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Author Isobelle Carmody booklist (click here)

Book Review By Daniella
Obernewtyn - Obernewtyn Chronicles 1 by Isobelle Carmody

Obernewtyn is set in the future after a nuclear holocust. The people in this book live in the Land, the only part of the world that is now livable. Fear dominates the Land as people are controlled by three groups, the herders; priests who burn people, and the Councilmen.

The book starts off in an orphan home where Elspeth Gordie lives with her 16 year old brother. Their parents have been burned some years before. Elspeth is 14-15, skinny with black hair. Elspeth has rare mental abilities. She can communicate with other minds like hers, mind to mind (farseeking), talk to animals in the same way (beastspeaking) and coerce. Coercing is making people do something, or not to do something with your mind.

At the start of the book Madame Vega, a representitive from Obernewtyn, pays a vist to the orphan home. Obernewtyn is a ploace surrounded by fear and suspicion and orphans go there and never come back. Madame Vega orders Elspeth to come to Obernewtyn, so Elspeth journeys to Sutrium, home of the Councilmen to be condemmed as a misfit. Misfits are what people like Elspeth, born with rare mental abilities are called. If you are condemmed as a misfit you are either burned or taken to Obernewtyn.

Elspeth then journeys to Obernewtyn. She finds that it is a massive series of buildings surrounded by farms high up in the mountains. At Obernewtyn Elspeth meets other people with the same abilities named Matthew and Dameon. She is forced to work all day in the kitchen or the farms. However, Elspeth and her freinds are unsettled and plan of escape. They think that there is something strange going on at Obernewtyn, behind the everyday things. There are also strange people at Obernewtyn. Ariel, a 12 year old blonde boy radiates power and is high up in the social structure. There is also arrogent Rushton, who is not a misfit but works on the farms.

For Elspeth life is bearable at Obernewtyn. However, who is the real master of Obernewtyn and why are people there so interested in misfits and their queer mental powers?


Plot & Themes
Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Repressive society story Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20 %
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20 %
Who's a slave/repressed? - discrim against people with mental powers

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Age: - a teen
If magical mental powers: - mind reading

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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