Book: Clariel (Book 4 of The Old Kingdom series)
Author: Garth Nix
Release Date: 2016
Source: owned
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I’ve been working my way back through the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, as I have read the original trilogy several times, but never got around to reading the prequel (Clariel) or the sequel (Goldenhand) or the two short stories collections that include a couple Old Kingdom stories. So I decided to work through these as part of my “Finish the Series” 2020 reading challenge.

I knew I loved the first three books – Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen – and I trust Garth Nix implicitly, so I went into this book with high expectations. And for the most part, I was not disappointed. I noticed online that some people did not like this book as much as some of his others, but I disagree with most of the criticisms. Is it my favorite book in the series? No, of course not. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

To give a brief description: Clariel takes place approximately 600 years before the events of the original trilogy, so as far as prequels go, it went pretty far back! The main character, Clariel, is a distant relation of both the King and the Abhorsen (and for those familiar with the books, you understand why this is important), but she wants only to become a “borderer” who monitors and protects the great forests of the kingdom, and to be left alone. Her family and political forces behind the throne have other plans however. Dragged against her will away from her home village to the capital city, she is forced to learn how to be a “proper lady” while the governor manipulates events in an effort to marry her to his son, depose the king (who has gone slightly mad and relinquished most of his responsibilities to the governor), and make her his puppet queen. At the same time, forces loyal to the king and the line of succession try to use Clariel to lure a dangerous free magic creature helping the governor out of hiding, and hope to make her a regent in a temporary effort to protect the royal line. (And folks, it just gets more complicated for there!)

Throughout all of this, Clariel discovers she is a Berserk (she goes bloodthirsty with rage when under threat or in high-stress situations) AND she has an affinity for free magic – which is considered highly dangerous and antithetical to human society. While trying to avoid all these political machinations that are attempting to control her, and while trying to find a way to escape back to the forest and the only place she has ever been happy, Clariel slides deeper and deeper into a life of violence, death, and bad decisions.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

It is difficult to talk about why this book is so interesting and unique to me without getting into some spoilers. Some of these spoilers will not be a surprise to people who have read other books in the series, but I still want to give you plenty of warning!

Ready? Ok, here we go into spoilers.

In the original trilogy, there is a character – a villain, one of the people working for the main antagonist – named Chlorr of the Mask. I suspected from the get-go that Clariel was going to end up BEING Chlorr of the Mask. I think anyone who comes into this book with some knowledge of the series would also suspect this. And we would all be correct.

So, what makes this book so interesting is that it is literally the descent of a main character into, perhaps not evil exactly, but amoral self-serving behavior that she manages to rationalize to herself for most of the book. It is a villain origin story. In some ways, it reminded me a bit of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, as we watch Anakin Skywalker, through both manipulation and a series of bad decisions based on fear and anger, fall into darkness and evil. Some online reviews have argued that Clariel’s descent was too quick and not sufficiently developed, but I disagree. I think it was very well done. In fact, I think it was done in a much more believable manner than that of Anakin Skywalker. Her motives, and the ways she is manipulated and tricked by outside forces, were well-written and developed, and fit the character and the world very well.

And, of course, the prose was beautiful and powerful, as Garth Nix’s writing always is.

This is not the first or only book to feature an evil origin story. But I do think such stories are outside the norm, especially in YA (and especially when this book was released in 2016). And I appreciate that Garth Nix did something a bit different and unique, in writing a character that we can totally sympathize with, and even like, while also recognizing that many of the decisions she makes are wrong. That, to me, is the sign of a well-written and complex character.

One other characteristic of note about Clariel is that she is, I believe, written to be asexual/aromantic. And that is EXTREMELY unusual in any fiction, especially in YA. There are many points in the book where Clariel explicitly states that she has no interest in romance, or falling in love, or sex. At one point, she says she isn’t interested in boys, and her aunt suggests maybe she’s interested in girls (which is totally fine to these characters!), but Clariel says, no. She isn’t interested in any of that. At another point, she explains that she experimented with sex a couple times and simply did not understand the appeal. And one of the characters throughout the book expressed romantic interest in her, and she rebuffs him every single time. At no point does the story imply that she just needs to be won-over, or that she hasn’t find the right person. This is just who she is. And I really loved that.

Clariel is not, I think, quite as well-plotted, or as beautifully written, or as emotionally impactful as the original trilogy. But I think it holds up with the rest of the series very well, and I really enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to anyone who has read the first three books and was undecided about whether or not to continue.