Clariel

I have no idea what Mr. Nix (that sounds like a magician) did, but this one really didn't measure up to the older stuff. It wasn't horrible, no gigantic heretic nightmare, but crap, this wasn't anything brilliant either.

We are hundreds of years before Sabriel's time and Clariel's family moves from some forest to the capital, because her mother is so great of a goldsmith she just needs to be part of the guild. Our heroine does what any spoilt teenager do and mopes about the fact she is not allowed to become a forest ranger type person. Then she finds out about shit going on in the city, conspiracies and gets involved in everything. Meh.

Not sure if it's much of a spoiler, but... Clariel's story joins into the main body of the series. Yeah. She is there somewhere, which is anifty thing, but I couldn't ignore the feeling that this book wasn't meant to be a novel. Now hear me out. It was a fun idea to develop a backstory for a little character from the original three, I could appreciate things like this, but there just wasn't enough meat for me to warrant a whole, full size novel. A short story, sure, maybe a novella. But this was not something essential for the main story and as such, felt a bit like an afterthought. There, I said it. Rhinestones hot glued on a chainsaw. (Man, I want to see that now.)

I've read Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen a couple of years ago, so I can't remember all the details. I would go as far as to say the storylines weren't the most complex I've ever seen, but this one felt a bit simpler. Not like that in itself is an issue, it just feels a bit weightless to read the story when you know the outcome, so you really needed to do something to still make it more interesting or pick a really beloved, mysterious character who is able to carry it all by themselves. Clariel wasn't that character.

I know most people are crazy about the female characters, but I will be honest, while I found Sabriel and Touchstone pretty evenly matches in likeability, I've always preferred Sameth over Lirael. Here we have this boy called Belatiel. He was such a sweet, sweet kid who really desn't have much going for him, but works hard and manages to achieve something great. People treat him badly, he is ridiculed and overlooked, but he perseveres. I can appreciate that.
Clariel, though. Oh, Clariel. We've all been young, realizing life is not as easy as you imagine. It's understandable to be angry and frustrated when you realize you can't get what you want. My issue is more with the fact that I found her writing being wear. I said it. I don't think she is a well-written character. Even as the readers, knowing her most, all we get to learn about her is that she likes being alone and wants to live in her beloved forest. She has no other interests, no hobbies, no other passion, no opinion on anything, she doesn't really care about anyone, she barely exists as a person. She has no characteristics other than loner and tree hugger. At this point I'm not sure if this is intentional or just poor character development, which is sad.

The conflict was not something to write home about. The villains were cartoonish, Clariel's disinterest in anything and anyone stops us from getting to know the characters or the places. We were meant to concentrate on the heroine, how this normal kid turned bad and to see the exact point where she lost her footing, but her lack of well-rounded personality makes us stuck with... well, not much.

All in all, it was an easy read, something you can do on vacation or if you have a boring weekend, but I wouldn't say it is an essential fantasy experience that should make you throw away whatever you're reading at the moment.
Supposedly there is another book coming in the series with some other character, so I am hoping for this being a bit of an “easing back into the world” thing for Mr. Nix before the new one. I'm definitely picking that up, even if it's just for curiosity and nothing else.

So for now, good bye and get a hobby!

I love the original Old Kingdom trilogy, so when Garth Nix announced that he was returning to the world to write additional novels I was really excited! This was released several years back now, so I'd heard the disappointed feedback and...I don't get it? Is it quite up to the standard of the first few books? No. But it's not far off, and I found Clariel herself to be an interesting character. I liked it!

Definitely went in with too-high expectations. The book, while sometimes providing a fun glimpse back in to the Old Kingdom, suffered from slow pacing. Having finished the book, I understand the character of Clariel more, but while reading it was hard to feel anything for Clariel since she is so distant. I think her story could have more interesting aspects to it, but this origins story unfortunately did not provide any of the excitement that Sabriel or Lirael hold for me.