieval feel. There’s also a magic system in the book that is relatively simple to understand for those of us who don't wanna get bogged down in the details.
The character Sabriel is part of a long line of people called the Abhorsen, who work to protect the living world from powerful Dead creatures bent on destroying humanity. The Abhorsen carries a sword and seven bells, each whose sound creates a certain effect on those who hear it -- for example, one bell lulls enemies to sleep, one will either allow speech or make someone silent, and another will bring dead bodies to life as it pushes its wielder further into death. Of course, there are antagonists seeking to use Dead creatures to build an army or amass power and the Abhorsen is a role that has been around hundreds if not thousands of years to make sure the Dead stay dead.
The Abhorsen is also uniquely able to enter the realm of Death, where he or she can use the bells to confront Dead creatures trying to make their way into life. This first book is focused on Sabriel’s journey to find her father, the current Abhorsen, whom she believes is in danger after he sends her his sword and bells.
Now, I love this book and I love Sabriel as a character for quite a few reasons. The first is that...sometimes I want a complicated protagonist (like Kvothe of "The Kingkiller Chronicle"), and sometimes I want someone straightforward. Sabriel falls into the latter category in my opinion. She’s not morally gray. She accepts her duty as future Abhorsen, she’s both logical and compassionate, she’s very brave, she’s determined, she’s also not afraid to ask for help. She does, of course, have moments of fear and doubt as many heroes do but she pushes through. She’s not over-sexualized either which I do appreciate -- she’s just a GOOD hero and I think she’s really cool. And she’s not just limited to one book!
The book “Sabriel” was first published in 1995 and had two direct sequels, “Lirael” published in 2001 and “Abhorsen” in 2003 as well as two more recent works that make up what’s called the Old Kingdom series -- Sabriel herself is in four of five of these books so if you read the series, you get to spend a lot of time with her.
In the first book Sabriel is 18 and she’s probably closer to 40 in the following stories. The second two books are mostly focused on Lirael, another heroine, and Sabriel’s son Sam, both of whom I also love and who are a bit more complex of characters; also in those second two books, "Lirael" and "Abhorsen," the talking cat (who is not really a cat) comes back BUT THERE IS ALSO A TALKING DOG who is not really a dog but who takes the form of a dog -- it’s great stuff. It can be a little scary and suspenseful at some points when you’re dealing with these evil ugly dead creatures and talking about walking through death, you definitely get a bit of a horror feel at times, so fair warning. From someone who is a bit of a chicken when it comes to these things -- I didn’t ever find the books too intense myself, even as a kid, so hopefully you will all be ok if you choose to make this adventure.
I absolutely recommend the series to any lover of fantasy -- you can probably find cheap copies at a Half Price Books or a local bookstore because they’re kind of old at this point and I HIGHLY recommend the audiobooks -- the first three books in the series are read by Tim Curry and he does a wonderful job. If you don’t want to support the Amazon/Audible machine, you can check your local library to see if they will rent out audiobooks that you can download on your phone and enjoy Curry’s narration. They’re also not particularly long books which is handy for someone like me who wants to read them over and over.
A bit about the author -- author Garth Nix, an Australian, has been in the game for about 30 years and everything I’ve read by him has been very imaginative and he always has female characters front and center. I think in his recent works he has been more cognizant of including representation of different races and sexual preferences, BUT even back in 1995 when he published "Sabriel," there are non-white characters included. As far as romance in the books, it IS there but I wouldn’t say it’s heavy by any means, the author is more focused on plot and action and worldbuilding. As with anything I love I do have some critiques of this series but that hasn’t stopped me from reading them a bunch of times.
If you are interested in the series, I would recommend reading in the following order: "Sabriel" first, then "Lirael," then" Abhorsen;" these are the original trilogy and I think they’re best as a set. Then you have "Clariel," which is a prequel of sorts, and "Goldenhand," which continues with the story of Lirael, Sabriel, and the other characters we know and love. I do like "Clariel" even though it’s almost entirely a separate set of characters and it does link to Goldenhand" -- however if there’s one I WOULD skip it’s that one.
All in all, Sabriel has been part of my life for probably close to 20 years -- I think I read the book around the time I was 10 or 11 and I still love it to this day, so even though the character is 18 in the first book I think it’s a book you will still enjoy no matter HOW old you are!
Happy reading!
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