Return to the Old Kingdom
Goldenhand is the fifth novel-length work in the Abhorsen series (known outside of North America as the Old Kingdom series) by novelist Garth Nix. Old readers picking up this next installment in the series will find elements both familiar and new. As always, reading previous works enriches the reader’s experience of Goldenhand, but that previous exposure to the world and story isn’t necessary for enjoyment and understanding. If you’ve read the prequel Clariel, in this instance, you’ll have an “Aha!” moment in Goldenhand.
Goldenhand official cover art from the HarperCollins website
History Meets Modernity
Garth Nix scaffolds the magic and rules of the Old Kingdom world well; each time something new is encountered, it is explained, and often in the context of comparing and contrasting with other elements in the world, allowing for a richer perspective both in and out of universe. This strategy is never more and simultaneously less true than of the Abhorsen family and lineage, which are both expanded upon and used to raise more questions each time they reappear in the books.
Nix is talented at the balancing act of showing you enough to get you hooked on the stakes of the world and the foibles of the characters, while leaving enough in question to keep you hungry for more. The progression of the story seems to be a curious nesting dolls situation: every time you think you’ve gotten to the last earth-shattering fact, another one is revealed. Goldenhand is enriched by expanding and exploring the powers and stories of others beyond the Abhorsen bloodline, looking at key bloodlines that bracket the powers and rules of the world.
Life-Giving Necromancy
The main character of Goldenhand returning for more time in the spotlight is Lirael. Past novels set her up as the Abhorsen-in-Training, a necromancer whose role is not to raise the dead, but lay them to rest. However, her character continues to grow, highlighting tensions between what is expected, what is possible, and what is needed to keep the world whole. Stakes in the Old Kingdom can rank from the relatively minor loss of money or time, to risking life and limb, to the actual danger of the universe as it is known coming to an end. Nix balances the tension between all of them masterfully, making nothing feel cheap or senseless, but connected to character.
Shifting Viewpoints and Staggering Changes
In this novel other deeply engaging characters are introduced, broadening the experience beyond Lirael’s point of view and growth arc. Nix is talented in writing multiple characters with different (even conflicting!) goals and interests, providing many relatable people. He doesn’t have just one “type” that he returns to again and again; instead, he explores a wide and colorful variety of people and personality types from all different backgrounds, and with differing dispositions and gifts. He dwells with respect on characters who are afraid, those who aren’t, those who want to fight, those who don’t, and characters a reader might both admire and revile.
The Old Kingdom is a high-stakes world where death happens but isn’t the final end, leaving surprising avenues for old faces to return and be newly relevant. A character that first appeared in Sabriel, Chlorr of the Mask, makes a significant appearance; the generational weight of story pulls forward as Lirael and Nicholas Sayre, characters young enough to be Sabriel’s children, play a significant role. The story weaves in and out, not following just a single point of view, but allowing the reader to see what’s happening with different characters in different places and building tension to the climax of the story.
Worth the Read
Goldenhand is a satisfying adventure that explores new areas of Nix’s world while drawing on the old in a coherent way. It’s definitely worth the read if you don’t mind some existential terror and a fair amount of squishy-and-toothy-dead-things gore. Undoubtedly readers hope further books in the series will be forthcoming, though they’ve no shortage of other works by him to choose from; if you’ve finished the other major novels (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, and Clariel), take a look at Nix’s shorter works in the same world, “To Hold the Bridge” and “The Creature in the Case”. Nix’s Old Kingdom world is not for the faint of heart, but it delivers a satisfying, balanced story with real stakes and interesting reveals that give Goldenhand a solid place in the series. Definitely take a look!