Clariel - Gath Nix

What a wonderful return to the Abhorsen world. I thoroughly enjoyed reentering this world, hundreds of years in the past before Sabriel, and seeing it from a different point of view. I would have loved to have follow an Abhorsen a little more and get to experience the bells and the world of the dead with the nine gates, but this angle was good also. 

Clariel was a character I came to like very early on for her wit and humour. Then as the story went on and she grew and evolved as a person I found that I still liked her. She is the true representation of the path to hell is paved with good intentions. 

The story started slowly and introduced a lot of things that the reader had not previously learned of In the previous books, but as soon as it started it was fast paced from then on not slowing down for the rest if the story. While I could tell exactly where the story was going as soon as she met with Aziminil and Baazalanan at the Abhorsen's house, I felt that was where the story needed to go and that not every heroine can always be a heroine, no matter how much a person tries to be one.

From the Author's note at the end, I will have to go back to Lirael and read the start again to reacquaint myself with a 600+ year old Clariel as Chlorr of the Mask. I can't wait for the promised further books of the Old Kingdom.