The Abhorsen Trilogy
Nix, Garth
Paperback
List Price:                 $23.99
booksXYZ price: $15.59

Nix creates an entire world - one that is believable, fleshed out and compelling in his Abhorsen Trilogy - also known as The Old Kingdom Trilogy.  With well developed characters and a fast paced, action-packed plot this series will not dissapoint youth and adult readers alike.  I read them several years ago after my brother suggested them to me, and enjoyed them a lot (in fact while doing this feature I've been considering going in for a re-reading of the series).  The characters were realistic (within the constructs of their fantasy world) and complex - their relationships and feelings about their world were not simple black/white good/evil which was refreshing. 

There has been some talk on the internet of a prelude and a sequel to the series with estimated publishing dates for next year (2011), as well as talk of movie rights - but nothing concrete yet.  (I personally don't know if I would want a movie to this series, simply because I don't want the novels ruined for me, but then I'm selfish). 

Sabriel won the Aurealis Award for best YA novel and best Fantasy novel in 1995.  A few reviews of the trilogy can be found here, here and here.

Garth Nix grew up in Canberra, Australia. Besides being a full-time writer, he has worked as a sales rep, publicist, editor, marketing communications consultant, literary agent, and part-time soldier. He is the author of Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen, the books in the internationally bestselling Abhorsen trilogy, as well as Shade's Children and The Ragwitch. He now lives in Sydney, a five-minute walk from Coogee Beach, with his wife, Anna, his sons, Thomas and Edward, and lots of books. (Bio from Harpercollins website)

The Individual Books (in order):

Sabriel
Nix, Garth
Paperback
List Price:                 $7.99
booksXYZ price: $5.19

For many years Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Charter-Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that world.

Though her journey begins alone, she soon finds companions: Mogget, whose seemingly harmless feline form hides a powerful -- and perhaps malevolent -- spirit, and Touchstone, a Charter-Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories.

With threats on all sides and only each other to trust, the three of them must travel deep into the Old Kingdom, toward a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death -- and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own hidden destiny.

A tale of dark secrets, deep love, and dangerous magic!

SABRIEL is the first book in the Abhorsen trilogy.

Lirael
Daughter of the Clayr <!--
$2139 h 5.19-->
Nix, Garth
Paperback
List Price:                 $7.99
booksXYZ price: $5.19

Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Abandoned by her mother, ignorant of her father's identity, Lirael resembles no one else in her large extended family living in the Clayr's Glacier. She doesn't even have the Sight -- the ability to See into the present and possible futures -- that is the very birthright of the Clayr.

Nonetheless, it is Lirael in whose hands the fate of the Old Kingdom lies. She must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil -- one that opposes the Royal Family, blocks the Sight of the Clay; and threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, to help her, Lirael must find the courage to seek her own hidden destiny.

In this sequel to the critically acclaimed Sabriel, Garth Nix draws readers deeper into the magical landscape of the Old Kingdom and weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny, and danger

LIRAEL is the second book in the Abhorsen trilogy

Abhorsen
Nix, Garth
Paperback
List Price:                 $7.99
booksXYZ price: $5.19

The Ninth was strong
and fought with might,
But lone Orannis
was put out of the light,
Broken in two
and buried under hill,
Forever to lie there,
wishing us ill.

So says the song. But Orannis, the Destroyer, is no longer buried under hill. It has been freed from its subterranean prison and now seeks to escape the silver hemispheres, the final barrier to the unleashing of its terrible powers.

Only Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, has any chance of stopping the Destroyer. She and her companions -- Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget -- have to take that chance. For the Destroyer is the enemy of all Life, and it must be stopped, though Lirael does not know how.

To make matters worse, Sam's best friend, Nick, is helping the Destroyer, as are the necromancer Hedge and the Greater Dead Chlorr, and there has been no word from the Abhorsen Sabriel or King Touchstone.

Everything depends upon Lirael. A heavy, perhaps even impossible burden for a young woman who just days ago was merely a Second Assistant Librarian. With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her, and the rather mixed help of her companions, Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the Destroyer.

Before it is too late. . .

ABHORSEN is the third and final book in the Abhorsen trilogy.

(Summaries for individual books from the official website)