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Summary: Obernewtyn - An adventure for all ages
Review: I have to say that Obernewtyn is one of the best books i have read, being better than Harry Potter,Which is saying something. This is one of those books which you start reading and can't put down, even when you get to number 4 (the longest, being around 750 pgs). Set after a World wide holoucast, Elspeth is on a quest to destroy the long forgotton weapon machines which are threatening to destroy the world once more. Spread over the four books, we witness her journey, based around the beloved Obernewtyn. An excellent read for all ages, and although an advanced read, my friend did read it in Yr 5 (hey Shaz!) Isobelle carmody has outdone her self with this series and being an Australian writer, it makes it better. 10 out of 10. By *~Melissa~* with a little help from *^*Shaz*^*
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Summary: Obsolutely Amazing!
Review: This book most cetainly was the best book i have ever read i i do hope that u read it! If you are the person who love fantasy/sci fi, then this is the book for you!
The beginning of this book has a bewitching atmosphere, which definetly sets the pace, and enexpected events that Elspeth Gordie has to confornt and tackle, and the fate mysterious fate she must walk!
It also arised thoughts about the high standard of development at which chemical and biological warfare has come to. It also made me relieze what the concequences could be if war did breack out! (complete obliviosness)! It alwso made me wake up fromt mr dreary monotonous life, and made me think of what i am doing with it!
Without doubt i certainly recommend that you read this book, for your ownsake!
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Summary: Easy and Interesting Reading
Review: I found this book both easy and interesting reading, the author refrains from the "wordiness" so common in the fantasy/science fiction genre, alowing that the reader has the intellegence to determine for themselves what the "new" words mean (e.g. arrowcase etc....). I found the content refreshingly clean with no course language or reference to adult material. the plot although similar in idea to so many, has a touch of inspiration in the characters that saves it from oblivion. All in all an excellent book for young and adult readers alike.
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Summary: A nuclear holocaust and a future gone terribly wrong...
Review: Elspeth Gordie, a 'Misfit', has powers beyond her wildest imaginings. Can she safely run away from Obernewtyn - a treatment center gone horribly, horribly wrong - without being captured and killed by the evil Council?
This is an ingenious beginning to the Obernewtyn series: I've rarely enjoyed end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it books, but this one has formed a slight appreciation for the bizarre futures that aren't all peachy keen.
Elspeth is a brilliant character to begin the revolution of Misfits in Carmody's post-apocolyptic (so-to-speak) world. A fourteen year old girl now, however, can do hardly anything, but in another twenty, eighty, two hundred years, who knows?
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Summary: Great books with only one problem
Review: This is an excelent book, full of fantasy and adventure, but with only one problem; Where are the next books!! I read this in 1998 and I'm still waiting!! Has someone checked to see if Isobelle Carmody is still ... writing?? But don't let this stop you from reading one of the best Fantasy books out there!!!
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Summary: What a series
Review: I thought that this book was great. The Book following the Obernewtyn is the Farseekers and is a compelling sequal to this fist great introduction into Elspeth and the new world. It contains hints and colorful words that keeps you up all night reading. I couldn't put it down. The telepathy interested me and I was pleased with the way a small romance was also thrown in. Great Book you have to Read it.
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Summary: A small book of small imagination
Review: I chose this book because of the good reviews it had received and was sorely disappointed. It fulfilled all of the stereotypes and none of the promise. The plot was thin and often confusing, the characters shallow and listless and the conclusion darn near nonexistant. The post-apocalyptic world of the book is peopled with normals and misfits and ruled by an ever more opressive Council that commits all the usual sins of inquisitions, book burning, and forced labor camps with the aid of their generic but ominous religion and its priests, the Guardians. The main character, Elspeth is a girl with no personality but great talents which range with no explanation or moderation from talking to animals (and aren't they witty!), opening locks, both reading and controlling people's minds, scanning the countryside, and goodness knows what else. Why she couldn't use all these talents to just leave the miserable orphanage (and the book) is beyond us. Perhaps she is held back by memories of her generic idyllic childhood with generically ideal parents killed by the inquisition and concern for her generically angry brother, who treats her like dirt. He at least has some discernible motivation, even if he is an jerk. Elspeth merely tries to avoid being noticed--even by the reader, apparently. In her continuing adventures (I wouldn't want to give the utterly predictable plot away any more) she meets some really mean, greedy people. They have no personality or motivation beyond greed, but gosh they sure are Mean. She also makes some friends. They also have no personality, but gosh they sure are Nice. She encounters some Mysteries which she never quite solves, a Rebel who she never quite meets, some Victims who she never quites save, a Machine which she never quite understands and a Climax...no, never mind. That last is a lie. There is no climax. The whole thing is apparently merely set up for some later book, which I shall avoid like the plague. On the other hand, the cover design is lovely.
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Summary: A Most Interesting Book
Review: 'Obernewtyn' is the first book of the 'Obernewtyn Chronicles'. It is a rather good beginning to the series with a gradual introduction to the charecters as much happens in the next books. I find Carmody an interesting writer to read; she has a different style from writers like Tamora Pierce, and Anne McCaffery. Her style keeps you fascinated throughout the book. The plot is interesting, as the time and setting is after 'The Great White', and 'The Beforetimers'. The Great White refers to a big nuclear explosion in the 'Beforetime' which destroyed the world of the Beforetime leaving some humans with 'mutancies' which are either sentenced to death at birth, or if the 'mutancy' isn't apparent at birth, they are sent to the 'Council Farms', or the remote place called 'Obernewtyn' in the mountains founded by Jacob Obernewtyn. Although the first book doesn't tell you much about the whole story of the chronicles, it is a good beginning to the next books which tell of Obernewtyn's past, and the further adventures of Elspeth Gordie who is the one who must disable the 'weponmachines' left by the beforetimers, before the Great White repeats itself. The Beforetimers were us, and how we are now, although the lands are fictional. Overall, I highly recommend this book. Book 2 is being published in the United States, however Book's 3, and 4 are not being published here yet. They are still only published in Australia. The series so far has ended in a cliff-hanger as Carmody fans await the 5th book in the 'Obernewtyn Chronicles'. ~White Bird
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Summary: Thanks to previous Amazon.com reviewers!
Review: Thanks to previous Amazon.com reviewers for introducing me to "Obernewtyn". The story of Elspeth Gordie and her struggle to pass as 'normal' in her grim, post-Holocaust world reminded me more of "Watership Down" than of Andre Norton's fantasies (a comparison made by a previous reviewer), since the animal characters seemed much wiser and more likeable than most of the humans! As Elspeth learns how to use her telepathic powers, she is aided by a motley crew of friends, including a dog and a spastic cat named Maruman who plays the role of a half-mad prophet. The animals recognize her as the 'One who will fulfill The Prophecy', and save the Earth from a second Holocaust. Unfortunately, Elspeth must contend with those who seek to discover and control the apocalyptic weapon that almost destroyed their ancestors. "Obernewtyn" drew me right in and kept me reading through the night to see whether Elspeth could survive and somehow manage to use her special talent to save herself and her friends from some really nasty villains. I'm looking forward to the sequel, where (hopefully) Maruman the mad feline prophet has a further role to play. I withheld one star only because some aspects of Elspeth's telepathic powers seemed to pop up for the sake of moving the plot forward, e.g. the ability to pick locks. A minor nit, but it took me out of the story for a minute to puzzle over why picking locks (action against a physical entity) had anything to do with reading people's minds.
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Summary: Lovely
Review: The book is, for all appearances a stock fantasy book. Post-apocalypse, a new government has built up around the few survivors of the 'Great White'. We are introduced to Elspeth, a Misfit with unknown powers. She has a destiny to fill, and overcomes obstacles to understand it, her powers, and fufill it. The joy, however, is in the reading. The characters are interesting at all times, more than one dimensional, and well thought out. The plot, such as it is, serves more as a mechanism to study the interactions of the characters and the growing understanding of the characters as they develop. The society that forms after the Great White is an interesting one. Things are left unclear, but that is the way of it. The book neither delves too deeply into detail and interaction, nor leaves things that need to be said unsaid. It is a quick fun read, and of interest to anyone who wants to understand what it's like to discover that something you thought about yourself that was unique isn't, and there are others like you. Worth the time it takes to read, and it won't be long, because it reads quickly.
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