Thursday 19 July 2012

'Cause everyone has to have a favourite...


The Obernewtyn Chronicles – Isobelle Carmody

I started the Obernewtyn chronicles in 1998 and I’ve probably read them again every second year since. Needless to say I’m over the moon that in less than a fortnight I’ll be the proud (very anti-social) owner of the latest offering in the series ‘The Sending’.

Set in a world that has been ravaged by ‘weaponmachines’ that cause a nuclear apocalypse, the series follows the misfit (people with mental powers such as talking to beasts and each other with their minds) Elspeth Gordie as she strives to find a place for herself and her misfit friends in the cruel, authoritarian land run by the Council and the fanatical religious order the Herder faction.

With the aid of her friends, cat Maruman and horse Ghaltha in particular, Elspeth must follow the clues left only for her many years ago to the site where the weaponmachines are sleeping, waiting to finish the job they started. It’s a race against time as she strives to outwit her counterpart seeking to end the world. Amidst all this she still manages to live her life and it is this and the wonderful characters that surround her that makes these books well worth the wait.

Carmody is a wonderful writer, the worlds she creates are always complete and despite the differences still familiar. Her characters are flawed and loveable and so real I’ve always thought of them as old friends. The only problem is the time it’s taken her to finish this series – but given the other wonderful places she’s taken me to in the meantime I’ll forgive her. 

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