Sabriel passes because of all the stuff in the boarding school, if nothing else. Sabriel is one of my favorite boarding-school books, even though there's really not much of it -- it's so crisply drawn.

I have always thought one of the interesting things about being Abhorsen is how much you have to surrender to gain the power. It is a job that will kill you someday. You must walk with the dead, and accept them, and know them. You have to have children so you can sacrifice them, to save the other children.