I apologize for this review – if you can even call it that – being incredibly short and summarized. But regardless . . .

Sabriel is the perfect cozy, heartwarming book to curl up with on a rainy day.

Sabriel is the first book in the Abhorsen Trilogy, a young adult fantasy series by Garth Nix. At its heart, Sabriel is the coming-of-age tale about our title character Sabriel. The story chronicles her journey from Wyverly, her boarding school, to the dangerous and mysteries Old Kingdom in order to rescue her father.

How do I describe my experience reading Sabriel? I think ‘pleasant’ is the best I can do. Sabriel was an extremely calming, pleasant read, and it’s subsequent books – Lirael and Abhorsen – are books I’ll crawl to when I need to take a break from the outside world.

Despite that, I can’t say that I’ll leave this series with deep attachments to the characters and a love for the story, which is why I only gave this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars when I rated it on goodreads.

But whenever I need my fill of sarcastic felines, or death-defying magical adventures (if you’ve read it, you’ll get the pun), I won’t hesitate to pick up Lirael or reread Sabriel.  

I recommend Sabriel to any fantasy reader in need of a calming and lighthearted read.