I just finished Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr by Garth Nix and wanted to repost my review here:

I have 2 issues with these books. Part of my problem with these books is that both Mogget and the Disreputable Dog are basically deus ex machina. God like characters that explain nothing, know everything and fix all problems and because of that all agency is taken away from the main characters. YA books should be about giving agency to teens and Garth Nix just refuses to do that.