#sabriel day

[avoyagetoarcturus]

May 11, 1995 - Garth Nix's Sabriel published

[chartermark]

I was a little slow for Sabriel Day, but I wanted to draw Lirael & co.

[slugsword]

Wow! I had no idea it was Sabriel Day and it just so happens that I finished this sketch yesterday! Crazy coincidence. I’m not actually doing the contest but I figured today was a good enough day as any to post this. 

I’ve loved this book series since I was in elementary (college now) and I’m so glad the series is getting more and more attention. The books are seriously good. Anyway, happy Sabriel Day everyone! Y’all should all check out this book series!

[pillnerforpawnee]

I fell so hard for Sabriel the character. She was badass, but kind and considerate. She could take care of herself and when she was left on her own, she didn’t mope and break down like I would, instead she moved forward to face her destiny. She is an inspiration to me and I will always have a special place in my heart for this book and these characters. Though I’d happily marry Touchstone, Sabriel will always be my favorite. :)

[misa-chu]

Been meaning to take a picture of this for awhile now, and what better day than today?

[thewellofastarael]

#sabrielday (full spoilers)

Confession time: I read the Old Kingdom books out of order.

So when I was twelve and bored I took the Across the Wall anthology out of my sister’s bookshelf, read it through in one night and promptly fell in love – it’s still one of my all-time favorite books. I’ve always enjoyed Garth Nix’s short stories – they’re a perfect mix of fantasy horror, war-torn terror and chivalry, and everyone should go read them.

And then, of course, included in the anthology is The Creature in the Case, featuring post-Abhorsen Nick Sayre, ruined slippers and all, chasing a mythical monster around northern Ancelstierre with a daisy chain in his hand. (Now that I think about it, I think I would’ve found this image much funnier if I’d actually read the books first.)

The story stayed with me for a long time after that. The magical system seemed standard enough but there just seemed to be something off about it – something about the capital-d Dead and Nick’s dual desires to get as far away from anything magical as possible but also to get across the Wall (another capital letter unknown) at any cost; and that stuck in the back of my mind.

It took me two or three more years to get around to reading the trilogy, for whatever reason – so, ninth or tenth grade. I think I read it as a reaction to my teachers and librarians pushing new popular YA onto me. I dutifully read their recommendations and (mostly) didn’t enjoy them, so I turned to a lot of “older” books (Howl’s Moving Castle, Queen’s Thief, etc), including the Old Kingdom trilogy, and found I actually enjoyed them on average better.

(Also, somehow my knowledge of at least half of the big spoilers (Lirael’s lineage, the Destroyer, Nick fucking things up, Sabriel and Nick surviving, Lirael losing her hand, etc.) didn’t affect my enjoyment of the books, and honestly I’m still trying to figure out why not.)

A lot of my favorite book series came out of that time period, partially because of personal shit and partially because I think that age is when a person’s book preferences are set. It’s also no surprise that most of these books had female protagonists – not ones I identified with necessarily, but well-done characters who I imagined I could be friends with (especially Lirael and Sam).

I think it really was set as one of my favorite series when I found the full-trilogy book while on a school trip in tenth grade, which gave me unlimited access to the whole series (including the novella, which I hadn’t read since my sister gave her anthology away) and the perfect way to bring more books on trips.

I don’t really know how to say how the series has affected my life – it certainly hasn’t led me down major life paths or significantly affected real-life paths I’ve made. But the Old Kingdom (or Abhorsen, as I stubbornly refuse to call it) fandom has been a constant presence in my time on tumblr, and has been the medium by which a lot of my mutuals and I have become acquainted. So I guess I could say that the people inspired by these books, maybe a little more than the books, have affected my life.

It’s a wonderful fandom, and I couldn’t ask for any better.

[abhorsen-s]

Sabriel Day is here, so this is my story. 

I picked up this series some time after moving to my current house, in middle school. Sabriel was a wonderful book, far different from any other fantasy series I’d read before or since. Sabriel was the kind of woman I aspired to be: confident, brave, and knowing to do what she could despite her inexperience and her fears. She acted despite the challenges presented to her, and didn’t let her inexperience stop her from trying anyway. Now, more than when I first read the book, that model of acting despite fear is a powerful one, and soothing in its own, strange way. I hadn’t known about the rest of the series after my first read, but I reread Sabriel a few times before Lirael came to my attention. 

I finished Abhorsen one Saturday afternoon when the rest of the family was out, which was good because I lay on the couch for a good hour after finishing the last page and sobbed harder than I’d ever sobbed for a book before. It was the first time in my life I’d been inspired to write to an author and tell them how much their books meant to me. I drafted the letter, but never sent it out, and to this day I wish I had. But Garth Nix has inspired so much of what I want stories to be: full, believable, moving--the kinds of stories that stick with you and are still amazing on reread. If I ever get myself to work at it again, it’s the kind of story I want to write. 

So, thank you, Garth Nix, for your wonderful series. Congratulations on 20 years of the Old Kingdom.  

[helloupthere]

“It feels strange,” said Touchstone, the wood humming beneath his hands like plucked lute strings.

“I can hear voices,” exclaimed Sabriel at the same time, her ears full of half-caught words, laughter, distant singing.

“I can see time,” whispered Mogget, so softly that his words were lost.

I honestly can’t believe that Sabriel is 20 years old. I’m 2 years older but Sabriel has always felt like an older sister to me. Anywho happy May 11th.