Lirael

"One of my favourites. A depressed misfit teen must find her strength and her magic. She was born and grows up in the Clayre's glacier. She gets a job in the surprisingly perilous library of the Clayre as a teenager and gets into all kinds of trouble with her best friend, who happens to be a magical dog. Later, she discovers that she must leave the glacier to help the Abhorsen (reverse necromancer who sends the undead back into death)."

"<a href="https://laughinglistener.blogspot.com/2017/07/lirael.html"><br/>The Laughing Listener</a><br/><b>Format:</b> Audio Book<br/><b>Narrator:</b> Tim Curry again!! *Screams*<br/><b>Length:</b> 14 hours & 45 minutes<br/><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars<br/><br/>The saga continues! I had some serious doubts going into this sequel since the beginning of <a href="https://laughinglistener.blogspot.com/2017/07/sabriel.html" target="_blank"><i>Sabriel</i> was such a freaking bore</a>. But once again, the promise of Mogget and Tim Curry made me take the dive and I'm happy I did. So far this Old Kingdom series hasn't been pulse-racingly thrilling, but it's a fun adventure with talking animals. That's all I really need.<br/><br/><img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/9uj0re3NFhBjG/giphy.gif" width="400" height="325" alt="TALKING ANIMALS"><br/><br/><b>THE GOOD</b><br/><br/>My main girl Lirael is awesome and I really loved the parts told from her perspective. Even when she was having a major pity party at the beginning, on the verge of throwing herself off a cliff, she was still relatable. What person hasn't felt like an outcast at some point during their life? Plus, the Clayr seemed so oblivious to her plight that it really made me feel for Lirael. Once she gets the job in the library, though, she becomes a magical badass and it was amazing to watch her grow as a character.<br/><br/>Plus, let's not forget Lirael's bff, the TALKING DOG. Mogget the cat really saved me during the first novel and the Disreputable Dog (I'm calling her DD for short—that name is way too long.) saved me during this one. It's kind of poetic. I'm really hoping this is a theme that runs throughout the series and we'll just get more and more talking animals. Talking dragon. Talking horse. Talking bird. Talking fish. The possibilities are endless. When Mogget and DD finally met and bantered together towards the end it made the whole book for me.<br/><br/>I also think Garth Nix did a good job in the way he arranged the plot, and it really made everything more exciting. The way he switches perspectives between the two characters is great, and it helped build a lot of excitement for when Sam and Lirael finally meet. At the end of <i>Sabriel</i>, there was a time crunch and a sense of urgency that this book was lacking since it cuts off before the main confrontation. Breaking it up into different parts and characters was a good way to compensate for that.<br/><br/>And I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Tim Curry makes this audiobook worth listening to. He has the best voice and does an amazing job acting out the story. I have already mentally added "animal voices" to the list of reasons why I love Tim Curry so much.<br/><br/><b>THE UGLY</b><br/><br/>By the end, Sam is not my favorite person. It's odd because I started off really loving him after that whole cricket team battle, but my opinion just got progressively worse and worse as the story went on. When he goes into death to hunt for Hedge, some horrible things happen and it's completely understandable that this would freak him out. I never blamed him for the post-traumatic stress and even felt for the guy when he went back home and had to deal with his awful sister without any help from his parents. After a while though, his whining starts to get old and by the end, I wanted to kick him. My new literary best friend Lirael is making plans to go save Nick, and Sam says he wants to <i>stay back</i> and let her go <i>without him</i>. What?!? I think part of the problem is that the book cuts off and we only see half of Sam's character transformation, but that doesn't make it any less infuriating.<br/><br/>Plus, I can't lie, parts of this book were a little boring for me. Particularly Sam's sections that depict him depressingly roaming about the castle and dancing terribly as a bird. I loved Lirael so much that I found myself anxiously awaiting her parts and not paying too much attention to his. It was nowhere near as dull as the first one, but still a little on the subdued side nonetheless.<br/><br/><b>FINAL WORD</b><br/><br/>This was really fun to listen to and definitely a better overall book than the first one. How often does that happen? If you liked the ending of <i>Sabriel</i> and loved the characters, this is definitely worth reading. All of the good ones come back and I really enjoyed seeing the story continue. On the third!<br/><br/>And again, do yourself a solid and LISTEN TO THE AUDIO BOOK."

"I read this book over and over again as a teenager. I loved Lirael's story and the magic is so beautiful and interesting!"

"Yes I think so! It’s very different but so good!"

"Oh gosh it's so hard to pick favorites. I'm very partial to Sarah Maas's Throne of Glass series, and her ACOTAR series. Recently I read Crier's War which I absolutely loved. There are too many amazing books it's so hard to pick favorites!!"