Terciel and Elinor (a prequel about Sabriel's parents).

Goldenhand (follows Abhorsen and overlaps with 'The Creature in the Case').

'To Hold the Bridge' (short story set in the same time period as Clariel but a few years at most before it, found in the collection of the same name).

Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen (a prequel set 600 years before Sabriel's birth).

'Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case' (novella, found in the collection Across the Wall).

Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (forms a two-book arc with Abhorsen).

One of the more interesting touches is the presence of the more advanced technological lands to the south of the Old Kingdom - in particular Ancelstierre, home to many of the characters, which comes across much like England circa 1910-1920. The magic systems used in the book are radically different from the expected and contribute significantly to its originality.

The second and third are set some years later and follow several protagonists - the eponymous Lirael, a librarian, and Sam, Sabriel's son - as they attempt to prevent a great evil from escaping its prison.Īlthough parts of the setting bear a superficial similarity to the 'stock' medieval fantasy, Nix quickly heads off into new territory, bringing a unique and different flavor to what might have otherwise been yet another fantasy Cliché Storm. The first book tells the story of Sabriel, daughter of the Abhorsen, who discovers that since something bad has happened to her father, she must protect the world from the hordes of undead that threaten it.

Poised between the two is the Abhorsen, who partakes of both to defend the people of the Charter from the Dead and other monsters that Free Magic and its servants spawn in order to work their wills. Charter Magic is defined by the Charter, a runic language, which gives structure and purpose to sorcery to make it a beneficial and constructive force Free Magic is wild, uncontrolled and given to corruption and wanton destruction. Set in a world sharply divided into the Old Kingdom, where magic rules, and the Southern Nations, where science is law, the Old Kingdom series revolves mostly around the conflict between two varieties of magic - Charter and Free, which correspond roughly to the traditional alignments of Law and Chaos. A young adult fantasy series by Garth Nix.

Abhorsen trilogy