Reread. My favorite of the ones I've read (just the first three books). I adore the Dog and I'm jealous of the library. ( )

I liked this one a bit more than the 1st, although I could have done with less teenaged angst although the reasons were made clear near the end of the book. I never understand, however, why seemingly every single writer or storyteller makes evil so much more competent, organized and stronger than the 'forces of good'. I think I'd enjoy it better if they were better matched.

Once again, I seem to be focused on the negative, but I shouldn't give it so much weight. I actually pulled over to the side of the road on the way to work to order the next book in the series as I finished this audiobook. So, yeah...I liked it.

( )

Magic

Ok - annoying that the first book (Sabriel) is a standalone novel, but this book isn't, and is continued in Abhorsen. I'm not sucked into the story, so it might be a while before I start Abhorsen. ( )

While Sabriel feels like a standalone book, I consider Lirael and Abhorsen as two parts of the same book, as such I'm writing this review about both of them.

Many of my annoyances from Sabriel carry over into these books. The magic is still kind of hand-wavy and Nix still introduces new rules of the world in that "Oh by the way" manner. Free magic does not like water, oh, but by the way, this is only true for beings that are under the control of free magic, not free magic beings themselves. But the same things I liked about Sabriel are present here as well. The fact that Nix does not chain himself to the lore that he supposedly creates beforehand, gives the books a carefree vibe that is quite refreshing.

The main difference between Sabriel and Lirael/Abhorsen was that Sabriel didn't feel very exciting, while Lirael/Abhorsen very much did. Abhorsen in particular I read in little over a single day because I was absolutely hooked on the story. ( )