Abhoren-a-riffic

I found out yesterday that Garth Nix is writing two more books in his "Old Kingdom" series. One is a "prequel" called "Clariel: the Lost Abhorsen" or something like that. It tells the tale of Chlorr of the Mask. The last (yet-unnamed) book is a sequel to "Abhorsen".

I'm kind of jazzed.

These may be "young adult" books, but I find them better-written and edgier than lots of novels aimed at a broader audience. My only complaint about the "Old Kingdom" series is that he tends to fall into a trap lots of authors have when dealing with gender issues. The heroine is strong, noble, and brave while the hero(es) are kind of weak, lost, and ineffectual... at least in this series. Is it really that hard to have compelling heroes and heroines? Butcher does this in spades. George R.R. Martin is also good at this as does Rothfuss (in his one novel thus far). Ah well...

Nix does take the interesting turn of having the heroine be a practicing necromancer. That's freakin' awesome.