The old kingdom

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The Old Kingdom ( English original title: The Abhorsen Trilogy ) is a fantasy romance trilogy by the Australian writer Garth Nix . It consists of the three volumes Sabriel (1995), Lirael (2001) and Abhorsen (2003) and was published in 2003 by the American publishing house HarperCollins as a complete edition. In Germany, the first volume was published in 2000 under the title The Seventh Gate at Heyne. The three novels were later published by Bastei-Lübbe under their original titles , with the first two volumes coming onto the market in 2004 and the final novel in 2005. The translation was done by Lore Straßl .

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Volume 1: Sabriel

The Old Kingdom is a dangerous place, teeming with the undead and free, unbridled magic. To protect his daughter Sabriel, the magician Terciel Abhorsen brings her to the neighboring Ancelstierre, where she learns the rare charter magic , which can be used against the undead and necromancy , far away from her father and the walls of the empire in Wyverley College . When she received the news one day that her father, one of the last defenders - because the Abhorsen banish the dead and send them back to the realm of the dead, while the necromancers summon them to increase their power - disappeared without a trace against the overwhelming odds of the undead Sabriel sets out to look for him in the Old Kingdom. On the way to the legendary Abhorsen house, she is attacked by the undead and powerful creatures of free magic and learns for the first time from Kerrigor, a powerful undead who is gathering his army to return to real life. In her family home, Sabriel meets Mogget, a creature of free magic and servant of the Abhorses, who confronts her in the form of a cat. Although Sabriel is not sure whether she can trust Mogget, they both go in search of their father Terciel.

On the way, Sabriel frees Touchstone, a member of the royal family who died out centuries ago, from the figurehead of a ship into which he was banished by one of the previous abhorses for his own protection. When they finally find the lifeless body of Sabriel's father, Sabriel goes into the realm of the dead and talks to her father there. Touchstone, who protects Sabriel's body meanwhile, is ambushed, because the body of the Abhorse served as a trap that Kerrigor set to lure the two of them and get their blood. Kerrigor needs this to destroy the charter stones that serve as a barrier against the undead. Sabriel and Touchstone escape, but leave Terciel behind at their own request. Sadly, Sabriel takes up the fight against Kerrigor. She returns to the starting point of her search (Ancelstierre) to destroy the undead.

Volume 2: Lirael

Fourteen years after the events in the first volume, the girl Lirael is unable to see the future, which is usually not an inherent part of her family, the Clayr. When she was already thinking of killing herself, she overheard a conversation that King Touchstone and the Abhorsen Sabriel, who are now married, are having with the high-ranking Clayr. After the royal couple have said goodbye, Lirael is discovered by the Clayr and confronted. But instead of punishing her for eavesdropping, the Clayr surprisingly offer her work in the Clayr's large and not exactly harmless library. But for their own safety, the Clayr change their memory so that Lirael will only remember what actually happened in an emergency. Lirael delves into the secrets of magic and accidentally wakes up a dangerous creature that she can just stop. As a result, she takes up the fight against the evil creatures of the library and secretly saves the lives of several librarians. She withdraws more and more from the others and finally wants to use charter magic to create a mute servant in the form of a dog - a so-called dog endling . During the conjuring, for which Lirael takes an antique dog statuette as a model, not everything goes as planned by Lirael and so the questionable bitch comes into being, which carries both free magic and charter magic . Since she seems well-disposed towards Lirael, the two become friends and explore the library together.

In the meantime, the undead attack Prince Sameth, the son of the royal couple, and his schoolmates in Ancelstierre. He escapes through magic into the realm of the dead, but is attacked there by Hedge, a necromancer. Sameth escapes before Hedge can bind him in the realm of the dead. Nicholas, Sameth's best friend, is on the run from the undead to Hedge, who confuses him with Sameth and therefore brings a fragment of the destroyer Orannis into Nicholas' bloodstream. When Sameth learns that his friend has crossed the walls of the Old Kingdom with Hedge to dig up the entire destroyer , he sets out to rescue him. As the son of Sabriel, Sameth is said to be the Abhorsen's successor, but he fears the power of death and reluctantly takes the magical bells with which the dead can be conquered and the Book of the Dead with him. On his search, Sameth meets Mogget, the servant of the Abhorses. When they are attacked by the undead, the prince flees across the Ratterlin River in a bathtub because the undead cannot cross running water.

Meanwhile, on a secret excursion, Lirael discovers a panpipe with which, similar to the bells of Sameth, the undead can be fought, a dark mirror that allows a glimpse into the past, and a book that describes how to use both. Everything was laid out for them centuries ago. The Clayr inform Lirael that they saw the girl in a vision at the Red Lake and that she must leave immediately. With the magic ship "Finderin" she sails over the river Ratterlin to Quirre. On the way through the realm of the dead, she takes a look into the past and sees her father there. When she is attacked by Hedge, like Sameth before, she has to flee back to the world of the living. Shortly afterwards she meets the prince and saves him. Together they change the plan and decide to go to the Abhorsen House. There it becomes clear that Lirael is Sameth's aunt and the true Abhorsen's successor. However, the following attack by the undead threatens to lock them both up in the house of the Abhorses.

Volume 3: Horses

The third volume continues seamlessly from the plot of Lirael . When, after a failed assassination attempt on Sabriel and Touchstone, the news spreads that the royal couple are dead, chaos breaks out in the empire. The necromancer Hedge wants to merge the two silver hemispheres, which would lead to the liberation of his master Orannis, who has set himself the goal of destroying all life. At the same time Nick, Prince Sameth's friend, is still in the game. It carries a splinter of the hemispheres and is partly controlled by Orannis himself. Again and again he is involved in the plot because Sam wants to help his friend. With the help of the cat Mogget and the Questionable Bitch , Lirael and Sameth try to stop the master of the undead. To do this, they embark on a dangerous journey to the hill where the hemispheres are buried and later even to Ancelstierre. In the decisive battle it becomes clear that the "Questionable Bitch" was one of the seven who locked Orannis in the two "hemispheres" before the charter was established. But at the beginning there were nine, the seven who founded the charter and the eighth Scheiner, who turns out to be Mogget, and the destroyer Orannis. It is a very difficult task to banish Orannis and Lirael has to sacrifice her life for it. At least that's how it should be, but the bitch bites off her hand in time and thus saves her life. Her faithful companion, the bitch, must now die for her.

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