Jordyn @ Birdie’s Book Nook is leading a read-a-long of SABRIEL, the first book in the Old Kingdom series. Having never read it myself, I decided to join as I thought it’d be a good way to finally read it. This is the third and final week, which means I finished the book. If you haven’t yet reached the end, beware of spoilers. Here are my responses for this week’s discussion questions (which are kind of stream of consciousness and not as polished as I’d like, but so it is!). If you missed my previous responses, here is part one and part two.

Review the book as a whole! (Go ahead and post this as a review on its own if you want, idc!)

Unfortunately I’ve been swamped with reading assignments and personal life events, so I don’t have a full review. While I’d love to write one, I make no promises since I’m several reviews behind already!

Pick a character — were you satisfied with their journey in Sabriel?

While I enjoyed my first read of SABRIEL, I felt like her journey wasn’t as fulfilling as I would have preferred it to be. I think I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. Throughout the book Sabriel comes to the realization that she doesn’t actually know that much about the Old Kingdom. Though she is rather preoccupied with rescuing her father and ridding the world of Kerrigor, I would have liked to see Sabriel learn more about the culture and history beyond the wall. I felt the author missed out some on the world-building components, so the story didn’t feel as fleshed out to me as it could have been. Regardless, I would definitely recommend this book. It has a timeless feel to it akin to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

What did you think of the reveal for who Touchstone and what Mogget is?

I wasn’t surprised about Touchstone’s heritage. I was surprised that Touchstone didn’t seem too worried about the fact that Kerrigor could use his blood (read: sacrifice). As for Mogget, I admit I’m still a bit confused about what he is. If anyone could explain it to me, please do. However, I thought it was brilliant of Mogget to let Kerrigor eat him so that Kerrigor could be restrained and controlled.

Was Kerrigor scary enough for you, or do you wish he had been more menacing?

I’m going to be a brat. I wish Kerrigor had been more menacing. I thought the passages about the Mordicant were more tense. Perhaps I feel this way SABRIEL is a YA book (and I am no longer a YA). But I felt that the whole battle scene with Kerrigor resolved a little too quickly. If Kerrigor was already so powerful, it seemed to me that Sabriel should have found it more difficult to eradicate him before Mogget arrived. In short, more struggle!

Where do you think the rest of the series is headed?

So, I bought the whole trilogy to eventually read and already took the liberty of reading the synopsis of the next book. I thought we’d get more of Sabriel’s adventures and growth. But at first glance it’s a book about someone completely new. This surprised me. That said, I do still want to read it. My reading goal next year is to cool it a bit on the ARCs and focus more on my own physical copies.