The long-awaited fourth book in the Abhorsen series - this one is a prequel, set many hundreds of years before the action of the other three, and explains a few things mentioned vaguely in Lirael (I think). Most of the characters are, of course, not familiar ones (though with magical creatures, all normal bets are off). This book deals with a young girl called Clariel, a member of the royal family/Abhorsen family (though not an immediate heir in either line), unhappy at moving to the city from her beloved forest, the plots and machinations of a political figure in the absence of a strong ruling king and of course, various magic both Free and Charter. I thought it very good, though perhaps without quite the strength of the other three. My husband felt that it lacked some of the detailed stuff about magic, the charter and so on which runs through the other books (especially Lirael and Abhorsen), but then he's male and men tend to like all that "let's-explain-the-heck-out-of-how-the-magical-world-i've-established-works" stuff better than women, which is why you don't find nearly as many women reading stuff like, for instance, the Silmarillion. I just thought it was a very good fantasy which fit well into the established world and addressed some of the questions and issues raised in the other books. Though not entirely.
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