Praise for LIRAEL: "What makes Lirael a delight is the magic that Nix brings to his story and to his characters. The story gradually grows grander and bigger until it’s nonstop action—confronting monsters, figuring out who’s a traitor, and all that good stuff—like an avalanche. Jaques, who sweeps Susan out of Frank’s house, just ahead of a horse-sized louse and an eerie black fog hiding more dangers.

Jacques (the titular left-handed bookseller, magical brawn) and his sister Vivien (the right-handed one) who has a bit more levelheadedness and common sense and magical brain. Their entire wardrobe is listed in full each scene, along with an accent that I'm supposed to just read the dialogue in, as no mannerisms to show this are included in what they say. The two sides of the family (a very extended family) wear gloves on whatever hand is their dominant one, and they reminded me so much of the Clayr librarians that I kinda squeed and just kept on squeeing, because I LOVE Lirael. I hadn't read anything by Garth Nix, and was excited to read this, but perhaps I'm just not the target audience for this book. I think because he manages to be very specific when I’d rather he’d be vague, and vague when I’d wish he’d be specific.A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister the right-handed bookseller Vivien and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage. This is my favorite kind of tale, one where the magic and the real nest together like pages in a book. I loved that this book was inspired by Nix's own visits to the United Kingdom, the first time coincidentally being in 1983, and his gratitude to booksellers which came across in his Acknowledgement.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Hijinks ensue, and Susan remains quite unflappable in the face of those — which is weird until you realize that she’s got some ancestral magic that lends her some serious magical street cred.It doesn't have a lot of depth, but it's a delightful romp through British legend and folklore and I enjoyed it as a light but occasionally surprisingly violent and suspenseful adventure story. On top of that the main character, Susan, is treated like a 5-year-old who needs to be led around by the hand without being told anything. Even though he also became interested in Susan, it was refreshingly not because of her looks or awesome abilities, but rather by her personality and ability to roll with the weird magical situations she was suddenly facing.

Nix's complex system of angelic magic, and the toll it takes, is fascinating, and he weaves an exciting adventure full of intrigue and action while portraying women in power in a refreshingly casual way. I think I also fell in love with him a bit after he unintentionally killed an innocent and was so haunted by it that he needed to read a book to counterbalance that act of violence. Swords and goblins and helicopters and guns and mythical giant wolves are fine, but it’s the dusty book covers and trashy paperbacks and maze-like book aisles is what one wants from a book about booksellers. As he and his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find this quest strangely overlaps with Susan’s.I think that for me if this one had a smoother start I would have been pulled in quicker but instead once the story flowed at a better rate I was just kind of so-so on the characters and adventure making this one just an ok read. He has also cowritten several children's book series with Sean Williams, including TroubleTwisters and Have Sword, Will Travel. Der Showdown konnte mich irgendwie nicht so ganz überzeugen, zum Beispiel blieb für mich die Frage offen, warum die "bösen" Personen so gehandelt haben.

I thought I had reached the big climactic battle, but it turned out there was another hour and another big battle to come.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Aunque Susan era una buena protagonista, mi favorito fue la hermana de Merlín, empaticé mucho con ella. What made it even more magical was the allusion to an urban fantasy London, which in my opinion is the book capital of the world. Although, now that the world is created, I could see this being the first entry in a fun, light-hearted series. fulfilling my 2020 goal to read (at least) one book each month that was given to me as a present that i haven't yet gotten around to reading because i am an ungrateful dick.