Before there was Tris. Before there was Katniss. Before there were all of our favorite modern YA heroines, there was a bad-ass Abhorsen (a.k.a. battler of the dead and bad spirits) known as Sabriel. And before Sabriel, there was Clariel.

YA novelist Garth Nix is out with the latest in his "Old Kingdom" series, "Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen" -- nearly 20 years after the first book, "Sabriel," dropped in the U.S.

"Sabriel" -- a.k.a. a book I read so many times it fell apart when I was a teen -- tells the tale of a girl born into the modern world who must cross over into the "Old Kingdom" in order to fight the tide of undead creatures and elementals roaming the land. Hooked by that description yet? Well, there's also a hot dude (whom Sabriel saves from imprisonment under very interesting circumstances) as well as a ball of dangerous magic that has been trapped in the form of an adorable white cat named Mogget. There's a smart-ass talking cat, you guys -- just like in "Sabrina The Teenage Witch."

"Clariel" takes place 600 years in the past -- before "Sabriel" and its sequels "Lirael" and "Abhorsen," which continue Sabriel's tale as well as that of her children and other battlers of the dead. The heroine in the newest booked, named Clariel, lives in a much different world than Sabriel and Co. -- for one, she doesn't have access to modern technology -- but she still is, as expected, a bad-ass tasked with fighting an ancient creature as well as a seriously unwanted marriage.

Nix gave us a peek at the new book in the form of a handy infographic showing just how Clariel matches up against her modern co-horts -- and he chatted with us about YA heroines past and present.

MTV News: Having written these really strong women 20 years ago, how do you think they compare to some of the more modern YA heroines?

Garth Nix: I think that it's very good that there are more YA heroines. There were obviously others around [when 'Sabriel' came out], but relatively few. I think it's great that there are more. And I think it's also fantastic that there are books with very strong heroines that have become enormous successes, which I think has paved the way for even more strong heroines.

I think in terms of the relative strength of the characters, as the infographic shows, I do think there are certain areas of similarity, and I guess one of them is that at the core they all do have an internal strength that I think is great to see in stories.

MTV Who are some of your favorite modern YA heroines -- and do you think they would get along with your characters?

Nix: Tris and Arya are great characters -- and Katniss from 'Hunger Games.' I would be curious to put them together with Clariel and Sabriel and the rest -- I'm not sure they would all get on, because they are all strong characters. It would be interesting. I think they all would get on provided there was no conflict in what they needed to do.

MTV So it's been a while since your last book in the series came out. Why did you decide to write a prequel -- and why now?

Nix: I actually had the idea for 'Clariel' when I was writing 'Lirael.' I went back to my old manuscript and I saw that I made a note about the character Clariel back in 1998. So she had been with me a long time and slowly building up inside my head. A few years ago I thought, 'I have to write this book now -- this is one where the story has all come together in my head and now I need to get it down.'

MTV: I see that everyone's favorite cat/not cat, Mogget, returns!

Nix: Mogget does make a return and it's interesting to look at him 600 years earlier. He's perhaps closer to his more elemental nature and he's had less time as a cat, which makes a difference... Mogget had been ignored and left alone for a long time, and his nature -- which is partially that of a cat but also he's a very ancient power as well -- neglecting him for a long time is a bad idea, because he's always trying to break free from his bounds and get his own way.

"Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen" is in stores today. Art by Booki Vivat