In "Sabriel" Garth Nix told us of the Abhorsen who deal in death, and now he enlightens us about the Clayr, the women who are gifted with the power to see into the future (albeit not always clearly) and then there are those awkward times when things get confused by alternate futures and such complications.
Lirael is the daughter of a Clayr, but is a very late bloomer, having not inherited the gift of the Sight like all other Clayr teenagers. This means that birthday after birthday she gets stuck at the kiddie table, wearing the equivalent of Dora the Explorer play clothes while her younger associates (she's rather lacking in the friends category) go off to their debutante duties.
As is often done with teens that are slow to develop, she gets to choose a trade, and she picks library duties, a very dangerous occupation in a place where reading can sometimes be hazardous to your health. Having a special aptitude for charter magic, Lirael quickly moves herself up the ladder, unbeknownst (I always liked that word) to her senior librarians, and begins exploring the forbidden parts of the library on her own. Of course she gets into all sorts of trouble, releasing a creature known as a Stilken, and having to use all her power to fight it. Some people make up imaginary friends to talk to, but not Lirael - after meeting with an ancient healer, she conjures herself a companion named The Disreputable Dog (of unknown magical origin) that is much more than a best friend and who aids and abets her in her voyage of discovery.
Lirael is the daughter of a Clayr, but is a very late bloomer, having not inherited the gift of the Sight like all other Clayr teenagers. This means that birthday after birthday she gets stuck at the kiddie table, wearing the equivalent of Dora the Explorer play clothes while her younger associates (she's rather lacking in the friends category) go off to their debutante duties.
As is often done with teens that are slow to develop, she gets to choose a trade, and she picks library duties, a very dangerous occupation in a place where reading can sometimes be hazardous to your health. Having a special aptitude for charter magic, Lirael quickly moves herself up the ladder, unbeknownst (I always liked that word) to her senior librarians, and begins exploring the forbidden parts of the library on her own. Of course she gets into all sorts of trouble, releasing a creature known as a Stilken, and having to use all her power to fight it. Some people make up imaginary friends to talk to, but not Lirael - after meeting with an ancient healer, she conjures herself a companion named The Disreputable Dog (of unknown magical origin) that is much more than a best friend and who aids and abets her in her voyage of discovery.
Meanwhile, in the other sub-plot in this book, Touchstone and Sabriel from book one have two children, a girl who will be queen, and a boy who isn't too sure he wants to be Abhorsen, as he doesn't like seeing dead people. After a rather unfortunate experience on the other side, he is ready to hang up his book and bells for good, but he doesn't want to disappoint his parents.
All is not well in the Old Kingdom, and his mother is hardly ever at home because of the demands of her job, and his father is finding that it's not always great to be the King. When Sameth (for that is the boy's name) learns that his school pal Nicholas has managed to land himself in grave danger (literally), he runs away from under his sister's thumb and charges off half-cocked to the rescue. Fortunately for him, Mogget the mysterious cat awakens in time to accompany him and save him from himself.
Just in the nick of time the paths of Lirael and Sameth collide in mid stream (again literally) and together they join against Hedge the evil necromancer and his cronies, including the unwitting Nicholas, who are trying to release something very nasty from the bottom of a pit. At the house of Abhorsen they discover a link in the family tree that affects them both.
Like all middle parts of a trilogy, this one leaves a lot of unanswered questions at the end, and should not be read without first reading book one, but is so well written that it will have you turning the pages as quickly as you can.
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