The highly anticipated prequel to Garth Nix's astonishingly successful OLD KINGDOM series - now available in paperback! Sixteen-year-old Clariel is not adjusting well to her new life in the city of Belisaere, the capital of the Old Kingdom. She misses roaming freely within the forests of Estwael, and she feels trapped within the stone city walls. It seems, too, that the city itself is descending into chaos, as the ancient rules binding Abhorsen, King and Clayr appear to be disintegrating. With the discovery of a dangerous Free Magic creature loose in the city, Clariel is given the chance both to prove her worth and make her escape. But events spin rapidly out of control. Clariel finds herself more trapped than ever, until help comes from an unlikely source - and at a terrible cost. Clariel must question the motivations and secret hearts of everyone around her - and it is herself she must question most of all.

 

 

This book features in the following series: Old Kingdom, The Abhorsen Trilogy .

This book has been graded for interest at 9 years.

There are 496 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2015 by Hot Key Books .

The two Australian authors, Anna Fienberg and Garth Nix, live in Sydney. Anna is known for her popular stories for all age groups. Garth is known for his teenage fantasy novels.