YMMV / Old Kingdom

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Some see Yrael's punishment for staying neutral during the first war against Orannis as completely unfair; so much so, in fact, that it makes Mogget's actions in the series much more understandable, and his contempt for his slavers entirely justified. Others see Yrael as, at least originally, a Dirty Coward who deserved what he got for sitting on the sidelines during a conflict of cosmic importance.
• Angst? What Angst?: Nick is constantly upbeat and cheerful. He spends most of Goldenhand flirting with Lirael and acting like a curious child despite being possessed by an Eldritch Abomination only a few months before. Occasionally he'll lash out a bit when things get really bad but it's brief and fades quickly. Every other character gets normal amounts of angst and grief (Even Ferin is mostly putting up a front), it's only him.
  • This could be explained by the repeated implications that he doesn't actually remember much of his possession by Orannis, significantly reducing the inherent trauma.
• Awesomeness Withdrawal: The books are beloved by those that have read them, but the long gaps in instalments prevent the fanbase from being too enthusiastic about the series in general.
• Base-Breaking Character: Clariel. Some people love her as one of the few examples of an asexual character in literature and find her realistically flawed and her Start of Darkness plausible. Other readers find her flaws unsympathetic and frustrating to read. It doesn't help that she's very different from Sabriel and Lirael.
• Complete Monster: After Kerrigor, aka Prince Rogirek, became one of the Greater Dead, he tricked his half-brother into helping him murder their mother and their sisters in order for Kerrigor to use their blood to shatter the Charter Stones protecting the kingdom from the dead. Defeated and driven deep into death, Kerrigor's actions nevertheless destroyed The Old Kingdom, allowing all manner of The Undead free access to the world over the next several hundred years, while he waited for the chance to break free. Kidnapping the infant Sabriel, Kerrigor took her deep into death as part of a plot to blackmail her father, The Abhorsen, into freeing him. Years later, he traps The Abhorsen himself in Death and breaks free into the world of the living. He then tries to capture Sabriel and his revived half-brother as part of a plan to shatter the remaining Charter Stones. When this fails after The Abhorsen's heroic sacrifice, Kerrigor re-emerges from Death and leads a massive army of undead across the wall and into a girl's school, killing soldiers and students alike, before devouring Sabriel's Friendly Enemy, Mogget, alive and finally forcing Sabriel herself into a mutual kill. Obsessed with power and staying alive no matter what the cost to others, Kerrigor is the worst that the realm of the Dead has to offer.
• Cult Classic: The books have a devoted following despite their infrequent releases for the series having nonstereotypical female leads, a creative and interesting magic system, copious amounts of Nightmare Fuel, and the Darker and Edgier appeal. Not to mention being one of the few works of fiction to feature the protagonists as necromancers who are all good guys.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In Sabriel, Sabriel wonders at one point if she might find sisters among the Clayr. She later does find a sister raised among the Clayr: Lirael.
• Iron Woobie: Considering how much conflict and personal insecurity issues Lirael has to struggle through, it's evident she still bears the weight of the self-depreciation of her upbringing. Nevertheless, once she finds her calling, she proves a capable heroine.
• Moe: Sabriel, in her teenage incarnation. Her very sympathetic circumstances after reading the prologue showing how capable her father is, you know she's in for, and indeed faces, many horrible things along the way. Her somewhat withdrawn personality, combined with the school setting and her evident popularity among her briefly-seen friends all paint an endearing impression.
• The Un-Twist:
  • Lirael and Sam's respective roles. So the Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette with a name ending in -el who takes up binding Free Magic creatures in her spare time is the Abhorsen-in-waiting, and the guy who hates his Abhorsen training and prefers his workbench to necromancy isn't? You don't say! On the other hand, it could be said that the twist comes in the precise nature of those roles - Lirael isn't just an Abhorsen-In-Waiting - she's a Remembrancer, an inverse Clayr, who can see the Past by going into Death, while Sam turns out to be a Wallmaker, the first in centuries, if not millennia.
  • In this vein, the mysterious creature hybridizing free and charter magic, born of an ancient statue found on the third of seven ancient plinths, and uncannily possessing the power of Kibeth, third of the Seven, turns out to actually be Kibeth? Who’d have thought? And so forth with Mogget’s being the Eighth, etc.; the only twist that isn’t totally obvious is that Touchstone is the last survivor of the blood royal.