Garth Nix

Besieged on all sides, Lirael, Sameth and the Disreputable Dog are in for the fight of their lives. Chlorr of the Mask, under the control of the enormously powerful Necromancer Hedge, is determined to free Orannis the Destroyer - the greatest and most powerful Free Magic creature in the history of the Old Kingdom.

Only Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, and only just beginning to understand her powers as a Remembrancer, has any chance of stopping the Destroyer - although she has no idea how. To make matters worse, Sameth's best friend, Nick, seems to be helping the Destroyer, and there has been no word from the Abhorsen Sabriel or King Touchstone for days.

With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her, and the rather mixed help of her companions, Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the Destroyer. The Old Kingdom - and the world - is depending on her...

Abandoned by her mother and not knowing who her father is, Lirael looks like no one in her large extended family - making her feel like she's never been a true daughter of the Clayr. She's doesn't even have the Sight, the ability to see into possible futures, that is the birthright of every Clayr. Nonetheless, Lirael undertakes a desperate mission to save the Old Kingdom.

Four comic adventures pitting clever youngsters against unusual creatures. Adults are outwitted every time but the young hero always prevails.

Sabriel has spent most of her young life far away from the magical realm of the Old Kingdom, and the Dead that roam it. But all that changes when a creature from across the Wall arrives at her all-girls boarding school. The creature carries a message from her father, the Abhorsen - the magical protector of the realm whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those that won't stay Dead. Since the demise of the Royal Family the Dead have become stronger and more fearless, and now it seems their forces are threatening to overwhelm the Old Kingdom.

Sabriel's father has been trapped in Death by a dangerous Free Magic creature. He urges her to return to her homeland, and to discover who or what is behind this uprising. Armed with her father's binding-bells and sword, she soon finds companions in Mogget, an ancient spirit bound into the body of a cat, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage whom Sabriel frees from a long, magical imprisonment.