Sidebar fillarrrrrrrr- lalalala
Cinda. I was so happy we got to see more of her! I was worried I would never see her again and I am so happy that we saw her, and Elkar, at least one more time :D (bit disappointed Elspeth left before Rolf arrived)
The Rushton/Elf sexscene had me sqeeeing for... I'd say hours but I stopped sqeeing to read more :P
I am pretty impressed with the way Elspeth hid the knowledge of her quest in the deepest part of his mind, and when she found he proposed! I cried for a LONG time because she had to leave! and and and its just not fair! he was heartbroken (they both were) and he doesn't remember that he knows why she's gone and arrrrg!
Although I loved at the end where (random??) Old Man complained about how Elspeth left Rushton and Brydda did not stand for that, he was like "Elspeth is awesome! she's gonna save your life fool, so be quiet!" that bit made me smile, because I was a bit worried they would resent that see left them.
My theory about the efari is that they are just beforetimers in the same type of suit that Jacob wore to get to city and they wear it because they think the taint is still active and that they knocked out Elspeth and Mirym so that they could "heal" them of the taint, I also suspect that she couldn't farseek Straaka's brother because they got him too!
I hope that made sense ^^;
I won't get to read it till I get back to Aus in December- 2 months and 3 days from now...you will all be wildly theorising full of new knowledge and I will be sitting here, twitching and trying desperately not to read the spoilers...I haven't so far.
Sidebar stufff........... fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill fill. Is this enough
Haven't psoted in a long time but yay! Managed to ninja a copy... also anyone who has tried to get a copy from the Manningham Library.... sorry! Newho
I think a lot of people have mentioned that the Sending is a bit of a strange book in a way. It spent a lot of time rehashing material from previous books and reminding us of things that has gone on before. Obviously for us avid obsessive fans who has memorised every last detail it did get a bit tedious but I can see why for the more casual reader it would be helpful..
Anywho moving on from that bit let's move onto the good stuff!
I have a feeling people would complain about the Sending's slow start cos let's be honest for a book we're expecting Elf to leave for her quest she didn't get started until almost halfway through the book. But I personally loved it! It made her departure all the more brutal and stark and it was fantastic to see Obernewtyn life once more, something we only had a glimpse of once in the Keeping Place. But just to help me organise my thoughts she did learn or acquire some important things whilst in Obernewtyn:
1) The link between Rushton and Elf - this will play a huge part. She will draw on Rushton's strength for the last book! Or she will somehow use that link and the dreamtrails to travel with Dragon to the LOTRQ!
2) The black sword and severing of bonds. A lot was said about how a bond can be created between lovers and enemies. I think Ariel and Elf will have a bond and Elf will destroy that bond with her sword.
The travel itself at the beginning was a bit dragging cos they were two chapters of just travelling through the mountains but things picked up when the gehdra (woot!) and her companions appeared. I love the poetry of her companions and how there were characters from each of the books who became her companions (well except for the Stone Key...).
I especially loved how each character had a role to play - Analivia served as the beacon that drew Moss (and Dragon) to them, Dameon led them through the gaarg, Gavyn/Raisal (love their spirit forms) saved them from the rhenling, Ahmedri helped them through the desert.... which means Swallow and Dragon still has roles to play and I think empathy and enthralling will also have bigger roles as well.
As for the efari - I think it's not a robot but a human. If you remember IC giving an interview earlier this year and dropping hints about the Sending/RQ it's actually quite clear who the people in the Pellmare are. But I won't say it just in case people do keep away from ALL spoilers but if you're curious just go read her interviews from this year.
Sorry about the essay but has to gush like a crazy. I haven't explored all the theories, the epic Rushton/Elf moments, Luthen's heart/code etc. etc. etc. But that can wait until the Sending is properly released!!!
I WANT THE RED QUEEN NOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!
SIDEBAR... FILL FILL FILL FILL
Btw spoilers below not only for the Sending but IC's interviews and twitter account!
Hmmm... Min it did struck me that the White-Faced Lords could be the Asians that IC mentioned about. It fits since as soon as they mentioned the White-Faced lords I thought of geishas and it resonated again when they spoke about honour and how they valued control. This is strengthened again when you consider the Sneding mentions that large parts of Chinon survived and IF the LOTRQ is Africa (giraffes are present after all) then Asia is connected to Africa (at least in our time)
However in her tweets IC mentioned Elf needing to understanding the Tumen to escape - and according to almighty wiki Tumen is a part of the decimal system used by the Turkic and Mongol people to organise their armies. So this points to a colony of Chinon people again.
I guess it is very possible that the Tumen and the Lords could be two separate colonies of former Chinon but I guess time will tell (GARGH! I WANT RED QUEEN NOW!!!)
As for the pace of the book - I didn't mean to sound so negative. It was the two chapters about transversing the mountains that initially seemed a bit long to me. But I think that has nothing to do with the writing but the fact that when she started the quest my feverish brain was rearing for anything and everything!! But in I completely understand why IC had to write it that way. Like you said this is an epic journey and you needed to have that moment of breather, to reflect and to show that the quest is not going to always be adventure rail-roading to adventure.
One last thing - does anybody remember that one line from Maruman when he said that Hannah brought Hannah/her mother's bones across the desert? Does anybody else thinks that Hannah's daughter was named Hannah and she was the one who eventually brought Jacob and Hannah's bones together?
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
I Love Spoilers!!!!
Gehdra, have you read the Dark Road short story? If you haven't you really should.
Deb - ARGH - you should be waiting until you have the book! Don't spoil it for yourself! As Nef has said (a page back, and elsewhere) this is a book you DON'T want to be spoiled on.
I'm half tempted to remove the thread until after 31st October - to get rid of the temptation - but for the fact that a lot of the secrets have already been revealed in spoilers so removal now would be kind of pointless...
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Sat Oct 08 2011, 01:01pm
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
La la la la la la la la
is all good. I've read it,, loved it and want more. :P
Oh - GOOD! Phew! Sorry then - that you haven't theorised yet lead me to believe you hadn't read it when you posted above!
OMG, so glad I don't have to resist temptation any longer!!!
First of all, EEEEEEE!!!!! I kept reading so fast I missed bits and had to go back again.
I loved the start bit. I knew that in thsi book Elf started on her quest, but I didn't know when, so I loved the bit at Obernewtyn. When Rushton didn't show up at first, and then when he was so cold to her I was so scared, I thought Ariel had gotten to him, but then when they made love, and he knew everything, even for that brief time - *squee!!* How does the bear become unchained? That was one thing I didn't really understand.
I cried, so much, not so much when Elf was told she had to leave, but when she found the wreath by her bed, and she knew she could never see him again... :(
I am so glad that she had company on her quest. And she got to see Dames again!! And Dragon woke up properly!!! That made me cry, but more with happiness. It broke my heart when Elf loved her and Dragon hated her. Also a relief that they didn't have to actually walk across the tainted glowing black lands. But what the wolf said about one of her 'pack' dying - I don't want to lose any of them.
Re the efari, until I read the above spoilers I didn't really have any theories, but I like the robots idea. It would make sense of the shining suit thing. I also didn't think about the cryo stuff - I agree, I think that's what happened to Miryim, although whether for good or bad I don't know, but I think it less likely that Hannah or Hannah Jr or Jacob are there preserved in frozen sleep.
I'd long thought that the girl Cassie sculpted in her garden, who looked like Hannah, was Hannah's daughter, born either before they left for the RL or in RL. Given what was said in this book, evidently her name was Hannah. She was Cassie's ward, and when she grew up she went to the mountains to find her mother. And according to Maruman, she found her bones. Another reason I don't think either she or Jacob are in cryo sleep is that Rushton is descended from Hannah's daughter, the 'moonwatcher'. Still not sure where the moon comes in, but maybe it will be explained in TRQ.
God, I can't wait, I can't believe she left it on such a cliff hanger. Is there an official release date for TRQ yet?
Actually just on that does anybody know a place where I can get the Dark Road? I've looked for it in my local bookstores but no luck ><
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
Min, I haven't theorised yet as I'm still getting my head around what I want to say. There is so much that I want to say that I don't know where to start. :rolling:
Mystic Guilden
13 years ago
Sat Oct 08 2011, 06:20pm
Mystic Guilden
Mage
I feel a little lost in here. Being such a terrible thoriser I never venture in here to try. But I felt that The Sending needed a concerted effort, even if it was just to [act]squee[/act] with others who had read it.
Oh, and with all the gap filling going on at the top of these posts, we should ask Selley's for sponsorship :P [act]Yes, Ari's brain may be defective[/act]
Lets see if I can order my thought's and write them down. Deb knows most of this because I've been messaging her almost every step of the read :P
Can I say first off, I am SOOOO glad I wasn't the only one to cry when Elf was packing to leave Obernewtyn and saw the Bonding Wreath and note from Rushton. I've never cried reading a book before....not even when Domick died (I was just stunned into mental blankness), but I was blubbering over my glasses then!
When I read the references to the efari, my brain constantly leapt to Scatterlings and most strongly at the end of the book. The silver suit mentioned made me think Astronaught and I pondered whether the efari are humans that were in stasis for a long time, and now live among what is left of the city, dealing with anything they deem a threat by putting it into stasis too. Though I must admit (and this is why I don't theorise), the idea that they are robots protecting the area makes a kind of sense.
Leading on from this, What does everyone make of the Eden project? My initial thought was that it was linked into the Forest like garden in Oldhaven, but it seems it was more linked to Sentinel, which I still believe is in the Red Land. [/theories]
I'm excited for The Red Queen (love the cover!), but at the same time I'm nervous wer are going to loose out on some of the embelishments and explanations IC usually includes in order to fit it all into one book. Anyone for an 8th book? [act]Dodges rotten fruit[/act]
Lastly, the start of The Sending almost read like a "Life flashing before you eyes" story. There was plenty of dread lying in my brain, up until Elf arrived at the Skylake and saw her companions. I almost Woot-ed aloud with joy when Swallow and Dameon came into the story. Sadly though, now I have divided her companions into two groups: Those who will live and those who will inevitably die even though I don't want them too. I hate to say it, but Dameon made it onto the latter :(
And now I'm done :P Make of that incoherence what you will :) ;)
Hello sidebar, how you like my filling?
"ariadne says:
Leading on from this, What does everyone make of the Eden project? My initial thought was that it was linked into the Forest like garden in Oldhaven, but it seems it was more linked to Sentinel, which I still believe is in the Red Land."
I have the sneaking suspicion that it is in this Pellmar city, or maybe she uses the dreamtrails to travel to the Redland, or where ever Sentinel is OR I'm completely wrong and no one should listen to me :P
The question that still nags at me is: Why, for what reason, do the Efari have to GUARD a city in a world where nearly everything has perished? What are they fighting for, and against?
Pellmar seems far enough away from the rhenling that that can't be the reason... Your thoughts? :)
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Sat Oct 08 2011, 07:33pm
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
My Squee moments...
Swallow! until I realised that I have lost him forever.
The vampire bats. Thought they did a great job getting rid of Moss
Dragon waking up.
Swallow, Swallow and more Swallow.
And yes, poor Dames is a goner.
Mystic Guilden
13 years ago
Mon Oct 10 2011, 09:42pm
Mystic Guilden
Mage
Halina: What am I doing here??
Ari: Being gap filler.
Halina: Oh. I guess that makes sense :-/
* the Frenhling (sorry spelling?) Not that I loved the creatures, but I loved how creepy they were... I felt on the edge of my seat reading intensely to see if the gang would make it out okay!!!
I forgot about them. I honestly thought that at least one person was going to die trying to lead the vampire bats, or you know, rhenlings, away from the rest of the group. Thank lud they didn't! (Did everyone else picture them as some kind of mutated bat/flying fox? I didn't get a clear picture of them until Elf mentioned the wings. Just curious)
* Angina dying - I'm sorry, but this is the part I utterly disliked the most. Perhaps it struck a chord with me because it hits a little bit close to home but: Essentially, the way I read/ saw that scene as Angina saw that the world was too horrible to live in, and decided the only way to fix it was to not be in it :-/
I always saw Angina as a sort of fragile spirit. When I read that I decided that perhaps it was a lesson that hatred can do more harm that we will admit at times, especially to people who might be grappling with their lot in life already [act]shrug[/act] It's still incredibly sad and gut wrenching reading though.
* Elspeth doesn't return to barud because how she remembers it does not exist that way anymore! It's all Obernewtyn shire etc. Therefore, I think she can all come back :nods: for sure!
That's my theory too, however naive it is :)
* Elf's pregant XD - ha, not really, but I'd be a little bit amused if she was.
Ok, can I admit here and now that when I read about the Gold thread, I thought that's what it meant....
For real. I had a little Rushpeth running around in my head after that! :P
EDIT: Oh oh! And one last thought: What do people think 'The Sending' as the title was in reference too? I always thought it would be in relation to -
'sending the animals to their freedom' or something like that... but after reading the book, I'm not quite sure...
I just assumed it was because Atthis would 'send' for her, and she would be 'sent' from Obernewtyn on the beginning of the last long stretch of her journey. Though that's a pretty literal translation.
I love these discussions. I always remember so much more of what I read this way :D
rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
So anyway - Elspeth pregnant? I'm down with that? It would echo the whole hannah going into cryogenic sleep and not knowing thing - but give it a happy ending when she meets up with Rushton again.
AND it would totally eat Dame-burger up. I'm shipping Dameon going DOWN!!! I've reached that point where I'm kinda looking forward to his demise - there's only so much love-sick yearning you can take from a guy before it gets old.
If it were a hollywood movie, he'd get a pep talk from a mate and realise that she's just never going to see him that way and he should move on. Then he'd meet a girl and they'd be all in each other's faces fighting before they finally realised that they were truly in love ...
BTW, I have a LOT more respect for Swallow now that he's showing interest in Analivia - she is awesome!
Wanderer Ward
13 years ago
Wanderer Ward
Dreamscape Artist
I finished the book on Saturday morning (then spent the following two days attempting to catch up on all the study I neglected >P< ) I haven't read all of the above spoilers yet, but my reactions seem to be pretty similar to many others. Sorry for the repetition here!
Initial Reactions - hurray for Dragon waking with her memory intact! I'm so glad Elspeth isn't alone and she finally has people she can talk to about her role as seeker. Does anyone think she was opening up and becoming more personable at Obernewtyn before she had to leave? Her continual dismissal of her role as Innle is still as annoying as ever though! I'm glad that one day Rushton will remember why Elspeth had to leave. How will those memories be triggered? Was that explained? I can't make myself believe that they won't see each other again.
I'm favouring the idea that the efari are robots programmed to do a certain thing, as Min (or someone) said rather than people. If they were people, wouldn't they have made contact with someone and why would they put Miryum in suspended animation?
Does anyone else think that Eden might be connected with the freerunning barud? I'm not sure how, my brain just decided that there was a connection.
Are there theories about how the testing of sentinel went wrong and resulted in the Great White? I've always thought, and this was reinforced by a statement somewhere in The Sending about it being capable of independent thought or something like that (I can't remember the exact words), wouldn't it have made its observations of the earth and mankind when it was turned on and thought "hand on, the world would be a better place without these pesky destructive humans, I'll blow them all up". And I think with its capability for mental development or evolution, it would be capable of overcoming any safeguards set in place to avoid that. That's probably a common theory, but anyway!
I agree with Nef that the title refers to the Agyllians finally sending for Elspeth to leave Obernewtyn (via Maruman's message).
not sure if this really belongs in a sending spoiler or not, but ever since I'd read about the gadfians, maybe it was just because of what was going on at the time, but I always thought Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator. Also Al Qaeda (spelling?) and islamic extremists. They just seemed that sort of race. Can some one fill me in on what the generally accepted equivalent races are? white face lords=asians I know, but my mind goes blank after that.
This is probably so widely accepted that I'm stupid for mentioning it, but Maruman=Merimyn? Although I'm not sure how he managed to live that long...
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
PML at Halina's entrance to the thread.
MK! I know right. Ana is awesome and is the perfect match for Swallow [act]sigh [/act]. After Isobelle told us that Swallow would have a relationship in the Sending I had a good idea that it would be Ana, though the way it came about was a surprise.
13 years ago
Tue Oct 11 2011, 06:50pm
[act]pounces on a couple of things[/act]
Loren - Agreed on the Gaddafi front - I've always figured this (he) was where the name came from too.
Maruman definitely = Merimyn. I reason that it looks different when written only because of the difference in accents over time from Hannah's time to Elspeth's time (Hannah was Tipodan - say Maruman with a kiwi accent for example - it sounds like 'Merimen' - not saying Hannah is Kiwi, just using the accent as an example).
The gold link - is a link between Elspeth & Rushton's spirits, not a baby :P similar to Angina & Miky's, and Miryum & Straaka's.
(And truthfully, I couldn't bare if it went with the whole "you WILL(!!!) get pregnant if you have unprotected sex" thing, it would just feel so very...Twilight :-/ )
Angina's death - MK and I have talked about this a fair bit, as she mentioned...I'm going to go on about it for a bit I'm afraid...
What I didn't like about it differs a little...I understand Angina's spiralling downward with no desire to go on - with his - whoever said 'fragile', that was apt - spirit, what happened to him I think was great representation of character.
All of us know, once you're in a cycle of despair it can sometimes take more than your own will to come out of it. Perhaps that is what Miky was trying to do. He would have felt the hate more acutely too, being an Empath.
What I have a hard time coming to grips with is Obernewtyn's response to his condition. And maybe, Angina's death was pointing out how little Obernewtyn truly know about their own minds.
I want to make clear, it's not the writing, that's not what troubled me. It was the actual characters, I didn't like their responses in the terms of themselves (as actual people / entities, if that makes sense).
It felt like everyone was plagued over him, sure - but at the same time, they just wanted it to be over. I am guessing this is a fairly typical - albeit guilt-ridden - reaction...I wouldn't know, I haven't had to look after anyone sick for that many months and it can't be easy.
But Elspeth can't have been the first to discover Angina's depression, moments before releasing him to the mindstream, can she? Miky must have discovered it and was doing what she thought was right - holding on, and giving him her will to keep him strong and show him someone cared.
Anyway, it felt like they left him for dead, when he was at his most vulnerable because they didn't understand him or know why he wasn't improving. They were keeping him alive because that's what they'd been told to do, not because they thought he would pull through. They had no hope in / for him. Their use of Darius at the end was to try save Miky only.
He was in pain, he felt alone, he needed support, and reassurance, the kind Elspeth tried when it was nearly all over ('not all men are like this'). He needed to be dragged out of his downward spiral, kicking and screaming if needs be. He wasn't physically ill, and he was young - it was not his time to die, but they just let him.
[act]can't quite sum up a point here...[/act] it's tricky :-/
[act]moving on[/act]
MK I do love the idea of Dragon speaking Gadi. I would like if that's part of the thing that she "does not know she knows", it'd be clever.
And I do love the thought that Elspeth will return to Obernewtyn, because it's changed forever now. Perhaps therein lies a (not 'the') significance of her leaving precisely when she did.
Kaede - in agreeance over the Eden project being related to the freerunning barud side of the Quest. Has anyone ready "Beauty", by Sheri Tepper? It was a book Isobelle recommended to me many, many years ago.
Well if you haven't - stop reading now, if you don't want to be spoiled :P
At the end of that book, Beauty uses her sevenleague boots to jump back and forth in time, collecting animals that have become extinct. And she stores them in stasis, in her castle that is frozen in time, waiting for a time when the world is ready for them.
THAT is what I think the Eden project will be now, and that has to be what the freerunning barud is. The beasts won't find a free land in Elspeth's time - they'll go into stasis, to await a day when humankind is extinct, and then they'll be awoken, by Ines or some other computer in control of the stasis modules/Eden project.
'Cause this is filler, filler night
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike
You know it's filler, filler night
You're fighting for your life inside a filler, filler tonight
First up cheers Min, managed to get a copy of the Dark Road and now understand a bit of the story better! But so glad I read the Sending first as otherwise many things would have been spilt for me!
Now my favourite part of reading OC - rampant theorising!!
1) I assumed it was called the Sending because Elf was sent off on her quest but more importantly people were sent off after her to be her companions.
2) The Eden project - my thoughts are exactly like Min's. I think that the freerunning barud will be the Eden project (the name thematically fits already). The beasts will be frozen and defrosted (that sounds strange...) when humanity has died out hence they will be able to run free. I think the last part of the series will be Elf have a futuretelling into this far-off future and she will see Gahltha galloping with his son.
3) The companions - I dunno about this but I think this is influenced by my watching of Lost. If anybody has watched the show the last season had this rule that once the island was done you you could die. I have a feeling Elf's companions will be like this that once they've out-lived their usefulness some of them would die.
Top of my list - Gavyn/Raisal (especially if one dies the other would as well... unless Elf uses her black sword to separate them) and Dameon (yeah... I'm sorry but how else could you MAJORLY put the hurt on Elf). But we know Ana and Swallow will have at least have one child so Ana must live but Swallow could be up on the chopping block. Gaahh... I sound really sadistic now.
4) And finally jumping in the Angina discussion. As someone coming from a medical background who's seen patients so depressed they reached catatonia I can all too easily imagine Angina hitting that state. Especially as others have mentioned that hate hurts empaths, what Angina received would have a vicious assault on his Talent, his mind and his sense of what the world is. I imagined that Angina reached the catatonia of depression and in that state very little works - the patient off just stops eating and withers away. In these cases there is no rhyme or reason why they have reached that way. It is not a choice, I don't think Angina chose that, I think he was so sick that that's all he could see. Also I imagine during TSK the Obernewtyn guilds would have done all they could to help him but eventually reach a dead end.
As for Obernewtyn's reaction to Angina - I know its dreadful but there are so many times when you are faced with cases where death is actually the better option. I have seen patients suffering from the most dreadful of diseases and have seen families reach that point where their wish is not to see the patient continue but simply to pass away peacefully. I have seen so many reactions - tears, anger, solace in humour during this period. So even though it seems abrasive that everyone wanted it over what you are seeing might only be the surface.
