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A review by kberry513
Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen by Garth Nix
4.0
As I started reading this I had a thought - does Clariel turn out to be Chlorr of the Mask?!? I'm intrigued. The more I read, the more I'm worried about it.
I feel for Clariel, although I'm a bit concerned about her propensity for Free Magic....Add that to her berserk nature and the results could be catastrophic.
I'm really upset at the way the king is acting like a spoiled child and about whatever has happened to his granddaughter- the city is devolving fast. I have to say, I'm a little surprised at how fast things have turned, though. Clariel and her family were just there for dinner and it turned into a bloodbath, starting with her father being shot by a crossbow and ending with her mother's decapitation. That's about where I am right now, so we'll see how I feel at the end.
*
Well, I was right - Clariel is Chlorr of the Mask. This one was kind of a bummer...I mean, things end up sort of kind of okay for Clariel, having been tricked by the Free Magic creatures (including Mogget) but the whole time I was screaming at her in my head, going "whyyyy are you so dumb! They are clearly evil!" but all the characters in her life who should have been teaching her important things, her parents, her Charter Magic teacher Kargrin who uses her as bait before even really teaching her anything, the captain of the guard Gullaine who tries halfheartedly to teach her to control her berserk-ness, the king who is like a petulant child waiting for his granddaughter to return to rule, his granddaughter for shirking her responsibility and hiding with the Clayr, the Clayr for not making Tathiel return sooner, Bel for not explaining that Mogget shouldn't be trusted, and the Abhorsen(s) who have been shirking their responsibility for generations. I was mad at literally everyone involved. I was also a bit mad that Clariel seemed like she was too lazy to learn Charter magic and that's why she liked Free Magic -all she had to do was will something to be.
I did like the way Clariel was an independent woman who eschewed romantic entanglements - that was a bit refreshing and I think it's nice to see representation of asexuality in literature, without making that the central conflict of the story. I was a little disappointed that Bel fell for Clariel so quickly and completely, but I suppose that was inevitable...I also like that it wouldn't have been a big deal if she'd been into women.
I didn't like how Tathiel came swooping out of nowhere and had been with the Clayr the whole time. It seems like the whole thing could have been entirely avoided if the Clayr had at least just told everyone where she was. It felt a bit deus ex machina-esque, but to be fair - this was Clariel's story and from her perspective, it would have been that way.
This was my least favorite installment in this series, but I think it's because there's no happy ending.
I feel for Clariel, although I'm a bit concerned about her propensity for Free Magic....Add that to her berserk nature and the results could be catastrophic.
I'm really upset at the way the king is acting like a spoiled child and about whatever has happened to his granddaughter- the city is devolving fast. I have to say, I'm a little surprised at how fast things have turned, though. Clariel and her family were just there for dinner and it turned into a bloodbath, starting with her father being shot by a crossbow and ending with her mother's decapitation. That's about where I am right now, so we'll see how I feel at the end.
*
Well, I was right - Clariel is Chlorr of the Mask. This one was kind of a bummer...I mean, things end up sort of kind of okay for Clariel, having been tricked by the Free Magic creatures (including Mogget) but the whole time I was screaming at her in my head, going "whyyyy are you so dumb! They are clearly evil!" but all the characters in her life who should have been teaching her important things, her parents, her Charter Magic teacher Kargrin who uses her as bait before even really teaching her anything, the captain of the guard Gullaine who tries halfheartedly to teach her to control her berserk-ness, the king who is like a petulant child waiting for his granddaughter to return to rule, his granddaughter for shirking her responsibility and hiding with the Clayr, the Clayr for not making Tathiel return sooner, Bel for not explaining that Mogget shouldn't be trusted, and the Abhorsen(s) who have been shirking their responsibility for generations. I was mad at literally everyone involved. I was also a bit mad that Clariel seemed like she was too lazy to learn Charter magic and that's why she liked Free Magic -all she had to do was will something to be.
I did like the way Clariel was an independent woman who eschewed romantic entanglements - that was a bit refreshing and I think it's nice to see representation of asexuality in literature, without making that the central conflict of the story. I was a little disappointed that Bel fell for Clariel so quickly and completely, but I suppose that was inevitable...I also like that it wouldn't have been a big deal if she'd been into women.
I didn't like how Tathiel came swooping out of nowhere and had been with the Clayr the whole time. It seems like the whole thing could have been entirely avoided if the Clayr had at least just told everyone where she was. It felt a bit deus ex machina-esque, but to be fair - this was Clariel's story and from her perspective, it would have been that way.
This was my least favorite installment in this series, but I think it's because there's no happy ending.