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| - Every other chapter he finds a way to reference her gender in a glaring, unnatural way, two or three of those times of which are referencing her physical gender, which I found creepy and unnecessary. Sabriel seems to me a very flat, one-dimensional character. Comparably, Lirael is much more convincing. Coincidentally (or not, is what I'm saying), the fact that Lirael is female isn't constantly, constantly driven down our throats in the second two books; what's focused on, especially in the second book, is her social withdrawl and awkwardness. Likely, Garth Nix never got within ten feet of a teenage girl back in his day, but intimately knows what it's like to be socially inept, wishing for friends and for joy at company but only ever reviling at human contact. And don't get me started on the forced, unnatural romances. "I think I might love you, too." *rolleyes* Romance doesn't work that way, Nix. That trainwreck reads like Nix fantasizing himself as Touchstone and Sabriel as his personality-devoid dream girl. And at the end of the third book, I just kept saying "no, no, no" out loud during the epilogue, when it was clear Nix was playing up a Lirael/Nick romance. Gag me with a spoon!
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* When I read the books for the first time, I read them as a teenage girl. I found Sabriel fairly "convincing", and I don't remember creepy references to her gender. Examples might help with that. But I do remember her gender being mentioned in ways that could be odd to somebody who isn't a teen- menarche can seem like kind of a big deal at the time- or are appropriate to the time period.
* As mentioned above, an example that the OP might be referring to (and the only one I can think of) is discussion of Sabriel's first period. An alternative would've been No Periods, Period, but it seemed handled reasonably enough to me. Sabriel's themes of parental abandonment/lack of guidance play a part, as does the time period (see bullet #2 of No Periods, Period). So sorry, it does seem like you might just be hating that Most Writers Are Male - it seems like you're reading a lot more Author Appeal into the romances than most.
* As an eighteen-year-old girl, I found Sabriel very convincing. Perhaps it's more of a personality thing? She's certainly more restrained than most teenagers, with the whole walking in Death thing and all.
* Personally, I found Sabriel far more realistic and pleasant than Lirael.
* This Troper is a girl and also found Sabriel just fine in terms of characterization. Not to mention, the stories take place in the equivalent of the twenties, so there might be some Values Dissonance.
* To add another perspective, I also found that Sabriel was a rather flat character, though her age did not matter. The narrator had the tone of an unconcerned third-party, to the point that the reader never has any idea what Sabriel thinks of everything that has happened to her. I mean, yeah people might be taught to keep their emotions in check back then, but inside their own heads too?
* Um, also, dropped mysteries much? Who is Chlorr of the Mask, really? Mogget lets it slip that she was an Abhorsen, but nothing beyond that. And Hedge is never anything but a generic villain; who is he, what's his story, how'd he get to be the way he is? What about the Our Country Party and the whole mess in the south? The Old Kingdom is saved, so screw Ancelstierre? And the most glaring drop of all -- why did Arielle abandon Lirael? Again, Mogget, relaying her final message to her daughter, tells that it wasn't her choice to leave, but that's all we get. Is she still alive? Is she dead? Why, exactly, did she have to leave her daughter?
* To answer one of your questions, at least, there's apparently a prequel in the works called something like "Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen", about Chlorr. Dunno about Hedge, tho.
* There's also supposed to be a book set chronologically after Abhorsen, which might clear some of the other stuff up. As for Hedge, I believe the beginning of Lirael establishes him as a necromancer who worked for Kerrigor, then transferred his allegiance to the Destroyer when Kerrigor went down- he's probably not that different than most of the Old Kingdom's petty necromancers, save being a fair bit more powerful and having more blatant supernatural support.
* If you read some of Nix's other works he's pretty fond of Cryptic Background Reference and we don't always get full explanations for things that the characters wouldn't find out in the actual story or only find out in passing. As for Ancelstierre it's mentioned in passing at the beginning of the novella but since it's not something that the main characters would be involved in we don't get to find out much.
* Since Sam, by fate or genetics, is not to be an Abhorsen, then why/how do the bells and book follow him magically in Lirael? Shouldn't they either jump into Lirael's possession or remain inert until she obtains them? And for that matter, how does Mogget find him? Does his service now extend to the entire royal family? It seems too easy and flawed to say that whoever the current Abhorsen thinks is the Abhorsen-in-waiting is recognized by the Charter magic, regardless of their actual abilities.
* Perhaps they were following him as a quick way to get taken to Lirael?
* The book says so.
* Presumably the bells can't just jump to where ever they want, so they went with Sam in an attempt to get back to the House? As for Mogget, even if Sam's not the Abhorsen he still has Abhorsen blood.
* Also, Mogget serves the Abhorsens only because there are no Wallmakers. In the first book he's described as the Relict of the Wallmakers, and the Wallmakers made his collar. Mogget serves the Wallmakers first, then Abhorsens, which is why he sticks close to Sam.
* Okay, so at the end of Sabriel all the past Abhorsens bring Sabriel back because she needs to provide a successor before she can die, since she's the last of her kind. Alright. I buy it. OH WAIT WHAT ABOUT LIRIEL!? Sure Liriel was a baby at the time and it would have taken a while for her to grow into it, but ancestors of charter blooded people didn't really care all that much when Touchstone was imprisoned for much longer than it would take for one girl to grow into her power. I buy Nick's resurrection a lot more, if only because it's completely within the Dog's personality. I understand the climactic need for her to have a brush with death that close in a book where the actual line of when you're DEAD is quite blurred, but JUSTIFY IT BETTER!
* These are both a bit of a stretch, but pick from one of these
* They can somehow see into the future and knew that Sabriel would give birth to a Wallmaker, which would be important enough to send her back into life
* As a reverse, their knowledge at the time was limited, thus they didn't even know Lirael existed. After all, Sabriel's Dad only met Lirael's Mum once, so it's entirely possible he never even knew of Lirael's existence.
* I always saw this as Lirael needing an Abhorsen around to be able to find her true calling. The Clayr had no idea what to do with her. Lirael was about to commit suicide without ever knowing her heritage, and it was only Sabriel's imminent arrival that stopped her
* At the time, Lirael was 1. There's no way in hell she could have stopped Kerrigor, and that would have meant the end of the world, pretty much.
* I figured that there needed to be someone that could actually become the Abhorsen right then, not someone who just had the blood and could become the Abhorsen once she'd grown up and been trained.
* At the end of Sabriel, Mogget and Kerrigor were both turned into cats. Mogget shows up again in the later ones, but what happened to Kerrigor?
* This one is actually answered in Lirael. He is at Abhorsen's House, in the deepest cellar, and will sleep there "till the end of time", according to Mogget.
* I got one; how the heck does a Charter-Mark become corrupted? It clearly isn't due to Free-Magic; the Abhorsens have a tendency of spamming the stuff while in Death, and, hell, Nick, due to being heavily affected by Orannis' shard, would likely be stabbed as soon as someone tested his Charter-Mark, so that can't be it. So, what creates a corrupted Charter-Mark?
* My guess is that it all depends on intent. If you use Free Magic with the intent of perverting the Charter, bam, corrupted mark. The Abhorsen uses Free Magic to keep the Dead bound, and take care of nasty Free Magic constructs, so the Charter would approve it. It's also possible that the Abhorsen's bloodline has an innate resistance to corruption. As for Nick, he wasn't exactly a willing host, was he? And let's not forget that Kibeth herself gave him his mark.
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