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Book 10: Goldenhand by Garth Nix (scattered reading notes)

-The beginning chapters of this novel make it seem like "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case" may have been cut from Goldenhand prior to its publication, as it shows how Nick Sayre finally made it back to the Old Kingdom after he went back home after the events of Lirael. However, it wouldn't have added anything except to explain why Nick finally decided to return to the Old Kingdom and to show the meeting between Nick and Lirael from his point of view. It is therefore not necessary to have read the story in order to understand anything that happens in the novel - the events of the story have little bearing on the main plot.

-I have started to notice a certain predictability in these books, but it's part of the fun to see how well I am able to predict future events.

-I like that Nix isn't afraid to let his characters get seriously hurt. Lirael has already lost an arm and another important character loses a leg. Both losses are used as a device to show how they cope with the loss and provide obstacles for them to overcome, which each does in their own way.

-Lirael may be the most fleshed-out character of the series. She is marked by her upbringing as a lonely orphan and the events of the eponymous book and the trauma she has gone through has clearly had a effect on her. The same can not be said of many of the other important characters: they show little or no sign of having been affected by past events. The closest is, perhaps, Nick, who is guilt-ridden over the part he played in nearly destroying the Old Kingdom.

-I was planning to buy and read Clariel next, but I don't think I will - I have had enough of the Old Kingdom for now and am ready for new flavours.

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Bibliophile said…
Thanks for your comment, Emily. I love the world-building in the Old Kingdom books and I hope there will be more, with different characters and unrelated story lines, perhaps from other time periods. Clariel is still on my TBR list, but I'm in no hurry to read it.
May 06, 2020 9:31 am
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