[ATDrake]

Finally got caught up with some favourite series I've been following for years, but had neglected to read the more recent installments of until now.

Returned to the library Clariel by Garth Nix, a standalone prequel novel to his Old Kingdom YA fantasy series, which was an interesting look into a past version of said kingdom. It's set about 600 years before Sabriel, and the world has a more retro-period feel to it, with Guilds and etiquette lessons for the titular character, as well as some political intrigue (and the obligatory dangers of the Free Magic necromantic creatures plot).

We get to find out the history of a few things that were mentioned in the later books. And given that this doesn't seem to have the constraints of the current ongoing "modern" series in terms of continuing the story of the leads, this went to somewhat unexpectedly darker and more surprising places with what it was willing to do with its characters. But some of the conditions that led to that did seem rather artificially contrived in order to set up the main character to take a particular path by essentially pushing her in that direction.

Overall, medium entertaining. It wasn't as compelling as previous books in the series and some of the personal/political situations felt shaky, but the eventual character outcome did feel somewhat novel for YA, and I liked the additional world-building things we learned about how the Old Kingdom used to be before the Interregnum, back when there was a thriving civilization that didn't live in complete fear of the risen dead and various dread creatures, and Charter Magic was integrated into daily life and professional occupations.

Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case is a novella in Nix's collection Across the Wall & Other Stories, which I've owned for years but never got around to reading until now. It's set directly after Abhorsen and follows up directly on several threads from that, while providing an adventure in which the titular Nicholas has to use what he learned from his inadvertent experiences in the Old Kingdom to deal with the titular Free Magic Creature while in mostly-magicless Ancelstierre, far from magical aid. I rather liked this one, which blended a solid standalone adventure tale with story-relevant character catch-up from the dramatic events of the main series. Apparently, there will be another book in the series which will directly follow this novella.

To Hold the Bridge from Nix's newest eponymous collection which I bought during a Kobo sale a few months ago, is another novella, this one a standalone set in some indefinite unspecified period before the Interregnum, and probably going to be my last completed read of the year. It's a coming of age tale for a young man from an unfortunate background, seeking a relatively secure place for him among some sort of guardian crew for the titular bridge, which is an important defense against both mundane and magical invasions. It seemed pretty standard for that sort of thing, but charmingly told, with a nice amount of detail about the setting which made it feel different from those of Clariel and Sabriel, but still part of the same universe.

All recommended as worthwhile continuations of a solidly entertaining YA fantasy series with a very interesting magic system setup and world backstory.

Starting in on Diane Duane's Interim Errantry novella collection in her Young Wizards series, which I bought during one of her holiday sales and is one of my current unfinished titles, made me realize that I'd never gotten around to reading my previously also holiday-sale-purchased A Wizard of Mars, which is the latest YW novel until the new one is published next year, and which it turns out the IE stories directly follow up from.

This was pretty standard for a YW tale. Strange stuff is going on on Mars, which has to do with some vanished species' Choice or other wizardly decisions, the YW kids go to investigate (well, Nita and Kit and their friends do, since Dairine seems to be occupied dealing with some aftermath from Wizards at War), and thwart the Lone Power's schemes yet again. It seems to be a partial tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom, and has some nods to H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and other sfnal and NASA Martian things.

Mild recommend. It was quite readable and overall okay, and it seems to be one of the more self-contained novels, although it does continue to advance various continuing plot threads from previously in the series. But I didn't find it as interesting or compelling as previous installments, and I'm not too convinced that some of the personal developments are all that good an idea. If one is a fan of old-school pulp Mars depictions, YMMV.