Title: To Hold the Bridge
Author: Garth Nix
Series: The Old Kingdom #3.7
In: Legends of Australian Fantasy (Jack Dann & Jonathan Strahan) & To Hold the Bridge (Garth Nix)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Australian authors, Fantasy, Necromancers
Pace: Fast
Format: Novella
Publisher: Harper Collins Australia & Hot Key Books
Year: 2005
5th sentence, 74th page: ‘Go and meet my Seconds,’ she instructed.

Far to the north of the magical Old Kingdom, the Greenwash Bridge Company has been building a bridge for almost a hundred years. It is not an easy task, for many dangers threaten the bridge builders, from nomad raiders to Free Magic sorcerers. Despite the danger, Morghan wants nothing more than to join the Bridge Company as a cadet. But the company takes only the best, the most skillful Charter mages, and trains them hard, for the night might come when only a single young cadet must hold the bridge against many foes. Will Morghan be that cadet?

It’s always nice to revisit a fantasy world that you have loved over the years. One that you have visited again and again and again over the years. To Hold the Bridge was a great way to do this. The Old Kingdom series has been a favourite for years, and, although this novella doesn’t fit into the overall storyline, it does serve as a fantastic reminder of the years of joy that these stories have given me.

To Hold the Bridge is a great story about overcoming the past, and the tragedies of one’s childhood. Although Morghan has been dealt a hard hand in life, his desperation (and gumption) helps him to find a new future in which he finds contentment, and possibly even happiness. Yet, it isn’t until the final battle in this story (after all, what is a story without a final, epic battle) that he is able to realise that he has finally found a place to which he belongs. Revisiting the dead, Free Magic and the Charter was a great way to spend an afternoon, and it has certainly left me craving more tales of the Old Kingdom.

Image source: Allen & Unwin