Review Detail

I always find it weird when I pick up a sequel not long after reading the first one, and then the main character is all grown up. You know? It's like you keep imagining the character as you remember him/her, as a teenager or girl or whatever, and then suddenly they're all grown up and responsible and everything? Anyway, that didn't have much to do with what I'm about to say.

Our main characters are a girl called Lirael, who is a Clayr, and Sameth, who is the Abhorsen in waiting, and the son of Sabriel.

When we meet Lirael at the very start, she is a lonely, Sight-less fourteen year old. She can't see the future, nd she looks completely different to them. She applies for work in the Library to get away from all the staring eyes and kids who are receiving the gift of Sight. Then we flash forward four years, and Lirael is a lonely, still Sight-less eighteen year-old. She has worked her way up to be Second Assistant, and has had to teach herself how to access the Charter properly. She creates a friend called the Disreputable Dog (I know right, what a name!).

Sameth has grown up in Ancelstierre, and is now returning back to the Old Kingdom. He does not want to be the Abhorsen in Waiting at all, he is positively terrified of Death and all that (personally, I find him a bit pathetic. Sorry, Sameth.) A little into the book, we meet Mogget again.

Lirael and Sameth don't meet until very near the end, and Abhorsen will still be about Lirael (instead of about, say, her daughter/son). There is still a big problem that has not been solved at all. In fact, the whole of Lirael was kind of setting up for Abhorsen.

It was a little slow in some parts, and in others it was very exciting, but thanks to the preparation of Lirael, Abhorsen hopefully will be able to plunge straight into the action.

I liked the banter between the Disreputable Dog and Mogget.

There was more character building in this book. With Sabriel, she knew exactly what she was and we knew she was very good at Charter magic and so on, but with Lirael, she still has to discover who she is throughout the course of the book. I will say that Sabriel had more action in it, while Lirael, as I said before was slower in some places and more preparation for the big finale (i.e. the last book)

To sum up, this was a great book, even though it was more preparation for the last book, and i can't wait to read Abhorsen! I