There are two realms alongside each other seperated by a great wall. On one side is Ancelstierre, a techologically based civilisation roughly equivalent to early 20th Century Earth. On the other side is the Old Kingdom, a dark land where magic rules supreme and the people are constantly under threat from the forces of the dead.

Protecting the people from this evil and sending the dead to their final rest is the Abhorsen. The Abhorsen is a special kind of necromancer, utilising a blend of Charter Magic and Free Magic through spells and the ringing of the Abhorsen's bells. This role is hereditary and passes from one family member to the next upon the death of the previous holder.

Sabriel is the daughter of the Abhorsen. She is in the sixth form of Wyverly, a boarding school near the wall with the Old Kingdom (close enough for the Charter Magic to still be functional), where her father enroleld her to keep her sheltered from ill times in the Old Kingdom, when she is visited by a spirit bearing the bells and sword of the Abhorsen - an event which can only mean the death of the previous Abhorsen.

Believing her father to have not died a true death she sets out for the old kingdom and her father's house to begin a quest to rescue her father and defeat the greater dead that bested her father.

This is a gripping fantasy novel. The worlds created are original in scope and detail whilst retaining enough of the familiar feel of the fantasy novel to ease the reader ito the story without needing to absorb an enormity of background information. This is acheived in part by the parallels of Ancelstierre to 20th Century England (or that's how it felt to me) which enables the reader to fill out the texture of the land.

The characters are in some ways typical fantasy types - but this is no bad thing in a work such as this. We know them, we can easily recognise who will be the hero, who the villain and which characters might be more than they initally wish to appear. We will feel for them in the right moments and turn the pages eagerly hoping everything will turn out well.

There is nothing offensive in these pages. I would consider this to be a perfect book for a younger reader who has read the Harry Potter books, seen the Lord of the Rings films and wants to read more fantasy fiction. It's a great stepping stone between the two. But it's also a fine read for older readers, and wonderfully refreshing on the old reading braincells.