BOOK RING: This ring is now closed. Members were:

• perfect-circle (Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK)
• KLL (Kingston Upon Thames, Greater London, UK)
• Suedo's other half
• Suedo Spennymoor, County Durham, UK)
• Cyzaki (Newport, Shropshire, UK)
• CaterinaAnna (Coventry, West Midlands, UK)
• candy-is-dandy(Great Bardfield, Essex, UK)
• dark-draco(Ledbury, Herefordshire, UK)
• tehuti (Nottingham, UK)
• KiwiinEngland (Dublin, Ireland)
• nifferdoodle (Dublin, Ireland)

Amazon.co.uk Review:

The third book in Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy is everything it promised to be and everything it could ever have been, coming as it did after Sabriel and Lirael--two of the most riveting fantasy novels in recent years. More a continuation of Lirael than Sabriel, which was set 20 years before it's sequel, Abhorsen nevertheless completes this outstanding sequence of books with considerable style and a consistent quality of prose that is enviable and to be admired.

The book opens in the Abhorsen's house in the Old Kingdom where Lirael, the Abhorsen-in-waiting and Prince Sameth, Sabriel's heir, are contemplating their next manoeuvre. They are surrounded on all sides by the dead, marshalled into action by Chlorr of the Mask--a Greater Dead in league with the necromancer Hedge. He in turn is working towards the resurrection of Orannis, the Destroyer. With no word from Sabriel or King Touchstone, the situation is perilous. The Old Kingdom and its neighbouring Ancelstierre are in political turmoil, unaware of the menace that is about to be unleashed from it's subterranean prison.

With the expert company of the Disreputable Dog and mysterious cat Mogget, both wielders of powerful free magic, Lirael and Sam must escape in order to save all Life from doom. Their subsequent trek across these magical lands is perilous and spectacular… and not without a high cost.

Volumes one and two of this altogether thrilling saga are essential reading before attempting to grapple with Abhorsen. Nix's worlds are complex and rich and his characters many and multi-dimensional. From the unexpectedly devastating prologue, through to the nail-biting dénouement, the author demonstrates just how at home he is in this genre. His imagination is raw and exciting, and his novels don't get much better than this. (Age 10 and over) --John McLay

Passed to me at the Uncon, will read and pass on in the next couple of weeks.

An excellent end to the trilogy, continuing straight on from where Lirael left off. Disreputable Dog did grow on me but there were still moments where I felt the character jarred with the rest of the story.

Off to KLL once I have an address.

RELEASE NOTES:

posted to KLL today, second class

Recieved from perfect-circle this morning. It's going to the top of my reading pile :-)

After quickly getting up to speed by reading 'Sabriel' and Lirael', I finished 'Abhorsen' last night. Really enjoyed it - and was very glad to have it on hand when Lirael ended on such a cliff hanger! I think I probably enjoyed 'Lirael' the most, but 'Abhorsen' was a satisfying end to the trilogy.

Will PM Suedo now and arrange to pass on.

Posted to Suedo this morning!

Arrived today, but am waiting for Lirael before reading this one.

Borrowed from my partner (Suedo). This follows on from Lirael and completes the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having become invested in the characters in Lirael, the pace of the action is cranked up a notch, and as for jeopardy - well, the stakes don't get much higher.

CAUGHT IN SPENNYMOOR CO. DURHAM UK

this finished the story nicely.
I liked that it was not too easy for either the good guys or the bad.
I liked the way the magic system works, but thought some of the history was a bit too sketchy.

A great read, will be moving on in the next few days.

Help! I've not finished Lirael yet! I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy though.

An enjoyable end to the trilogy - I definitely preferred this one to Lirael. I'd sort of guessed the truth about Mogget and the Disreputable Dog, but it didn't spoil it at all.

I'd quite like to know what happens next - I do so want Lirael and Nick to get together!

Will pass this on once I have CaterinaAnna's address.

Posted today :-)

Arrived on Thursday.
Thanks czyaki (fingers too cold to type more!)

I say what they said - thoroughly good ending and, if you're date watching, you can see I have finished it rather quickly for term time whcih inly confirms it.

It was only last night that I realised that a small part of the army being the overlap between the threatened throngs in blissful ignorance of their probable fate and the people with peculiar power reminded me of John Pertwee era Dr Who! Maybe it was the talk of Lalla Ward being Mrs Richard Dawkins at the Birmingham Literary Festival Quiz the other night that brought it to mind, or maybe it's just my age ...

Let's see what the remaining readers on this ring think, shall we?




Does that show my age or what?

RELEASE NOTES:

to candy-is-dandy via mrsdanvers

This is in limbo at the moment until I can meet-up with candy-is-dandy. Unfortunately, attempts via the Ipswich meet-up failed.

These books were on their own quest trying to find me and involving innocent bookcrossers on the way. So thanks to CaterinaAnna and Mrs Danvers for finally catching up with me and thanks to AliceF for sharing them.

Sent candy-is-dandy a little nudge to get the ring moving again...

Received a message recently from candy-is-dandy so say that she's now reading Lirael, so I'm sure she'll be on to Abhorsen soon...

This was really Lirael, Part II. A shorter book and again a good one. An easy read. Are there any more - I want to know what happens next?

I have now finished Lirael and Abhorsen and will be sending them on to dark-draco shortly. I will get my son to add his comments too as he read these books while they were watiing for me.

Thanks very much for sharing AliceF.

Received today - i have a couple other bookrings to read first and then I'll get on to these.

Thanks for sharing

Wow! This really does start off with a shocker! The first bit had me gasping out loud, and as I was reading this at work during a break, my colleagues now think I'm mad!

Anyway, I loved this just as much as the first two boks. The only thing that let it down was just how quickly the ending came - I mean, being such a short book, I think a couple more chapters to stretch out the tension would have been great. They arrive at the mill and ... happy ever after! For all the story lines to come together so suddenly was just a bit annoying!

However, I too would love to read more set in this world and am a bit sad to leave it. But I'll be passing these on in the next few days.

Thanks again for letting us read these.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent on the next stage of the bookray

tehuti has this book and will read it and pass it on when life settles down.

Super book. I loved the Anubian qualities of the dog, and the cat was, well, as mysterious as a true cat should be.

Messaging the next person on the list for this and Lirael, hope to send out soon, apologies for delay caused by personal difficulties.

Sent to KiwiinEngland today with many apologies for delay.

Arrived today. Three books on my TBR ahead of it then I shall leap in. Can't wait

I leapt right into this book, which meant that the repetition of background story was annoying in the first chapter...but I really enjoy the world Nix has created. Especially the charter marks and how Sameth was described when he used them...the imagery worked really well for me.

I'm assuming there will be a fourth book featuring Nick, which I will keep an eye out for.

A most enjoyable read. Yes, the ending was too quickly rounded off and I would have liked a bit more of Sabriel. Sabriel's hubby seemed really underdeveloped. But none of that matters in the end. It was greatly entertaining.

Passed to Nifferdoodle on 10 March 2008

Highly enjoyable third novel. Will post them on without (further) delay!

I was loaned Sabriel a couple of years ago, and enjoyed it, so hopefully the same will go for this :-)

I was very glad to have this immediately to hand after the sudden ending of Lirael. The two are effectively one larger book. Like Kiwiinengland, I found the repetitive explanations at the beginning annoying, but enjoyed it once they stopped. And like dark-draco, I found the beginning shocking. I wished I'd put the book in the freezer instead of reading it :-)

It's not as satisfying a read as Lirael, but once you've read Lirael, you have to go on to read Abhorsen.

Not sure about releasing - it might be best to do a controlled release to keep the two books together.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Left at the bookcrossing Ireland meeting. It's on the shelf near the snug.