When an ill wind blows from the North, the magic of the Old Kingdom arrives with it, completely upending Elinor’s idyllic but isolated life. Meanwhile across the Wall, Abhorsen-in-Waiting Terciel trains to take on a role he feels he’ll never be ready for, and can only hope that he and his master together will be strong enough to finally lay to rest the Greater Dead creature that’s haunted their family for generations.
Terciel & Elinor is the sixth book in the Old Kingdom series, which began with Sabriel in 1995, and serves as a prequel to that book.
The Old Kingdom has been one of my favourite series for a long time now, and although I don’t feel like the more recent books quite live up to the awesomeness of the original trilogy (and nostalgia has certainly played a part in my enjoyment of them), I’ve still really loved them all. This is always such a wonderful world to revisit, and Terciel & Elinor has all the eerie vibes I’ve come to expect – along with a heavy dose of cuteness in the form of it’s two new protagonists, who I quickly grew very attached to. In particular, I found Elinor’s perspective a lot of fun; her unusual upbringing combining with her natural good sense and stubborn resolve makes her journey continuously entertaining.
I was also surprised by how much I liked the romance in this; given that I’m used to thinking of Terciel and Elinor as just “Sabriel’s parents” (and Terciel in the original trilogy was such a distant, formal-seeming character, more often referred to by his title than his name), I wasn’t expecting to ship them so hard. 💕 Many of their interactions were a little awkward, as they’re both fairly naïve, but it was incredibly endearing to see them growing closer.
Perhaps because of the greater focus on romance, I found myself mentally comparing it a lot to Goldenhand – but plot-wise, I think that Terciel & Elinor is a lot stronger, and it probably has my favourite storyline of the more recent books. The writing, as expected, is excellent; I was quickly drawn into the story, and it held on tight the whole way through. In fact, I blew through this in just two days, which is something that’s only happened a few times in the last few years… 😅
Overall: an excellent novel. I perhaps wouldn’t recommend it as a starting point to the series, but if you like The Old Kingdom, you’ll like this, and if you don’t like The Old Kingdom, you clearly haven’t read it yet, and should definitely get on that. 😋
Well, the world may still be crazy, but in terms of reading, 2021 ended up pretty great! I blew my Goodreads goal out of the water (though I had deliberately set it low so that I wouldn’t stress over it this year) with 98 books read, and so many of them were fantastic! 😆 I finally got around to starting a 
As for some specific book stuff, I started some excellent new fantasy series last year. Notably, 
books I re-read, I liked even better than the first time around, those being 
This was a great year for romance, too! It’s not a genre I’ve ever been super-into, but (like many people, I think), I’ve been appreciating it a lot in the last couple of years, and am definitely hoping to read more in 2022. Some of my favourites were
worth the wait. 😁 I re-listened to 
And last but not least, an unexpected favourite (though also somewhat Austen-adjacent) was the Mean Girls inspired Regency rom-com 
Starting with my most recent read, which was 
However! To me, the most notable thing about my reading this year is just how much re-reading I’ve done; with my book-buying ban finally starting to cut my physical TBR down to a less anxiety-inducing size, I’ve felt a lot more comfortable with re-reading old favourites rather than always reaching for something new, and it’s been wonderful to revisit worlds that I haven’t been to in ages! I’ve discovered a new appreciation for Tamora Pierce’s 
And although 
Besides re-reads, another thing I’ve read a surprising amount of this year is science fiction! I don’t know how the numbers would hold up compared to genres like fantasy, or even romance, but so many of the sci-fi stories I’ve read this year have been truly fantastic. Notable among them were Becky Chambers’ 
new(-to-me) authors… I’ve yet to finish up his Machineries of Empire trilogy, but I got a collection of his short stories for Christmas, and I’m dying to make a start on it, even though traditionally I don’t like short fiction that much.
And! On the subject of sci-fi short stories, I also really, really loved 
And finally, the last book I want to mention is 
1) What’s the best book you’ve read so far in 2020?
2) What’s the best sequel you’ve read so far in 2020?
3) What’s a new release that you haven’t read yet, but want to?
4) What’s your most anticipated release for the second half of the year?
5) What’s your biggest disappointment of the year?
9) Who’s your newest favourite character?
10) What book made you cry?
11) What book made you happy?
12) What’s the most beautiful book you’ve bought (or been given) this year?
If you’ve been following my monthly/seasonal wrap-ups, you’ll probably have noticed that I finally got myself an Audible subscription, which I’ve been enjoying immensely. I find it hard sometimes to tell whether my feelings about the book being read are affected by the narrator’s performance, or vice versa, but quite a few of my favourites this year turned out to be ones that I’d listened to rather than read. In terms of pure performance, though, nothing comes close to 
The other stand-out audiobook I listened to was 
And on the topic of more recent releases: The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff and The Conqueror’s Saga by Kiersten White both ended this year, and are by far some of the best series I’ve read in the last few years. Neither 
After a slightly disappointing start to the series, I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I liked 
Finally, I’d like to also give a quick mention to 
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor.
5) A Court of Mist & Fury by Sarah J. Maas
4) Lirael by Garth Nix
3) Half Wild by Sally Green
2) Fire by Kristin Cashore
1) The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
And an honourable mention for Street Magic by Tamora Pierce, which is one of my favourite books of all time, and also the second book in The Circle Opens quartet… which is itself a follow-up to the Circle of Magic series. I didn’t include it on the main list mostly because I tend to think of it as being a sixth book rather than a second, but this is also a series that people should definitely read! 🙏
Nightjar's Jar of Books 