Garth Nix - Sabriel

Pros: Nix weaves reality with fantasy and creates a very believable world.
Cons: Hard to understand in the very beginning, but once you do, the books great!

Sabriel is a young women, living in Anclestier. Anclesier is just like our world. They have electricity, cars, everything that our modern world has. But, across the north border, is the Old Kingdom. In the Old Kingdom, no modern technologies work. Only charter magic.
Sabriel goes to visit her father in the Old Kingdom. All her life, she has been in school learning how to use charter magic. But, this is the first time she will use it in a real situation. She discovers many things in an unwinding mystery. After this adventure, her story then continues on in Lireal and then in Abhorsen. Sabriel is such an awsome book that you will immediatly want to pick up these books as well.