Review: Garth Nix – Clariel

Clariel
Garth Nix

Clariel is miserable in her new city life. She doesn’t understand why she should have to go to finishing school – really she just wants to run away to the forests somewhere. When she isn’t being used to reach the King by her ambitious GoldSmith mother, she is identifying Free Magic. Little does she know that the magic might take hold of her instead.

20662728This novel lets its main character develop the way I would want, but could have left a bit more time for other characters to put their own 2 cents in. I would have liked to have more of everything, the world as it was many years before the rest of the series, and the state of society.

Isn’t it the story of life that if people just spoke to each other and stopped trying to keep secrets, everything would work out far better? I could see so many spots that if people had just stopped, not touched and then talked some deaths could have been averted!

Am I too old for this novel? Never! Certainly, the themes here seem quite trivial in comparison to those in Sabriel for example. Gracious! I just tried to link to my review, and it turns out I have never written one! Take my word for it, you need to own these. I think Clariel offers a good entry point into the series, but take it with a grain of salt as only so much can happen in such a comparatively short novel.

I received this for my birthday this year. I had, in fact, requested it from Alland & Unwin a long, long time ago when I first started reaching out for review copies from publishers. Since then, it had sort of sat at the back of my mind with wanting! I received Nix’s newest Abhorson novel, Goldenhand, and knew I had to read Clariel first.

I love the Abhorson series, of which Lirael is my favourite. It’s easy to tell why when she’s a librarian with spunk! In fact, I’ve got a baby name based on their names. Needless to say, I’ll be giving this 5 stars. Why are you still here reading my review? Go and buy it already!

5star

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