Sabriel, Prologue-chapter 7

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Here we’ll be discussing the prologue and chapters 1 through 7 of Sabriel!

We learn a lot in this opening section as well as meeting several important characters (and…creatures). We also encounter all 3 of the realms to which Sabriel belongs: Ancelstierre, The Old Kingdom and the river of Death. Which feels most real and visceral to you as a reader? Can you pin point a reason for that in Nix’s writing?

As ever, please remember to use spoiler tags if you’re mentioning something specific.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

The prologue is just intriguing enough for me. I admit I don’t find Sabriel’s father as interesting a character as her but I think the prologue needs to be there to introduce us to the scope of the novel. I also love it as an example of the visceral quality of Nix’s writing: I can really feel the rain, the mud and the smoke of the camp.

I think what struck me most about the opening chapters of Sabriel when I was young was how capable she was. She might be facing personal crisis but throughout the early chapters, she’s perfectly in control: dealing with the dead, leaving school, crossing the wall and even feeling confident enough to play a trick on one of the soldiers. Even though I found her a hard character and a little difficult to warm up to, even as a 10 year old I had to respect the way she copes with what gets thrown at her. And I have to wonder whether my difficulty arose from the fact that I just wasn’t used to a female heroine being as unapologetically confident as she sometimes can be (still aren’t, come to that) and thus my brain misinterpreted her justifiable self-assuredness. Now I can appreciate her as a far more complex and nuanced character: rightfully taking pride in her skills but at the same time, unprepared for the ‘real world’.

For me, the book doesn’t really get ‘real’ until Sabriel is in the Old Kingdom. There’s just something solid about the snow, the bluffs and the road (particularly that image Nix gives us of her as that graceful, dark silhouette against the snow) that the ‘modern’ world of her school lacked. I also love that we are basically discovering The Old Kingdom along with her. There’s always an individual magic in tracking a characters progress into the unknown.

Onto one of my favourite parts, Abhorsen’s house!

[Elizabeth Mayes]

This is my first time ever reading this book and I've immediately fallen in love with it. I really appreciate having such a strong female character as a lead, but at the same time I'm grateful that the book takes time to show she's still a young girl with a lot to learn.

In the beginning Sabriel came off caring, but aloof. As the first few chapters progressed I really felt like I was getting a good sense of who she is. Seeing how she handled finding the dead soldiers, her regret at not remembering to grab their tags, and then seeing her confront her fear at the Charter Stone and while facing the Mordicant.. really showed me what kind of a person she is.

I agree with Sky that it didn't start to feel "real" until she crossed into the Old Kingdom. For me, it really started to feel real when she discovered the soldiers and dealt with the Charter Stone. It was at that point that I began to realize the danger she really faced and we began to see that she still had a lot to learn.

Overall I'm really enjoying the book. The first few chapters have seemed to move quickly as she went from being a student to being back in the Old Kingdom to traveling to the Abhorsens house in a very short time. It wasn't what I expected, but I think it'll open the book up for being a lot more in depth than I initially thought it would be. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

[Robin Blackwood]

When I started reading I was full of surprise. What was going to happen? How? Finally I took some time for getting book into my hands and I started with prologue.
In some books there are so bad prologues, but here it was really interesting and powerful one. It was kind of obvious what will be prologue about; but still style of writing was perfect. And Garth Nix entered into world of magic quickly, at the beggining.
I was not so satisfied at beginning of first chapter, because there were cars and buses. I thought that it was story about old fantasy and magical world without electronics. But later the magic came again and it was interesting altough the same action from prologue was repeated. I liked Sabriel's characters; strong and powerful, authoritative. She seemed stronger thanboth of her teachers; headmaster and other female professor. But I can say that the problem of whole book finally started.
Second chapter was much better. Author did great job connecting magical and non-magical world. It was a little confusing in the middle; but then it became clear again. Sabriel's character was much weaker now and I got a feeling that she is emotional person after all; despite all her trying to be what she was thought to be.
Third chapter was calm; my respect for the main soldier which was talking with Sabriel became bigger. Despite to her strong personality he was talking with her in many ways; sometimes as more important and sometimes as less. But it was kind of funny when Sabriel started skiing through so dangerous land.
Burning death soldier was kind gesture from Sabriel in chapther four and I was happy when she refused to go investigate into death again. She is constantly taking so many risks. I was confused when I figured out how small is the line between death and lifein this book. Even if you die necromant has the power to get you back to life.Powerful and amazing.
It was so interesting when all those bells were introduced, but I was a little shocked when even moredeaths were announced. I can't count anymore how many death people are death in Sabriel.

Sorry for a lot of spoilers

[Katelin Ross]

After reading other people's responses to the first seven chapters of this novel, I think I am going to be the first person to not like this book so far. I think it is quite boring right now. I haven't really gotten into Sabriel as a character yet, and usually by the first couple of chapters I can. After talking to Tarma yesterday, she stated that it does get better. I hope it does, because I don't like it yet. I guess I will give it a few more chapters.

Onto chapter 8.

[Prof. Gustavo Flores]

I started Reading Sabriel on Monday. So far I haven’t completely fallen in love with the story, but it has been interesting enough that after I finish reading one chapter I want to begin with the next one. Like many of you I really like the fact that it is a female protagonist who is still learning her abilities, but truth is I haven’t completely understandhow magic/charters marks and so many more magical concepts work. Maybe I’m not reading carefully enough?

I don’t feel like I can give an opinion about the 3 realms yet. I feel like in these chapters I haven’t known them yet. I would love to read more description about them (so far I can’t really picture them yet) and hopefully in the chapters to come that would be the case.

One of the things I enjoyed the most in these chapters wasthe description of the bells. I really like how each of them has a different name and different functions. I have also liked Sabriel encounter’s with dark entities and how she fights them.

Overall, I think it’s been a good reading, but I’m still confused about many things. Chapter 7 left me wanting to read more. Many of you have said that it gets better so I’m still excited and intrigued to know how the story develops.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

I'm reading it too!

Actually, I was wading through it, page by page, sometimes sentence by sentence, because the world just wasn't making sense to me. But then I got further into the story and suddenly discovered I was starting Chapter 10. Well. This is good! I don't know that this will be a favorite of mine, but at least I'm not just trudging through it because I said I would give it a go!

I like the ideas of the bells, yes. And the whole idea that Death is just another territory, like a change of resonance?, is different. But, all in all, this is not a world I'd choose to visit. I'll continue reading but ... there it is!

[Vanessa Tilley]

So I could not get to sleep tonight so I finally got up at 2 am and started reading Sabriel. I have already made it through chapter 7 and I am in love with this book.

I love Sabriel. I wish I was as put together and confident as she is when I was her age. I know if I were her I would be a bit resentful to have some much weight put on my shoulders at such a young age. I love she has the confidence to not allow other people, including men, to look down on her because of her age. I also love that she can admit that she does not know everything after all when she enters the Old Kingdom and notices that she ia a bit prideful. It took me a long time to do that myself.

I love how we start out with this great prologue set in the Old Kingdom and then we are taken to this 'modern' world. I feel like the division of the realms sets the stage for us to know that this girl is about to go through a pretty scary journey by leaving behind the nice safe 'modern' world she knows to to entering a world full of ancient power. I cannot wait to see what she learns and if maybe her living in a 'modern' world can help her pull out a few tricks of her own to surprise the ancient and powerful evil in the Old Kingdom.

Time to get back to the story.