I read Lirael and Sabriel of the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix. I loved them both!! They were the reason I stopped in the middle of Specials. The first book was written a good 10-ish years before the follow-up, and it shows in the book.
Sabriel starts off with her birth, and ends with her coming to terms with what she must do with her life. The best part of the whole book is when she and Mogget, her cat/magical-being, find a wooden boy who is too life-like to be a real carved boy. It's very lucky that she happens to find him and bring him back from his place between Life and Death. He ends up being a major player in the plot of this book and the following books.
