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Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen is the fourth book in the Old Kingdom series. It takes place 600 years before the events of Sabriel, and focuses on Clariel, who was formerly a member of the Abhorsen family. It was published in October 2014 together with an Amazon Kindle and audiobook edition. The audiobook was released by Listening Library.

Clariel

Cover of Clariel

Plot Description[]

via Wikipedia:

In the Old Kingdom of Clariel, an absent King, Orrikan, refuses to rule, or abdicate to someone who will, until his missing granddaughter returns to take the crown. In his place, the mercantile Guilds have taken power, led by the powerful Kilp, the Guildmaster of the Goldsmiths, who rules as governor in Belisaere.

Clariel is the seventeen-year-old daughter of Jaciel, a talented goldsmith, the estranged daughter of the current Abhorsen and a cousin of the King. She has just moved to Belisaere; she hates the city and its politics and longs to return to The Great Forest. A descendant of two of the ancient bloodlines that bind the Kingdom to the Charter, Clariel is a "berserk," uninterested in Charter Magic but whose rage and strong will gives her a latent affinity to Free Magic.

After a meeting with the King ends badly, Clariel is taken to dine at the Governor's manor, where a chance encounter uncovers that Kilp's son (Clariel's unwanted fiancé) has consorted with a Dwirllin, a Free Magic creature, to cheat his way up the Guild. Clariel's family is killed in the fighting that follows. Clariel briefly escapes, only to be captured. On the verge of escaping once more, she is rescued and is spirited away to the Abhorsen's estates in the south, only to be locked away by the Abhorsen for her own safety.

Fearing that her parents will not be avenged, Clariel conspires with Mogget to free two of the Free Magic entities imprisoned in the House and to bind them to do her bidding. In the process of doing so, Clariel corrupts her baptismal Charter Mark, severing her link with the Charter and her ability to perform Charter Magic, but at the same time allowing her to perform feats of magic using her own raw willpower to shape and control Free Magic. When she reaches the city, she kills Kilp and his son and rescues the King, only to nearly be killed by the creatures she has bound. They, along with Mogget, were secretly using Clariel to get to the King's blood in order to break the Great Charter Stones the entire time.

Clariel and the King are saved by Belatiel, the new Abhorsen, but she is disfigured and badly injured. The king's granddaughter returns from Clayr's Glacier, where she had been all along, to become queen. Belatiel restores the weakened bonds on Mogget, which had allowed his Free Magic persona to nearly take over, and assists Clariel to the far North to escape her execution for treachery. He also gives her a bronze mask she earlier used to protect herself from Free Magic.

Clariel is destined to later become Chlorr of the Mask.

Characters[]

  • Clariel, the protagonist, whose only wish is to become a Borderer of the Great Forest.
  • Jaciel, Clariel's mother, expert goldsmith and a repressed Berserk.
  • Harven, Clariel's mild-mannered father.
  • Kilp, governer and guildmaster of the goldsmiths who seeks power through puppet royals and eventually an all-out coup.
  • Aronzo, Kilp's son, a handsome, arrogant and presumptuous young goldsmith.
  • Tyriel, the Abhorsen, Jaciel's father and Clariel's grandfather. He long ago shirked his Abhorsen responsibilities and is obsessed with hunting.
  • Belatiel, one of Clariel's classmates. He's a relative of the Abhorsen and is determined to learn all the skills of the position since the current one has abandoned his duties.
  • Kargin, Clariel's Charter Magic teacher who secretly guards the city from dangers.
  • Aziminel, a Dwirllin. A free Magic Creature that Clariel dominates and uses to get her revenge.
  • Baazalnan, another Free Magic creature found imprisoned in the waterfall at Abhorsen's House whom Clariel dominates and uses to get her revenge.
  • King Orrikan, who has long ago stopped running the kingdom.
  • Tathiel, the king's long-missing granddaughter and heir.
  • Mogget, a sly and untrustworthy servant of the Abhorsen.

References[]

http://insideadog.com.au/blog/release-date-clariel-small-sneak-peek

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdom_(book_series)#Clariel

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