Since she was young, Clariel has known what she wants from her life--she wants to live in the Great Forest, to become a borderer, to live in isolation with nature and hunt for survival. Unfortunately, her mother is a great goldsmith and her family moves to the city, and the confines of high society are suffocating. 
 It's an honor to be part of Belisaere's guilds, with their endless rules and regulations. When Clariel enters her first classroom there, the students introduce themselves in order of importance. The Guildmaster's son has the highest ranking, and the other students argue over who follows in order of importance. 
 But for all its glitz and glam, nothing happens. Clariel is bored of the city from the moment she steps into it. She doesn't want to don the attire of the guild. She doesn't want to attend school; she refuses to select a guild of her own. She wants to live in the Forest, a fact that we can't soon forget because she mentions it all the time. 
 But things get interesting at the end. And I truly mean the end--with about twenty pages left, the action begins. Being a prequel of sorts, you search for clues to suggest how she ties into Sabriel's timeline. We end up in the Abhorsen's abandoned house (because the Abhorsen himself isn't doing his job), and Clariel learns of a world we already know (and meets a very familiar cat). She wants to escape--she always wants to escape--but she's slowly unraveling, falling victim to her downfalls. 
 Clariel isn't a "good" protagonist. We get so used to main characters who save the day, but she wants none of that. She's selfish and whiny; she doesn't care about anyone but herself. I'm not praising her, but it's nice to have a protagonist who's not cookie-cutter good. And even when she tries to be good, she messes it up. The more I think about it, the more her eventual fate makes sense. She was kind of doomed from the start. 
 Also, kudos for Clariel confirmed as aro-ace. Not that she's a shining example, but at least we aren't bogged down with useless romance. (I could've lived without her cousin's seemingly random crush on her, though.)