This week’s Book of the Week is the long-awaited Clariel, set six hundred years before Sabriel. If you love fantasy, then Garth Nix’s series are the books for you: complicated, twisty, dark and clever, they will draw you into the world of the Old Kingdom.

The blurb says:

The beautiful royal city of Belisaere is the jewel in the crown of the Old Kingdom. Its citizens are wealthy, refined and noble. They are also dangerous, cruel and riddled with corruption…

Sixteen-year-old Clariel is not adjusting well to city life. She yearns to be roaming free in the forest, not continually making mistakes in this new city filled with courtiers, false flattery, secrets and endless rules of propriety.

Then Clariel’s destiny takes an unexpected turn. A dangerous Free Magic creature is stalking Belisaere. Is it coincidence that the creature has arrived at the same time as her family? Or is this a warning that the ancient rules binding Abhorsen, King and Clayr are crumbling? Clariel aches to escape this dangerous, cloistered world, and the burden of responsibility that comes with it – but when your path calls, can you disobey?

We have Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen in the library too – as well as many of Garth Nix’s other books. The Old Kingdom books are currently displayed on the main Library Desk, and the rest are in the junior fiction section of the library.