“Sabriel”, ISBN 0-06-27322-4, was written by Garth Nix and published by Harper Collins Publisher, Australia in 1995. Nix has published at least two other titles in this series, “Lariel” and “Abhorsen.”

         “Sabriel” is a story of a young girl, just graduating from a boarding school in Ancelstierre, a fantasy land similar to ours, but with some major differences. At the beginning of the book, Sabriel is confronted by the disappearance of her father. In order to save him, she must venture into the Old Kingdom, a land totally different from Ancelstierre, ruled by magic and rampant fear. The two kingdoms are separated by The Wall, a border guarded and protected by soldiers and magicians.

         As a citizen of the Old Kingdom, Sabriel crosses The Wall and is thrust into a life and death struggle with forces almost beyond her understanding. Although trained by her father in the lessons of an Abhorsen, she is largely unaware of what that title means. In fact, until well into the story, she thought the title was actually her father’s name. In the course of searching for her father, Sabriel uncovers an ancient mystery, gathers allies and confronts an evil bent on such total destruction it even threatens Ancelstierre.

         Sabriel’s father, Abhorsen, is sort of a reverse-necromancer. An Abhorsen’s most important task in to bind to death those souls who would attempt to leave Death, usually by inhabiting a dead body. When a soul enters Death, it must past through seven gates to The Other Side. A necromancer can contact a soul before it passes the last gate. (This is useful for determining cause of death or when other information is needed from the dead.) Sometimes a soul refuses to walk the path through the seven gates. Sometimes evil necromancers force souls out of the Realm of the Dead to animate corpses or effect other tasks. An Abhorsen’s job is to stop these things from happening.

         At first glance, this would seem a story no Christian should read. Scripture clearly forbids trying to contact the dead. While each person must make his own decision, there are some things that a Christian could find interesting, even intriguing in this story. The writing is good, with character and places coming alive as the story progresses at a fast clip through lots of action and adventure. The struggle to do right and to protect the innocent is clear. The danger of experimenting with forbidden arts is brought out in the development of the main villain. The battle between good and evil is obvious.

         One exception to that would be the Abhorsen’s enchanted imprisonment of an evil being. From the context of the story, it seems this is the only way a creature such as this can be confined. However, in its enchanted state it is a helper-companion of the Abhorsen. As long as the collar remains on the creature, this helper-companion remains controlled, even friendly and helpful. Even when the collar is removed, as is done when the extreme power of the creature is needed for some task, the possession of a ring ensures the creature will be confined immediately after the task is finished. This seems to be a blurring of the lines between good and evil. This creature is malevolent evil, but under the enchantment, transforms into an almost kind creature who perhaps regrets its evilness. There is no sign of that regret, though, when the enchantment is lifted, even after centuries. For those predisposed to see underlying truths in stories, this could be seen as an object lesson on the power of sin over a person. Sin is our master. No matter how much we regret what we do, we are controlled by sin unless we have the power of the Holy Spirit (an enchantment, if you will) confining and destroying the power of our sinful nature.

         As with all books, each Christian must determine and chose for himself to read or reject this story.