Getting more context and history in this world, pre-Sabriel trilogy, really makes me want a historical compendium for this world! I'd love to know more about the Old Kingdom, the wall being built, the bells being made, a line of all the Abhorsens and any notable contributions, etc. The more I find out, the more I want to know! I know there is a fair bit of lore disbursed across the novels but I want it all in one book.

Lol anyway, this is a nice addition to the series. I liked seeing Clariel's parents develop into their respective roles (long before her birth), though I wasn't invested in their romance. But it's not too heavily laid into the story, so I don't think you have to care about them as a couple to enjoy the book.

Needed more Mogget though lol. And I do feel like the end was a bit rushed. I think it could have used a bit more length before the final action.

Also I definitely think this is something to read after the original trilogy - if a newcomer starts here I think they'll be missing a lot of context and lore.

I'd read any book set in this world, though I don't feel I ~need~ more of these two, simply because the romance/connection was lacking. Yet I would be happy to learn more about their respective lives outside of each other (how they develop in their roles, their daily lives, etc.). ( )

i enjoyed this, it was easy to read and engaging and fun. it wasnt really what i expected, it was more character driven i think, and focused more on elinor, who was different to what i expeted, but i liked her character. but i cant actually remember what i expected, i meant to read it when it came out last year but didnt get around to it until a few weeks ago or whenever it was that i read it. i havent read any books from this series for two or three years until this one, but i have been meaning to reread the rest on them and maybe i will sometime soon because im fairly sure this is one of my favourite series ( )

Terciel & Elinor is a prequel to the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix.

Plot:
Terciel is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, apprenticed to his great-aunt Tizanael who picked him up from the orphanage when he was a child for that reason, and that reason only. They spend their time in the Old Kingdom, laying the dead to rest when it becomes necessary. Usually magic is limited to the Old Kingdom, but when the wind blows from the North, it can reach Ancelstierre. Elinor lives in Ancelstierre and knows nothing of magic, but that doesn't mean that magic doesn't know about her and her family. And so, when the North wind blows, and they are attacked, Elinor finds out about magic - and about her own connections to the Old Kingdom. Terciel and Tizanael manage to save her, but that's only the beginning of the adventure and the fight.

Terciel & Elinor is the kind of read I've come to expect from the Old Kingdom series - which is to say I enjoyed it a lot, even though it probably isn't my favorite in the series. It is definitely not a book you should miss if you like the series.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2023/01/12/terciel-elinor-garth-nix/ ( )

It was fine but not great. Someday I would really like another great Old Kingdom book that isn't just filling in some edges around the original trilogy. ( )

Garth Nix may be following the trend of many YA fantasy authors of late, with this latest prequel to his well-known and well-loved Old Kingdom series, but he does it so well that I practically sighed in pleasure after reading the first few chapters. It is good to be back in Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom, indeed! After a quick prologue, which establishes the fraught (and rather arbitrary) relationship between the Abhorsen and the Abhorsen-in-Waiting (the titular Terciel), we head to Ancelstierre, where we centre on a narrative that will see the story’s other half, Elinor, discover her magical heritage and ties to the Old Kingdom. Elinor has had an unconventional upbringing - raised in a remote manor house, more by her old-fashioned governess and the former-performer turned groundskeeper than her (emotionally or physically) absent parents. When a wind from the Old Kingdom blows down across the land, the mystery of her mother’s wasting condition is finally revealed and Elinor is thrust into action as her home literally burns down around her at the hands of a nefarious sorcerer. The book slows slightly as Elinor struggles to find her way to the Old Kingdom, but Terciel’s story picks up in pace as he and the Abhorsen prepare to face the novel’s major foe: Kerrigor. When the two young people are brought together again, we know that it is their combined strength (and combined future!) that will speed events on to a satisfactory ending. Fans of the series will recognize this powerful Greater Dead spirit from the events of Sabriel, and with this prequel Nix has written a neatly tied narrative that relies on familiar imagery and themes rather than trying to create something wholly new. Yet, for all that there is much familiarity in the tale, the characters and action remain carefully detailed in such a way that can’t help but enthral the reader. ( )