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Sabriel (Cont.): The Platypus Reads Part CCCXX

This is the third post covering my reading of Garth Nix's 1995 Dark YA Fantasy Sabriel. Prior posts in the series can be found here and here. Posts from 2014 on Nix's prequel, Clariel, can be found by using the Nix tag at the bottom of this post or on the side bar. As with the prior two posts, this one features my depiction of Sabriel encountering the Shining Spirit along the river of death. It is done with pitt pens and felt markers on the back of an airline boarding pass.

In the meantime, let's get on to the review. As always, don't keep reading if you don't want spoilers on a 23 year old novel (That likes beer, hard liquor, and binge-watching Parks and Rec?).





From my notes:

Chapter 6 opens with a sudden shift in perspective, an odd choice that still plagues Nix in Clariel. We find ourselves in the head of one of the lesser dead, Thralk. The jump in perspective is meant to enhance the tension as we watch Thralk creep up on Sabriel's broken ward while she is in the realm of death. Meanwhile, in Death, Sabriel is having a Hero-With-a-Thousand-Faces moment as she encounters Water/Menstruation/Mother/Anima/Gatekeeper. Though it sounds corny when said like that, Nix is at his best when he's describing the archetypes of the Hero's Journey in Realistic prose. As Thralk intrudes on this moment, breaking the connection, it also gives Nix a chance to reinfuse his narrative with a boat-load of Story Questions (How did Kerrigor escape after the prologue? Did he escape? Is Kerrigor the one Thralk saw Abhorsen combating? What are The Greater Dead?). The pace picks up in this chapter with Sabriel successfully banishing Thralk but having to flee the superior force of the Mordicant.

Chapter 7 opens with unexpected safety in the form of the magical sentinels that guard the path to Abhorsen's house. Nix is always careful, however, to take away with one hand what he gives with the other. While the sendings can slow the Mordicant, they cannot defeat it.The chase that ensues is well-narrated with the action equally balanced with a sense of magical wonder. The safety achieved at the end of the chapter is again only temporary. The Mordicant is outrun, but still waiting, and now Sabriel has to deal with...

...EVIL the Cat; or Mogget, as his friends call him. Mogget, who I remember from Clariel, makes his appearance in Chapter 8 and is one of Nix's best inventions by far. I have met many young women who would love to have a magical, talking, Kitteh on their adventures and they would consider the fact that it's actually an imprisoned evil spirit to be a perk! I like Mogget. He's fun, and very feline. I think his friends haunt the back alley behind Space Cadets comic book shop. Since there's a lot more to saw about Mogget, we'll pick up with him in our next post.

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