As a reader looking for a moderately challenging book to read, Sabriel seemed a perfect choice for me. I had heard that it certainly wasn’t an easy read, but not necessarily extremely difficult. Sabriel is one of those books that as you get further into the plot, things become clearer. In the first chapter I was incredibly confused, but you just have to keep plugging through and eventually you’ll get it.

Sabriel’s plot is actually quite straightforward. Sabriel is a girl of eighteen, who’s father is the necromancer (he can bring back and work with the dead) Abhorsen. She herself is a Charter Mage (she can uses Charter signs to work spells) and a necromancer as well. After discovering that her father has been trapped in Death, Sabriel ventures across the Wall into the Old Kingdom, a place exceptionally different from her own land of Ancelstierre. In the Old Kingdom, however, there are many dangers. Free Magic creatures and the Dead plague the land, and seem to have targeted Sabriel. Finding safety at her father’s house, Sabriel meets Mogget, who is a spirit trapped inside a cat’s body. Mogget is snide, but he is also very useful to Sabriel, so they set out together.

The pair of travelers meet another companion, trapped as a wooden statue, who calls himself Touchstone. He is also a Charter Mage, which makes him a valuable asset to Sabriel’s quest. But will his secret past get in the way?

Sabriel is a book I highly recommend to readers of a higher level. Personally, it is one of my favorites, and if you follow my advice and keep on reading through the whole thing, it may become yours, too.