a way to remember

Lirael does a lot to expand and explore the mythology Garth Nix set up in the prequel (the brilliantly-written Sabriel), going more into detail about the mystery of the Charter, the Wallmakers, and the Abhorsen’s unique approach to magic.  It is every bit as action-packed as the first novel — possibly even more so — and the world is still as rich and realistic as ever.  Garth Nix’s secret in creating such a solid world isn’t by drenching us in meaningless detail, but by giving us just enough to accept that it’s just the way their world works.

Even so, I found this book to be a little bit slower than the first.  While Sabriel sort of threw us into the middle of a mess and straight into action, Lirael started out less explosively, choosing to take us slowly through Lirael’s personality (and the reason for it) rather than letting us discover it by watching her work.  A lot of the first half of the book is just introduction to what would be the plot, and while I understand it was necessary to show where the Disreputable Dog came from, I thought the story of how Lirael was installed in the Library of the Clayr was stretched out far more than it should have.  I understood Lirael’s sense of loneliness and self-doubt in the first chapter, I didn’t really need a dozen more re-iterating that fact.

It’s really not that big a deal and doesn’t bog the story down very much, except it dampened my enjoyment of the story because I didn’t like Lirael.  Lirael (and Sam) are not as strong in terms of character as Sabriel and Touchstone were, even though the former two may be much more powerful, better equipped, and better educated than the latter two.  They tended toward whining, angst, and annoying bouts of self-pity, which I never saw in Sabriel and Touchstone — who simply had no time to feel sorry for themselves, no matter how scared they were.  Sam and Lirael spend the majority of the novel dragging their feet around and complaining.  I can see WHY they’re complaining, it just…goes on for too long, especially in light of the fact that Sam’s a prince and Lirael’s lived the sheltered life of a Clayr, both quite privileged and free of the normal troubles of normal people living normal lives.

Still, for all that they annoyed me at times, it’s a very good book, filled with action and adventure and a mysterious enemy that’s all very intriguing and well-written and well-planned.  However, it could quite easily be the least of the trilogy.  Very much worth a read, despite that, especially by the latter half, where things actually happen and the two main characters show that there’s a lot more they have to offer, other than drama.