Goldenhand

The Old Kingdom, Book 5

By: Garth Nix

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The long-awaited fifth installment in Garth Nix's New York Times best-selling Old Kingdom series, for listeners who enjoy series by Rae Carson, Kristin Cashore, Scott Westerfeld, and Cassandra Clare.

Goldenhand takes place six months after the events of Abhorsen and follows the novella Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case, which is featured in Across the Wall.

Lirael lost one of her hands in the binding of Orannis, but now she has a new hand, one of gilded steel and Charter Magic. On a dangerous journey, Lirael returns to her childhood home, the Clayr's Glacier, where she was once a Second Assistant Librarian. There a young woman from the distant North brings her a message from her long-dead mother, Arielle. It is a warning about the Witch with No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning? Lirael must use her new powers to save the Old Kingdom from this great danger - and it must be forestalled not only in the living world but also in the cold, remorseless river of Death.

©2016 Garth Nix (P)2016 Listening Library

wtf

Love the author. The narrator would have gotten one more star except she kept pronouncing the 't' in filet. I couldn't get past it

Felt Hurried, Not as Good as Trilogy

I love the Abhorsen trilogy, but feel like this epilogue-type book was pretty messy and rushed in comparison. Lots of rushed relationship storylines, though I thought the story of Clariel coming to a conclusion was interesting. As far as the reading- Tim Curry narrates the trilogy, and his performance really can't be beat, so this one fell short of that as well. Thought it was a little odd that the author chose not to have Liriel visit Clariel's time through the dark mirror, seems like a missed storytelling opportunity to me.

RIP Tim Curry

All other books were read by Tim Curry and I really took that for granted. this narrator is ok but it almost feels like a different series without him.

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narrator is to mechanical. I love these books but the new narrator is hard to listen to.

Return to the Old Kingdom and the River of Death

... and the ringing off the 7th Bell . Everything I love about the Abhorsen series - plus a great new character Ferin

not an awesome narrator

I love this book, and the others in the series. my only complaint is that this narrator sounds kind of like a robot. I was disappointed.

narrator ugh!

Loved the story and the series but the voice actor was abysmal. It would have been much more enjoyable with a better reader. Oddly enough she seemed to do better toward the end but her overall tone and voices were lacking.

Love this addition to the series

Really enjoyed this and listened to it easily. enjoyed how this plot is intertwining with as well as diverging from the original trilogy plots.

Good book, but the ending feels rushed

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you enjoyed the other books in the series, I would definitely recommend this book.

Any additional comments?

On the whole I really enjoyed this book. My only real complaint is that after listening to the first three, this one feels a little flat. The conflict is built up as this huge problem, and possibly as dangerous as things the main characters had previously faced. And the conclusion felt like, "You know that thing we spent the first three books saying you should never do? Yeah, we did that; it wasn't a problem after all, not dangerous, not really a big deal, and we're done." The resolution of the conflict in the first book took so much time, was well thought out, and kept your attention the whole time. This one, was just a little off, as though the author had intended to write a more complicated ending, but was under a deadline, or just wanted to wrap it up and move on.

I do hope the author write more in this universe, and particularly about these characters. I would love to have the next book pick up right after this, flesh out the details of "what happens after" in a fun and engaging way before developing new conflict.








***The following comments contain mild spoilers***



The main antagonist is only present in the final scene of the book, and only for about ten seconds. She shows up, gets defeated (by not the hero), the hero runs away, and the book ends. I half expected the book to end on a cliffhanger because seeing how much time was left, I couldn't imagine the conflict could be resolved in that amount of time, and I was more or less correct. It was rather rushed and underdeveloped. I think it would have been better to have more of the thoughts that were going on in Lirael's head resigning herself to death. And to at least draw out the final fight in death by cutting away to the battle at the bridge and talking about how badly the old kingdom forces were faring. There is a passing mention of both Touchstone and Sabriel being injured. There is at least one good scene there unwritten, where Touchstone sees Sabriel hurt, and goes berserk before being hurt himself. This could have been done between Lirael falling down and the conclusion of her fight.

Mogget's one scene felt 100% true to character, and I loved it. The Disreputable Dog's one appearance felt a bit shoehorned and not completely true to her character even with the little bit of foreshadowing that was done.

Better than Clariel

I was wondering why Clariel was written, but I can see why now. This book is good, but my only critic is that the ending should give a little bit more glimpse of the future. Maybe the prologue should have been a chapter and the glimpse the prologue. Otherwise pretty consistent!