Since I've been working on knitting as many hats as possible, I've turned to audiobooks and gotten completely hooked on the one I listened to this weekend.
Lirael by Garth Nix (REREAD) (YA, fantasy)
Lirael spends her childhood feeling like an outsider. Physically distinctive from all her cousins, she also lacks the gift of foresight that is the mark of her people. When she finds she must leave on a mysterious journey she meets with Prince Sameth, a man with a dangerous job he is not sure he can actually bring himself to do.
This audiobook is narrated by TIM CURRY. So great! My favorite is when he does the voice for the small, evil, white cat. His women's voices can be a little nasal but it's Tim Curry and he's so great I don't care.
One character who seemed very different to me in my relisten of this book is Nicholas. For most of the book(s) he is possessed or sickly with everyone trying to rescue him, but for the 15 minutes or so when he's NOT possessed he's actually kind of badass. He saves his rugby team from being blown up by friendly fire, helps them start a signal and make noise then grabs a sword to fight a necromancer. And... that's about as far as he gets. But still, not bad.
Honestly I've always loved this because because it's so teenage emo. Lirael doesn't fit in, she feels like she'll never be as good as everyone else, blah blah. It's like a slow-flowing stream of emo interrupted by awesome monster killing and talking dog. Once the adventure really gets going I have trouble putting my CD player away to go to bed, so the story does pick up.
Sam is pretty emo too- at one point he even admits to himself like he's acting like a spoiled baby- but he also has a lot of fear, which I think is a cool thing to see in a fantasy hero, most of whom don't seem to feel fear at all (or if they do it's just a kind of nervousness). Sam is genuinely terrified of death, to the point where he has awful physical symptoms. I like his unexpected talent, and would like to see more of it and how it works (in another book maybe pleeeeease?).
Looking forward to finishing this tonight and moving on to "Abhorsen".
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