16 years ago
Sat Jan 26 2008, 02:12pm
LOVED IT!!! Just finished two minutes ago. My, it was a long haul, though. I can't imagine how long it was before IC decided to have two books instead of one.
has finished
I actually got a bit excited for a while there, when it looked like Elf/Rushton might be over. But then I was sadly disappointed.
I agree with Min. Matty in the dripping corridor. *DESTROYERCOUGH*
Poor poor Domick. :(
Not enough Dardelan. Though I loved seeing him and Bruna finally get it together. Although all the while I was thinking "Elspeth! Mind your own business!".
Daffyd! Better late than never.
This little girl that Cassy-as-D'rekta loved like a daughter. Hannah's child? That's what I assumed.
More thoughts later.
has finished
thumbs up to isobelle... 1000 pages of pure brilliance.
bring on TS !!!
Mystic Guildmistress
16 years ago
Mystic Guildmistress
Mage
Has finished...
It was so very long lol. My mum kept telling me off for staying up so late reading it :P
I'm still convinced that Ariel is the destroyer, why else would he have the coercive and empathatic powers that could break the spirits of strong misfits like Domick and Rushton? Matthew appearing in that corridor was a bit odd though...
Domick :'( There were tears in my eyes when I read about what happened to him. And when I read that Kella was at Obernewtyn and hadn't found out about him made it worse...
Go Rushton!!! Him and Elspeth finally patched things up! This is by far my favourite book :) I was a bit annoyed that they had to part again so soon but oh well.
Something bothered me around pages 860-863 though...
p860: "There was no sign of the other vessels yet... Jak had gone in the second ship and Brydda in the third... We waited a halfhour for the third ship...
p861: Gwynedd... shook his head, saying it would have come by now, if it had made entry." This is what bothers me: " 'What are you looking for?' Brydda asked. Isn't he in the third ship that hasn't arrived yet? Then he talks again, and later on they still talk about the ship being missing.
p872: "...to Brydda and ... the third ship boat... I could only pray that they had merely missed the entrance..."
Did anyone else notice it?
How did u all get copies so early??
i must know!
I havent really had time to read much yet... im up to page 200... but so far so good...
Yes, Elspethinnle, I noticed that. There were lots of little mistakes like that.
Ashling Guildmistress
16 years ago
Ashling Guildmistress
Mage
Gah! I'm only up to page 500 - but it is so good! I think it is close to one of my favourites of the Obernewtyn Chronicles.
Sadly - I can't read any of your comments because I don't want to be spoiled!!! :P
16 years ago
Sun Jan 27 2008, 07:46am
I'm still on about p800 because I stopped to get a break. It was just too much. But
Oh my God she killed Domick! How could she???
I shall say more when I've finished the book.
Finished at about 2am last night
I'm still reeling from IC killing Domick. He was my favourite character after Elspeth and it just hurts. Other impressions:
I think if she'd been quicker about writing it it could have been about 100 pages shorter, since the first 100 pages were exposition for new readers. If the book had been written sooner, the first generation of readers would all still be around and all that exposition would have been less necessary.
There was something about Elspeth's narrative voice that seemed different. I can't really explain it, but the sound/tone of TSK seemed different to all the other four books.
Apart from those two problems, I loved it. Readers got to see a whole lot more of the Land than previously and it was fantastic to see how the semi-successful rebellion had opened up the Land to the Misfits. There was also a lot of good character development, especially with Elspeth, Rushton, Maruman, Domick, Gilbert and Matthew and the others taken by the slavers.
Although the end...all that effort just to get a computer disk!
16 years ago
Sun Jan 27 2008, 10:09am
Elspethinnle & Kayt - I noticed that too...there were quite a few little mistakes like that;
has finished
Ari-roth and Ari-nood swapping constantly as Elspeth was getting back to the Land.
Brydda being in the boat that was smashed, then not! I freaked out a bit at this one actually - "NOT BRYDDA TOO!!!"
Halfmoon Bay and Port Oran swapping names while Elspeth was there.
I agree, the little girl Cassy looked after was likely Hannah's child. With who? Not Jacob..
Kayt I agree - I was whooping when I saw Rushton leave Elspeth with Dameon in Saithwold. My thought pattern was something like - 'Rushton's being such a DOLT! Who does he think he is?!' to 'Finally, he's realising who Elspeth should be with'...
But poor Dameon. He seems to have cracked a little under the friendship with Elspeth, did anyone else feel that? Telling Elf straight out not to give up on him, and declaring (to himself almost) that she's always loved Rushton, and he loves her still. Then laughing (desperation?) and walking off. Elspeth still doesn't get that he's in love with her. And Dameon wants to go back to his farm...
Also - Rushton = Kasanda blood - just a bit of elaboration on that. The grandmother that he tells Elspeth of, who was always visited by the Gypsies. She sounds like she was a gypsy herself. This might mean that he's tied to Cassandra.
I thought that the theories that Iriny was Kasanda blood were correct when she came over to meet Elspeth, but then she wasn't with her in Sador. And we didn't see anything of Swallow this time.
Does anyone else think that Elspeth is going to have to use the radiation suit they found in Jacob's tomb?
ALSO! Who could have guessed that the front cover was depicting Elspeth looking at a laptop! Oh, that bit was brilliant. Elspeth now has one of the keys on USB XD
MERIMYN!! Eee!! Did anyone else squee (lots!) when we saw Maruman-as-Merimyn-as-kitten?
I'm glad we saw more of Gilbert, too, finally!
And the token-Daffyd-sighting happened - I wondered if he wasn't going to appear for a whole book. He's heading over to Red Land with the rest of them, right?
Just finished!. Thankfully work was quiet today - not something I usually hope for.
There are so many things there to think about. I'm still processing.
When we were in the middle of Domick with the plague I was beside myself. I even said to my housemate that I couldn't see how IC was going to get him out of this one, but I kept hoping. Kella hadn't arrived. How could his plot be resolved without Kella arriving. And then he was dead!
I also assumed Hannah's child.
Min's seliga theory seems even more right now. As does the Matthew as Destroyer - even though I don't want it to be so.
There were a lot of little mistakes, but things like that don't bother me providing it's clear what it's meant to be. You can't always pick up everything in editing. And they may have had to hurry it even though they had more time.
My book was misprinted. Missing pages between 904 and 953 :p So close! And yet so far!
Oh noes, Clare!!! That's dreadful!!!
Hehe. Kind of funny though. The internal monologue is fighting over continuing on without the 50 pages or waiting it out until a new copy can be obtained so that none of the precious story is missed.
firstly can I just say how envious of all those who got an advanced copy I am dying to read it and am reading "The Keeping Place" for what feels like the 1000th time waiting and praciticing patience even though it is killing me.
My review of it is written. (It had to be done by tonight, which meant I had to read TSK super-fast). Now I'm going to re-read slowly to take in more the intricacies of the book than were possible with my fast 1000-pages-in-one-day-for-review reading.
I got the book yesterday! From my library who got it unusually early and left me completely hysterical. I'm reading quite slowly at the moment, I'm only up to like page 300
Mystic Guilden
16 years ago
Mystic Guilden
Mage
Have finished it
I cried when Domick died....i kept thinking...Pavo will heal him, its still good. And then wham funeral. Admittedly i was beside myself as soon as Domick was revealed as the Null...but...i had to hope.
I have never loved Dameon more than when he was talking to Elf at Vos' place. I think this was the first time i really saw him shaken by what he felt for Elf and the situation he is in.
The scene where Rushton is trying to get at Elf in the torture chamber...OMG! I didnt know what to think. I was sure that their relationship was over then and there...but thankfully IC made it all ok....but i really wonder what price Elf will pay for enlisting Atthis' help in saving him?
And lastly (and here i will say i am no theorist) but, does anyone else think that Jakoby's sister is Salamander?
We suddenly hear about Jakoby's sister, who vanished but is not dead...there are dresses and female accesories in Ariel's house, and we are told Salamander is Sadorian/Gadfian.
I really cant believe its all over...well for TSK anyways.
YAY for Rushton and Elspeth!....yes I am a Rushton shipper :P
Appart from a few mistakes (the Ari-roth/Ari-noor thing bothered me) it was a great read...as exciting if not more, than all the other books.
Finished last night! :D
Oh my Lud, Ariel is just.... EVIL. The epitome of the word. That he could do those things... *shudders in horror*
I had quite a hard time reading parts of this book - not because it was bad lol - but because the whole ELspeth/Rushton thing felt sooo much like something I've gone through... My heart absolutely swelled with pride when Elspeth gets out of safety to confront Rushton trying to kill her. And its her love that wins - there love that breaks his madness *is crying, yet again* Sorry, bit of a sop at the moment :P
I do wish we could have seen a bit more of Brydda though I'm guessing he'll go with them to the red land.
I think Dameon leaving for his farm will be a good thing for him, especially with Rushton and Elspeth seemingly unbreakable now.
Oh, Jak and Seely - that was so cute :D Good to know that despite all the bad that had happened between the Night of Blood and Elspeth's arrival that something beautiful came out of it :)
And Maruman as a kitten! *grugs the cutey*
Defintiely think the girl child Cassy looks after is Hannah's - was the first thing that came to my head.
I'm still kinda in shock that I've read it and finished and... I think I'll go read it again :P
Saturnine, you don't happen to live in Brisbane, do you? And if so, feel like sharing what library you got it from....?
Unfortunately not, I'm a Melburnian
All finished :) I'm going to cross-post what I've already put on LJ, but I'll try to edit it to actually respond to the discussion here. I can't wait till more people have read it and the discussion truly gets going - can't wait to see what other people saw that I missed.
Cover: I am so full of glee over the fact that the eldritch green glow lighting Elspeth's face in the amethyst cave on the cover is actually a laptop screen. That almost makes up for there being an amethyst cave in the same book as a dolphin, which kind of made my cliche allergies play up. Not that I don't love a good cliche, but dolphins and crystals are a difficult one, for me.
Salamander: Ariadne, I'm completely with you on the Seresh-is-Salamander theory. It occurred to me first when Jakoby mentioned she had a sister she used to sail with, but then the evidence truly started to pile up:
1. Seresh was a bold sailor; Salamander is the only sailor to have found his way to the Red Queen's Land.
2. Seresh is deformed in the face; Salamander is obsessive about veiling himself.
3. Salamander is gold-skinned and golden-eyed; so are Jakoby and Bruna.
4. Seresh loved fine clothes, which she used to wear in the privacy of her house; in Salamnder's rooms there are fine women's clothes, apparently worn secretly in the house.
5. Seresh is betrayed and cynical, and hates the world. Salamander is a psycho, who apparently gets on like a house on fire with Ariel, an even bigger psycho.
The Destroyer: I'm beginning to think that it doesn't matter whether Ariel is literally the foretold Destroyer, or not. He's the book's antagonist, he's Elspeth's opposite, and narratively he's going to have to be in that Sentinel complex with Elspeth at the end, whatever his final role is. That makes him everything I originally thought the Destroyer was.
That said, I don't think I'll be able to bear it if it turns out to be Matthew. When Maruman said that the Destroyer - not the H'rayka - was seeking Elspeth, and then she slipped sideways into a dream of Matthew looking for her in the Sentinel tunnel ... No. Don't break my heart.
Domick: Speaking of broken hearts, Domick may have the saddest story of any creature in this series. Thinking of him first telling of his horror as he saw that Ariel was the secret agent, back in The Farseekers, and then picturing him as the broken, cold, tortured Mika, calling Ariel master ... When there were hints in Ashling of how he'd been darkened, I wanted to believe it was pretense, it wasn't really true. He wasn't a favourite character, as dolorosa said he was hers, but it's chilling to think of what happened to him.
This book had chilling down pat, actually. It brought back a lot of the tone of the very first book, with fanatical Herders and burnings and corrupt councils, that was lost in the confusion of gypsies and misfits and Sadorians and rebels that we've seen in the last few books. I liked it.
Ariel: Wow. I think I'd forgotten how truly messed up he is. I'd forgotten the thing about the dogs at Obernewtyn, so the images of his sadism here - yeah, we're really not going to see a redeemed Ariel at any point, are we?
Gilbert: I'm ambivalent about Gilbert. While I was desperate to have him drop in again, I have to admit, I hadn't really thought about what he could do when he got here.
Dameon: Is IC going to do anything in particular with Dameon, do you think? He didn't have much of a part in this book. It was just sort of "Yes, hello, still pining here; but no, that's fine, go off with the crazy boy who hates you, I don't mind. I'll just sit here. And be blind. But not as blind as you."
I'm an Elspeth/Rushton shipper and always will be, but it does occur to me that Dameon might be the one who loves her best, because he's the only one of her little coterie who loved her because he knew her. For Rushton and Gilbert, it was a matter of being struck down at first sight. For Swallow, too, it was a first sight thing, though I don't think he's actually in love with her.
Elspeth: I was thinking about why I don't mind that the protagonist attracts this kind of fierce love in every hot guy she meets. Usually that would annoy me. But I think it's that she's really not especially lovable, to most of the world. She's strange and serious and prickly and distant and not especially pretty; it's only a few people who truly like her, even though they're so fierce about it.
Also, I love that she blames her lack of social skills on not being an Empath. Sure, Elspeth. You'd totally be the charisma queen if only you had that one last Talent.
Rushton: I haven't made up my mind what I think about Rushton's arc over the last two books. Yes, she had to do something with him and Elspeth, otherwise the love story would be all settled and static for the last two books, and not nearly as interesting. But the part where he was all animalistic and bashing himself against the chamber? I don't know. I did like her going inside layer after layer of his mind, though, and finding the wounded bear in each, but Ariel in each too.
Dragon: What on earth is up with Dragon? Maruman tells Elspeth that she's missing, but nobody else mentions it, and Elspeth keeps talking with certainty about Dragon going on the ship to the Red Queen's land with them.
Speaking of, I'd forgotten that Matthew was all about the Dragon adoration, right there at the end before he was taken. Huh.
Matthew: I miss Matthew. This is how I know that these are still favourite books and always will be. I love the early characters so much. I just want Matthew back, and for him not to be the Destroyer, and maybe for him to have a nice warm blanket. And for him not to decide to stay in the Red Queen's land with Dragon, which is so going to happen if he's still alive, isn't it? Argh.
The Sword: I have nothing. Seriously, I have absolutely no ideas about this. Anybody?
Random: 1. Does anybody know what: I come unto thee, Sentinel. Judge my hand and let me pass, for all I have done was in your name? is supposed to refer to? Google gives me nothing.
2. Yay for Merret and Blyss being our first lesbian Ober couple.
3. We seem to have a bit of confirmation for the BOT Weapons on the Moon theory, with Hannah's descendant going out to glare at it on her crazy nights.
4. I love this book :-)
PML at some of your comments, Blindmouse. "Also, I love that she blames her lack of social skills on not being an Empath. Sure, Elspeth. You'd totally be the charisma queen if only you had that one last Talent." XD
Ahem - finished! This is my new favourite Obernewtyn book, I think. I was a bit concerned that, after a 10-year hiatus and so much hype and theorising, that not even the 5th book could quite live up to expectations...but I think it was so worth the wait. There is so much I want to comment on, but for now I'll just mention these few:
My first thought that the girl must be Hannah's daughter, too, though I thought Jacob could be the father. It would also fit in with the story of Rushton's ancestors, I think...my memory's a bit vague on the Seraphim family tree, but weren't there a few untraced generations between Hannah and Lukas? This girl might be one of the missing links, especialy if she started up a settlement in the mountains.
Alas, after that dream at the end I now have to align myself with the Matthew-as-Destroyer theory too. I never wanted to believe it before, but if he's following her through the tunnel she's been dreaming of since book one, it seems inevitable that there's going to be some sort of confrontation.
What is this price she'll have to pay for helping Rushton? Do you think Atthis is going to die? :-/ And whose was the voice that spoke in Brydda's head in Norseland? Atthis?
I loved Elspeth's time in the underground complex of the ruins. We've had brief glimpses of our world within Elspeth's before, of course, but I think this is the first time there's been so much. I mean, Elspeth was walking through a biohazard lab in jeans, talking to a computer. That was so surreal, but so interesting to see. And I PML at her issues with Beforetime bathrooms. XD
Speaking of computers, I loved Ines. Clearly she (or it, if you prefer) is going to be the program guarding Sentinel...I do wonder what are in all the off-access rooms in the ruins, though. Because presumably Sentinel, being Entina, is going to be in the Red Queen's Land...but my first thought on hearing about all those forbidden rooms in the ruins complex was that the weaponmachines, or something to do with them, were hidden there. There are 30 floors: it wouldn't surprise me if there were weaponmachines chached away somewhere.
I also wonder how many other Beforetime places the branches of the Ines program are guarding. Do you suppose there's a similar program in the ruins of Newrome? Or the Silent Vale, if it comes into things? Or maybe some other place across the sea, since I'm beginning to think Elspeth's going to travel other places than LotRQ at some point.
Which reminds me, I was in bliss reading that geography discussion on pages 818 - 825. I've always been so curious about What Lies Beyond the Land and Sador, and I wish I could have seen some of those maps! Does anyone else think that this mysterious other land glimpsed in a storm (top of page 824) is going to be important? Why else would it be mentioned? Same with the massive continent of blacklands on which the Land is just a "pinprick"....Gorgol said it was assumed there was only more blacklands at the centre, but do you think there might be an isolated country of untainted ground in the middle? Just a thought...don't know if Elf will have time to travel to all these places anyway. :P
Also, what on EARTH is up with Gavyn? Why would he be travelling the blacklands with Elspeth and the pack of dogs? Is he related to her beast-freeing quest? ??? Which reminds me, it sounds almost like that quest is going to be more about causing all humans to accept animals as equals, than to carry the beasts off to another country...
OK, this is getting long and confused so I'll cease. Suffice to say I loved this book, and can't wait to read The Sending! :D
16 years ago
Mon Jan 28 2008, 04:58pm
I havent finished reading yet but a few things have struck me ( i am quite near the end..
DOMICK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! and OH MY GOD I HATE RUSHTON i just cant find him likeable and their romance is painful. poor damien... and gilbert.... and if there was some swallow time in this book then poor swallow i am sure.... ah why isnt swallow in it ( yet i dont know if he comes or not...a s i said i am not finished). and is the land not an island but more like a peninsula thats what i gathered from the map) ah too many things to process * goes off to mourn domick and to wish i had dolhins to ride around on*
P.s does anyone else think that matthew has become very spunky and awesomely awesome whilst in the the land of the red ueen?
