In a land where the dead will not stay dead, eighteen-year-old orphan Terciel is learning to wield a mighty and terrible power: necromancy.
For he is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, the latest in an ancient line of necromancers tasked with protecting the Old Kingdom and preventing the Dead from crossing over to the realm of the living.
Across the Wall in Ancelstierre, where magic does not usually work, Elinor, nineteen, lives a secluded life. But when destiny intervenes, she finds herself on a path to love, danger, and an adventure into the dominion of the dead...
She does not know that she is deeply connected to the Old Kingdom until destiny places her on a path of magic, romance, and a fight against the Dead who will not stay dead.
The Old Kingdom awaits in Terciel & Elinor, the eagerly awaited prequel to Garth Nix's iconic fantasy classic Sabriel.***
The fig tree was ancient and huge, its lower trunk buttressed by enormous roots that rose out of the lawn around it like the find of some vast subterranean creature, while its upper branches topped out at two hundred feet, a full hundred feet higher than even the red-roofed tower of the Abhorsen's house nearby. PROLOGUE
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(@HotKeyBooksYA, 2 November 2021, ebook, 379 pages, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I'm a huge fan of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books since I devoured Sabriel soon after it was released. It was sheer pleasure to be in The Old Kingdom once again, exploring the history of Sabriel's parents. No trip to the Old Kingdom is complete without the dead running amok, evil sorcerers and greater dead determined to cling to tenebrous life no matter the cost. The Abhorsen and Abhorsen-in-Waiting are a bit different than in later books and I enjoyed learning about different ones. I loved this book, gripping and page-turning.
