- Find all the latest books, toys, games and DVDs from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in our Harry Potter store.
The Ragwitch
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Giving young readers a tantalising taste of the imagination unleashed in books to come, The Ragwitch is Garth Nix’s first novel, dating from 1990, and a book that is only now making its deserved first appearance in the UK. Nix’s immense reputation as a fantasy writer has been subsequently built on the success of books such as Sabriel and Lirael from his Old Kingdom trilogy, and Mister Monday and Grim Tuesday, early episodes of the Keys to the Kingdom sequence, but his debut, nevertheless, remains a readable and enjoyable adventure.
The story concerns a brother and sister, Paul and Julia, who discover a feather-covered ragdoll in a large nest on an Aboriginal midden heap besides an Australian beach. At breakneck speed, the plot has Julia possessed by the ragdoll, who is revealed as a powerful witch, and then the pair are transported through magic into the Ragwitch’s own alternate kingdom. Paul, not brave by nature, instinctively follows them in order to save his sister.
While the Ragwitch tries to regain control of her old world, with Julia trapped inside her and giving her form, Paul is lost and at the behest of a host of strange creatures in a nearby forest. His task, in order to save his sibling and defeat the evil that has overtaken her, involves finding four talismans, representing Earth, Air, Fire and Water, so that he can call upon Wild Magic to do so.
All the signs were there that with The Ragwitch, Nix was at the exciting beginning of his storytelling abilities with its glorious cast of quirky characters and weird and wonderful new monsters. This earlier work is not as crisply executed, nor as boldly original, as later efforts but it remains a worthwhile encounter and is an illuminating taste of what was to come from this author.
(Age 10 and over) --John McLay
Review
Praise for Garth Nix
“[Garth Nix is] the coolest read in the playground.” Amanda Craig
"Sabriel is a winner, a fantasy that reads like realism. Here is a world with the same solidity and four-dimensional authority as our own, created with invention, clarity and intellience." Philip Pullman
“I think Garth Nix has created a really remarkable and persuasive wold, and done it in the grand style of high fantasy and heroic romance, with some wonderful twists and turns. His Sabriel is a heroine truly worthy of that role.” Lloyd Alexander
“By turns rousing, charming and slyly funny, Sabriel is an engaging tale that slays sexual stereotypes along with its monsters.” San Francisco Chronicle
“What makes LIRAEL a delight is the magic that Nix brings to his story and to his characters. It is filled with twists and turns, playful inventiveness and dark magic, and is sure to satisfy his many readers.” Locus
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
COME ON, PAUL!" shrieked Julia as she ran down the dune, the sand sliding away under her bare feet. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
COME ON, PAUL!" shrieked Julia as she ran down the dune, the sand sliding away under her bare feet. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It has been well documented that this isn't one of Nix’s later and more successful novels so I won’t delve too deeply into that, although suffice to say Sabriel or Mr Monday – this isn't… What it is however is a novel of no small amount of skill and patience, the story line is inventive and likable, its just the execution that is a bit lacking.
It is almost unfortunate the Garth Nix is as successful as he is as any of his early work is bound to compared to his massively successful later works. I am a huge fan of said later works and in turn a huge fan of Nix so that is how I base my review.
The story is focuses around Julia and her brother Paul. Julia is the more adventurous of the two siblings and one day when playing on the beach she comes across a rag dull buried mysteriously in the sand, Paul wants nothing to do with it but Julia is entranced, for this doll is no ordinary one and consumes Julia entirely. For this is the Ragwitch, previously the evil North Queen of a far off distant world. Paul manages to force himself through to the other world along with the Ragwitch but how can he do anything to stop such a fearsome creature?
Meeting guides along the way both Paul and the now consumed Julia begin to fight and find inner strength they never knew they had. Is this enough though?
This book really shows the threads that have made Garth Nix such a talented author – the execution is lacking, for example the ending feels rushed, threads of storyline are untold and characters can be a little wooden. For all this though it is a decent novel, just don't compare it to his later works.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book when browsing for a good read on amazon, and decided to buy it because of a good sypnosis and the good reputation of garth nix's other books. This book will blow you away as it keeps the reader guessing as the plot becomes thicker and a higher tempo. This book will not fail to entertain with all its twists and turns. Prepare to be pulled into a world of magic,adventure and the power of love and family. 5 stars, a must read.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Ragwitch definately isn't the 'regular' Garth Nix. It seems to be rather weird, rather in the wrong way (the Keys of the Kingdom series is totally weird and out of the box, but it is interesting and the characters are deep). An unlikely hero has to save her sister, who is held captive by an evil rag doll. The plot just seems a little childish and a little over fantasy-ish, instead of the mix of fantasy and Realism (see the Old Kingdom series). The book starts off fast enough, rushing you into the action, but once the first 3 chapters or so are read, the whole book seems to slow down. Considerably.
The Ragwitch was, however, Garth Nix's first attept at writing a full length novel, and kudos should be given, but 'the ragwitch' does not have the maturity and interesting parts (seen in the old kingdom trilogy, most easily seen in Lirael). The whole book seems rather rushed and does not have the usual interesting characters and quests. The entire story is too straightfoward, no twists, no turns, no crazy and weird feats (i.e. Grim Tuesday!) From the moment you realise the main character is going to try rescue his sister, you KNOW that he will succeed. I mean, How else could the book end?
The Old kingdom series (sabriel, lirael, abhorsen), the keys of the kingdom series (mister monday, grim tuesday, Drowned wednesday and Sir Thursday) all surpass the ragwith in interest, characters, and Storyline/plot, etc.
Get those before you get this (if you still want to).
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Terrific
I have read and re-read this book many times over the past 10 years or more and did not suddenly get the urge to review it. However, my shock at seeing it sitting at 3. Read more
Published 29 days ago by L. Burgoyne
I liked it a lot...
I'm a big fan of Garth Nix's work - I've read a good 80% of his stories. In the past I'd steered clear of The Ragwitch because I'd heard it wasn't as good as his later work. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr Archie
terrible
Any book who has evil characters called "The Meepers" cannot be taken seriously. As soon as I read the word Meepers I was reminded of Beaker from the muppets making meeping sounds. Read more
Published 11 months ago by CiscoBear
hmmmmm
not for older readers definately for younger readers still a good story. may be a little childish for young adults
Published on 15 Aug 2008 by Iorek
Great book well worth your money
I really enjoyed this book and it's well worth buying, at the beginning of the book Julia finds a doll, which is the Rag Witch, on top of a midden. Read more
Published on 22 May 2007 by Derob Ecnirp
Good, not great, but good...
The Ragwitch is not Nix's finest work and is possibly one of his least accessible pieces of writing... Read more
Published on 10 April 2007 by Nemo Cuts
Enjoyable
As with most of Garth Nix's novels, the Ragwitch has a slow beginning, and, as with Mister Monday, the first in Nix's Keys To The Kingdom Series, I feel that at the beginning, the... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2007 by Mr Pinky
Utter Trash
This book is unredeemable, and seems only to have served as an outlet for Nix as he loses interest in his 'keys to the kindom' series, which is going rapidly downhill. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2006 by Mr. D. J. Read
Captivating but with some rough edges
When the rag doll the brother and sister find on the beach turns out to be a trapped witch who possesses Julia in order to gain a new body, Paul finds himself travelling through a... Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2006 by George Eliot
Extruded Fantasy Product
I've recently found out that this was an early novel of Nix's, which means that I can forgive a lot of the sins I'm about to recount... Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2006 by Bookseller
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
