Book Review of Clariel

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nix, Garth. 2014. CLARIEL. New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 9780061561559.       

 

PLOT SUMMARY

Clariel is the daughter in the family of goldsmiths. They move to the capital city. Clariel misses her old home and wants to return home. She becomes embroiled in political intrigue at the same time that she is growing into her magical abilities. Her parents are murdered by a pretender to the throne. Clariel has to flee to avoid being captured and used as a pawn in the attempted coup against the king. She has to decide between using what is considered acceptable magic, and magic that is outside the conventional standards. She ends up using some of each, with mixed results.       

 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS                                           

This is the prequel to author Garth Nix’s popular Old Kingdom series. Clariel lives in a world that understands and accepts magic. There are two kinds of magic: one that society deems worth using when necessary, the other that is outside of the mores and norms, and considered ultimately inimical to humanity. It is the latter that Clariel ends up being drawn to and which comes more naturally to her. Clariel represents good in this novel, and she is drawn to do battle with evil in the form of the man who murdered her parents, and who seeks to enslave Clariel to his own plans to assume the throne of their kingdom. Along the way, Clariel meets a creature that is not a normal member of her world. This creature takes the form of a housecat, but it is anything but a normal cat. Although it does provide some occasional comic relief, it is primarily an entity of magic, and one that does not necessarily have Clariel’s best interests at heart. This novel does not provide the standard “happy ending.” Rather, it ends in a more realistic way, with many things still at loose ends, and most of the characters in the story with plenty left to come to grips with. All things considered, it is a reasonable prequel to what promises to be a book series that a reader can sink his or her teeth into.      

 

AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS

2015 LOCUS AWARDS 4th place winner

2015 DITMAR AWARDS nominee

HORN BOOK MAGAZINE: “Fans will treasure this long-awaited opportunity to return to a much-loved world, built with as much originality and richness as ever.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL starred review: “This excellent work can be enjoyed independently of the other Old Kingdom novels, but will certainly draw readers to those works.”

 

CONNECTIONS

Lessons on family relationships would benefit from including this novel in the readings.    

* Books similar to this one include:

Nix, Garth. SABRIEL. ISBN 0064471837.

Nix, Garth. LIRAEL. ISBN 0060005424.

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