Sabriel by Garth Nix

Sabriel is a wonderful fantasy, a little dark but well written with a fairly unique story. The title character is the daughter of a powerful charter mage known only as Abhorsen. He is a type of guardian between the realms of life and death. Sabriel has spent most of her life attending a boarding school, outside of the walls that separate the modern lands from the Old Kingdom. She has been sheltered and kept safe from the magic and the creatures that roam in the lands of her birth. Now, however, something is terribly wrong. Dark creatures are crossing over the wall, and Sabriel's father has gone missing.

It was my very first year in the library when I discovered Sabriel by Garth Nix. The dark hardcover book was nestled into it's shelf waiting for our winter inventory. I picked it up and asked the March Hare and the Mad Hatter if they had ever read it. Neither had, but they had heard good things about it. You see, there are so many books within a library's walls that it is near impossible for a librarian to read them all. Sometimes we must relay on other peoples' opinions. That was why the March Hare suggested I read it, at least someone in the library would have knowledge of the book.

So I read it over Christmas break, over the course of a 16 our love affair. I barely stopped to eat a sandwich. I was engrossed in every line. I stayed up all night not wanting to put it down, but not wanting it to end either. I cried. It had been so long since a book had this much of an impact on me. When I closed the cover it was like saying farewell to a good friend. As soon as school started up again, I started to read the sequel. When I was transferred to the elementary school a few months later, the Tea Party Trio purchased the entire trilogy for me as a present. This book and it's series had changed my life. I began to read other children's authors. I've added many YA novels to my home library since. I try and read all those the kids recommend to me. Sabriel is popular enough. Many of the kids try and like it. For me though, Sabriel is a passion because it started it all.

Book Description
Since childhood, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who refuse to stay dead. But now her father, the Mage Abhorson, is missing, and Sabriel must cross into that world to find him. With Mogget, whose feline form hides a powerful, perhaps malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage, Sabriel travels deep into the Old Kingdom. There she confronts an evil that threatens much more than her life'and comes face to face with her own hidden destiny. . . Garth Nix's first young adult novel, Sabriel was recently nominated for the Aurealis Award for Excellence in Science Fiction in Australia.