Platypus of Truth

 Pictured: Kerrigor and Sabriel in Pitt pen and Brush Marker on sketch paper. It's been several years since I last did a blog-through of a book. Returning to live-blogging and Garth Nix's Old Kingdom have both been fun. So what are my final thoughts now that it's over? Nix is a much more accomplished writer than contemporary Terry Brooks. While I have fond memories of reading the Shannara series in the early 90s, I wish I had been reading Nix's stuff instead. On the other hand, even though Sabriel  is a Y.A. novel, its darkness might have disturbed me and vitiated my ability to appreciate the world the book creates. Turning to the Sabriel  and Clariel  as an adult, I find myself able to appreciate the tightness of Nix's writing as well as the genuine novelty and cohesiveness of his imagined world. I also feel much more able to appreciate Nix's Realism. There are rules to the Old Kingdom, and Nix plays by them. Many writers of Fantasy seem to confuse Real...

Today's post continues my blog-through of Garth Nix's dark fantasy, Sabriel , picking up where we left off with chapter 26. We're getting down to the end and there are spoilers galore. So, if you don't want to know how a 23 year old novel (so what if it spends every weekend binge-watching Parks and Rec , it can stop any time it wants to!) ends, don't keep reading. So here we go. The end run of Sabriel  is all about locating Kerrigor's bronze coffin (pictured at left: marker on boarding pass stub) and putting an end to his preserved remains ala Dracula  or The Mummy .  As I said before, we're now out of Brooks and Le Guin territory and into Room With a View  and All Quiet on the Western Front . Signs and portents gather as Col. Horyse, like Yates' Irish Airman, foresees his own death. We also learn that there was an incident 20 years earlier with the dead crossing The Wall in large numbers and that the towns of northern Ancelstierre have been drilli...

We're continuing our blog-through of Garth Nix's Sabriel  starting at Chapter 24. The image is of The Clayr, who I thought deserved stained glass (or Conte marker on the backing of a pack of Bic pens). We're getting closer to the end now, so if you don't want to what Nix penned 23 years ago (under no circumstances is it moving back in with Mom and Dad! -that would be weird...) really, really don't keep reading. Ok, you're still reading. Nix keeps the pressure up as Sabriel goes into shock (nice touch of Realism, that) and the scavengers from earlier begin hounding her and Touchstone (Mogget went awol when Abhorsen slipped his collar). When Sabriel is wounded, Touchstone gains super-powers and runs all the way to the top of the hill before collapsing. If we've read the prequel, Clariel , we know that berserking runs in the royal family. At the top of the hill, as promised, Sabriel encounters the Clayr. The Clayr are apparently a family of mystics that ca...

It's the GRE for me this week, so things on the blog front have slowed down. Still, that's why we take notes when doing this sort of thing, so they're there when we have time. Tonight's post will be the eighth in a series devoted to Garth Nix's break-out novel, Sabriel . If you are averse to learning the secrets of a 23-year-old novel (so what if it secretly wears My Little Pony socks to work -they're cute!) then don't keep reading. Ok, you've been warned! Here we go. When last we left our heroes, Sabriel had entered Death (a.k.a. Dragon Age's "The Fade") to find her father's spirit while Touchstone (Alistair anyone?) and Mogget remained in the diamond of protection to face Kerrigor and his undead minions of undeath (as pictured to the left on a scrap of boarding pass). Chapter 22 features the best descriptions of the Nine Gates of Death that we have anywhere in the book. They are simple, hazy, and yet still wonderfully dante...

Today we resume our walk through Garth Nix's Sabriel . Prior posts in this series can be found by visiting the blog and scrolling down. If you wish to remain ignorant of the details of a 23 year old book (it's too poor for avocado toast but day-old pizza for breakfast is just fine!), do not keep reading. You have been warned! We're picking up with chapters 18 and 19. This, at long last, brings us to civilization -or what's left of it. Belisaere, capitol of the Old Kingdom, is a sort of fifteenth century Constantinople. The boom chain that guards the harbor is there, and people do live and trade in the port, but it is clear that they are squatters in the ruins of a grander civilization. Instead of the Turks at the doors, Belisaere has the Dead. For all that, it is still beautifully described and described as beautiful; the first place to be described so in the book. The little inn where Sabriel, Mogget, and Touchstone stay, The Three Lemons, is a picture of bou...