Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Mar. 31st, 2019 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI reread the Old Kingdom trilogy and it was a lot of fun. I'd read Sabriel and Abhorsen before (not Lirael because iirc that library didn't have it) more than ten years ago, and remembered more than I thought I would, which was a bit of a shame because there were several surprises that would have been a lot more impactful otherwise. It was still great. I liked the characters, Sabriel and Touchstone and Lirael and Sam and Mogget and the Disreputable Dog etc., and the plot, and I loved the world, especially the death magic and the bells but also the entire ~atmosphere was good.
I also read the prequel Clariel, which I hadn't read before, but unfortunately I was spoiled for a major reveal. Though maybe that helped, as it definitely made me more interested in the character from the beginning, even before I started to like her. I'm not completely sure how I feel about the ending - it's both more and less tragic than I expected, and I'm not a big fan of tragic endings in general. (Any fix-it recs? Maybe where Belatiel sent her to Ancelstierre instead, where there is no Free Magic?)
I know there's a sequel to the original trilogy too, but they don't have "Goldenhand" at the library and the ebook is expensive, so unless someone tells me it's fantastic I'm not planning on getting it rn.
One thing that bugged me when I read the books was that originally I thought it was stupid to put a Charter cornerstone into a bloodline instead of a physical object, especially with the example of Touchstone apparently being the last of the royal line and Sabriel the last of the Abhorsens. But then a physical object can be destroyed, while you just need a few people to have a lot of kids so that the odds of a bloodline dying out are very low. It makes no sense that Touchstone and Sabriel are the last ones, even apart from Lirael: there must be many distant cousins a few times removed still around, probably without knowing about the relation or only in old family legends. Finding those kids would be a different story, but: magic. The Abhorsen's bells followed Sam even though he wasn't the real Abhorsen-in-Waiting just because he would bring them to Lirael, so they'd be able to find an heir somehow, eventually. So ultimately spreading out a Charter cornerstone like that seems like a smart decisions, even though there were problems in practice.
I also read the prequel Clariel, which I hadn't read before, but unfortunately I was spoiled for a major reveal. Though maybe that helped, as it definitely made me more interested in the character from the beginning, even before I started to like her. I'm not completely sure how I feel about the ending - it's both more and less tragic than I expected, and I'm not a big fan of tragic endings in general. (Any fix-it recs? Maybe where Belatiel sent her to Ancelstierre instead, where there is no Free Magic?)
I know there's a sequel to the original trilogy too, but they don't have "Goldenhand" at the library and the ebook is expensive, so unless someone tells me it's fantastic I'm not planning on getting it rn.
One thing that bugged me when I read the books was that originally I thought it was stupid to put a Charter cornerstone into a bloodline instead of a physical object, especially with the example of Touchstone apparently being the last of the royal line and Sabriel the last of the Abhorsens. But then a physical object can be destroyed, while you just need a few people to have a lot of kids so that the odds of a bloodline dying out are very low. It makes no sense that Touchstone and Sabriel are the last ones, even apart from Lirael: there must be many distant cousins a few times removed still around, probably without knowing about the relation or only in old family legends. Finding those kids would be a different story, but: magic. The Abhorsen's bells followed Sam even though he wasn't the real Abhorsen-in-Waiting just because he would bring them to Lirael, so they'd be able to find an heir somehow, eventually. So ultimately spreading out a Charter cornerstone like that seems like a smart decisions, even though there were problems in practice.
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Date: 2019-03-31 11:37 pm (UTC)but they don't have "Goldenhand" at the library and the ebook is expensive Check the hoopla or libby apps? Libby is showing it for me. Also, I'm not sure how I didn't realize there was a new book! I'll have to read it and hope it's better than Clariel...
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Date: 2019-04-01 06:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2019-04-05 12:06 am (UTC)How was the previous experience of reading Sabriel then Abhorsen and skipping Lirael? Lirael is my favourite book of the series so I have to admit that pains me slightly!
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