Abhorsen

#3
Title: Abhorsen
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Eos (HarperCollins)
Year: 2003
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
518 pages
 + Strong female protagonist; coming-of-age elements; fast-paced action
 -  Rushed narrative at times; plot issues; character development subsumed by action; multiple points of view, often lapsing into exposition, which also increases the reader’s emotional distance

The third of the Abhorsen trilogy. This is really a “part 2” for Lirael, making the shape of the series a little less of a triptych and more of a single story plus a diptych. A relatively satisfying book, and a reasonable end to the sequence (though there are hints that more could follow), it nonetheless has less emotional power than the previous two volumes. Perhaps this is a function of the characters’ outward rather than introspective focus; perhaps it is the difficulty inherent in writing a parable of such apocalyptic portions, but I did not find the characters as interesting or compelling, and their developmental changes and epiphanies seemed somewhat empty and distant compared to the first two books. Bigger plot holes; more deus ex machina as people (and animals) suddenly remember or know things that they didn’t before. 

Both the girl and boy with the magical dog who knows things, and the pace of the action, reminded me more of Diane Duane’s Young Wizardsseries than did the first two books, though I like what Nix did with both the Disreputable Dog and Mogget in Abhorsen.

Certainly I was exhausted by the end of reading it, and could empathize with the characters who were even more sleep deprived than I.

Plot problems large and small, which I hope will be inexplicable if you haven’t already read the books, and therefore not spoilers. Caveat emptor:

1.       Why is Nick necessary to Hedge’s plan?

2.       Why would Sam have been preferable?

3.       How was the splinter removed from its presumably impervious site of origin?

4.       I’d have liked to see Nick’s empirical side before his encounter with Hedge in Lirael. His behavior after the encounter with Hedge and in the Old Kingdom would have extended more logically from his nature.

5.       I’m unclear on the sequence of some of Nick’s actions, since the narrative now jumps somewhat asynchronously between several characters. I hope that he ordered the work at Forwin Mill after he saw the Lightning Trap.

6.       Powerful as she now is, I don’t think that Sabriel would undress with a Wyverly teacher in the room.

7.       I’d find the business about the circuit breakers more convincing if Nick and Tim didn’t come up with the idea independently.

8.       I grew a bit weary of the Dead who behave in a particular way and have particular characteristics—except for these Dead over here who are different—oh, and those Dead over there who defy the previous knowledge we have of the Dead. If the Dead can be held at bay as well as they are (and in great numbers) by pipes and bells later in the book, why so much fuss about combating relatively small numbers of Dead earlier? If running water only keeps minor Dead away, shouldn’t Abhorsen’s House have better defenses?

9.       Perhaps I missed an explanation, but I’m not sure why Lirael had to go to the 9^th Precinct to use the mirror.