Although it is not a recently released novel, this is one I personally overlooked many times before I bought it, simply because it was in the teen fantasy section in my bookstore. But, once I did buy Sabriel by Garth Nix, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

If I were to summarize this book and the others of the trilogy in one sentence, I could go with this: It is about a fledgling necromancer saving the world. At this point, I had to take a moment to digest this information. You know, because of the common misconception that necromancers are generally evil with all that raising of the dead.

Sabriel is the daughter of the Abhorsen, a necromancer who guards the Old Kingdom from any dead wishing to rise beyond their bounds. She has not grown up within the Old Kingdom, though, and is sent to boarding school in Ancelstierre, where we have all kinds of modern things like etiquette, electricity, and cars. In most fantasy novels where the Real World and magic meet, we have the one generally being unaware of the latter. Ancelstierre is more than aware of the Free magic on the loose beyond its borders while they are teaching Charter magic to the girls in the school and having specially trained border postings that are not only armed with guns, but swords and chainmail too.

After the disappearance of her father, Sabriel has to cross the wall and attempt to find him, for she believes he is in trouble. She walks in his footsteps as the Abhorsen and uses his sword and eight bells to practice magic and wade the waters of death. A cat by the name of Moggy becomes one of her companions, along with a Charter Mage named Touchstone. The speaking cat seems a bit boring, but fitting for simple teen fantasy. Nix manages to create a less boring side to it later in the story, though, and the overall ending to the book was quite a surprise to me.

Overall, this book is an easy and enjoyable read. Sabriel creates an interesting balance between reality and a magical world, with them bordering each other and tourists even visiting the border of the two. It is a great world of free magic that is really simple, yet seems very natural. Finally, all the characters are easy to understand, and readers can imagine themselves in their positions and emotional states quite easily.