LIRAEL Daughter of the Clayr

In Nix's second book about the Old Kingdom, the world is detailed and intricately interwoven. Entering this world involves navigating the Clayr's Glacier, traveling the Ratterlin River as far as the Perimeter Wall, and learning about Abhorsens, necromancers who wield free magic. The pleasure in the journey comes in meeting Lirael, who desperately wants to see the future and fit in as one of the Clay. Yet she comes to understand that her strength lies in being able to see the past. As the narrator of an involved work, Tim Curry is masterful. He reads with continual interest and keeps the listener on track through his careful switches from locale to locale, and from character to character, which he makes distinctive through inflection, tone, and voice modulation. The listener enters Nix's world with a fine guide. A.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 02/ JAN 03]