Book Review: The Sending
Dec. 9th, 2012 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerThe Sending was supposed to be the last book in the Obernewtyn Chronicles. A lot of books were supposed to be the last book in the Obernewtyn Chronicles - I think this trend goes all the way back to Ashling (which is totally the best: the ravek scene still makes me swoon a little) - but The Sending really was supposed to be the last one.
The Sending has been split into two books. The last book - really the last book in the series, like for real this time - is supposed to come out in 2013.
OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN AAAAARGH.
I would feel better about this, except nothing happens in The Sending. There are two hundred pages in the middle of the book which could be summed up, God help us, just like this:
“Day after day Gahltha and I walked deeper into the mountains, ours heads down against the icy winds. I ate as little as I could, but our food supply dwindled, and I worried how I might feed myself once it ran out. For now, we might forage in the mountains, but what could I eat once we reached tainted ground? And what would I drink? For I had brought only two gourds with me.
But whenever I ran low on water, we found a new stream. Perhaps acceptance was one of the lessons that I must learn from this journey if I were to complete my quest. (This book positively valorizes unpreparedness. I get that there’s something about faith going on, but, uh, I really don’t believe the world will take care of you if you fling yourself blindly into it, so I’m not sure why the book blithely insists that it will.)
I knew that I would never return to Obernewtyn, yet that knowledge ached less than it once had. As we followed the crumbling Beforetime road through the thin, clear mountain air, I felt as though my old life were falling away from me. Even the thought of my love Rushton pained me less.”
Ta-da! Two hundred pages summarized! Two hundred pages that could have been filled with actual plot! Two hundred pages wherein Elspeth could have found and interpreted at least one of the signs she’s supposed to find, which will help her defeat the deadly weaponmachines that will otherwise complete a total nuclear annihilation of her world!
It is testament to Carmody’s skill, really, that despite the fact that nothing happens for two hundred pages - and precious little in the two hundred pages on either side - the book never drags. I kept turning pages, eagerly floating along the inconsequential stream.
***
You may be wondering, given my frustration, what I found so intoxicating about the first few Obernewtyn books. There are a lot of long-winded answers I could give, but the short version is:
At the beginning of the series, Obernewtyn is a remote mountain fortress whence people with strange powers are banished. These people are called Misfits.
Misfits. With Capitalization! Is there a word more ordained to draw the attention of a disaffected thirteen-year-old?
***
So, yes. Isobelle Carmody. A very good writer, but she never finished her series, so at this point I don’t feel comfortable recommending anything she’s written except Alyzon Whitestarr. It’s fun, it’s got cool telepathic powers - Alyzon can smell people’s auras! - and a wonderful group of friends: I love Gilly and Harrison particularly.
And, most of all, it’s a standalone.
The Sending has been split into two books. The last book - really the last book in the series, like for real this time - is supposed to come out in 2013.
OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN AAAAARGH.
I would feel better about this, except nothing happens in The Sending. There are two hundred pages in the middle of the book which could be summed up, God help us, just like this:
“Day after day Gahltha and I walked deeper into the mountains, ours heads down against the icy winds. I ate as little as I could, but our food supply dwindled, and I worried how I might feed myself once it ran out. For now, we might forage in the mountains, but what could I eat once we reached tainted ground? And what would I drink? For I had brought only two gourds with me.
But whenever I ran low on water, we found a new stream. Perhaps acceptance was one of the lessons that I must learn from this journey if I were to complete my quest. (This book positively valorizes unpreparedness. I get that there’s something about faith going on, but, uh, I really don’t believe the world will take care of you if you fling yourself blindly into it, so I’m not sure why the book blithely insists that it will.)
I knew that I would never return to Obernewtyn, yet that knowledge ached less than it once had. As we followed the crumbling Beforetime road through the thin, clear mountain air, I felt as though my old life were falling away from me. Even the thought of my love Rushton pained me less.”
Ta-da! Two hundred pages summarized! Two hundred pages that could have been filled with actual plot! Two hundred pages wherein Elspeth could have found and interpreted at least one of the signs she’s supposed to find, which will help her defeat the deadly weaponmachines that will otherwise complete a total nuclear annihilation of her world!
It is testament to Carmody’s skill, really, that despite the fact that nothing happens for two hundred pages - and precious little in the two hundred pages on either side - the book never drags. I kept turning pages, eagerly floating along the inconsequential stream.
***
You may be wondering, given my frustration, what I found so intoxicating about the first few Obernewtyn books. There are a lot of long-winded answers I could give, but the short version is:
At the beginning of the series, Obernewtyn is a remote mountain fortress whence people with strange powers are banished. These people are called Misfits.
Misfits. With Capitalization! Is there a word more ordained to draw the attention of a disaffected thirteen-year-old?
***
So, yes. Isobelle Carmody. A very good writer, but she never finished her series, so at this point I don’t feel comfortable recommending anything she’s written except Alyzon Whitestarr. It’s fun, it’s got cool telepathic powers - Alyzon can smell people’s auras! - and a wonderful group of friends: I love Gilly and Harrison particularly.
And, most of all, it’s a standalone.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-09 05:35 am (UTC)I have it out from the library again. Maybe I'll finish it this time.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-09 06:04 am (UTC)This series is so frustrating. I've lived with these books in my head for so long that I feel compelled to keep going to the bitter end, but at this point I'm almost certain that it really will be a bitter end - doubtless they'll save the world, but I can't imagine that the route the story takes to get there will be satisfying.
And I really think Carmody shot herself in the foot by repeating so insistently that Elspeth will never return to Obernewtyn. There are lots of great things about the story, but Obernewtyn is the heart of it.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 05:58 am (UTC)(Or perhaps I am just in denial...?)
I do hope Carmody hasn't shot herself in the foot, because that would be a shame. I think Christopher Paolini did with the Eragon books - he had some prophecy early on about how Eragon would one day leave and never return, and by the time he reached that point in the series, Eragon leaving was no longer a logical conclusion. Except he had written himself into a corner, so he proceeded with that course of events anyway.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-10 02:43 pm (UTC)