Book Review — Clariel

 

Title:  Clariel
Author:  Garth Nix
Genre:  YA dark fantasy
Pages:  Oversize paperback, 382
ISBN:  978-0-06-156157-3
Opening Lines:  "Old Marral the fisherman lived in one of the oddest parts of Belisaere, the ancient capital of the Old Kingdom."

Rating

"Clariel is the daughter of one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom, with blood relations to the Abhorsen and, most important, to the King. She dreams of living a simple life but discovers this is hard to achieve when a dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing agains the told and withdrawn King Orrikan.

"When Clariel is drawn into the efforts to find and capture the creature, she finds hidden sorcery within herself, yet it is magic that carries great dangers. Can she rise above the temptation, escape the unwanted marriage, and save the king?"

~ Jacket copy

In the Old Kingdom, Free Magic creatures roam the country, the dead rise, two different magic systems vie for control, and the old is unwilling to take control of his country.  Stuck in the middle is a young girl who--despite her relation to the King and the famed Abhorsens--merely wants to live alone in the Great Forest.

Book Review — The Haunted

 

Title:  The Haunted
Author:  Bentley Little
Genre:  Horror
Pages:  Oversized paperback, 347
ISBN:  978-0=593-19997-8
Opening Lines:  "'We're here again, Dad.'"

Rating

"Julian and Claire Perry and their two children, Megan and James, have made the move to a bigger, nicer home in their city's historic district. But something isn't right

"The neighbors seem reluctant to visit. Claire can't shake the feeling that someone is watching her. Megan receives increasingly menacing and obscene texts. And James is having terrible dreams. No wonder, considering what he's seen in the corner of the basement, staring at hime and shuffling ever so slowly.

"Pity no on warned them about the house. Now it's too late. Because the darkness at the bottom of the stairs is rising . . ."

~ Jacket copy

Most smaller towns in the United States have that one neighborhood with that one house.  You know the one.  All of the children are afraid to go near it during Halloween, and most times teenagers will dare each other to enter just to demonstrate some machismo.   Unfortunately, the Perry's new home is that house.  And they're about to find out what the truly entails for the inhabitants.