Whither Obernewtyn

[osprey_archer]

For my March reading goal - "a book that's more than 600 pages" - I chose Isobelle Carmody's 1100-page doorstopper, the long-awaited finale to the Obernewtyn series, The Red QueenAnd I made it! I slogged my way all the way through to the end, finishing up the last fifty pages this afternoon

Comments

[littlerhymes]

Elspeth will never see any of the people she loves ever again (save Rushton, who came with her) or go home to her beloved Obernewtyn.

... What.

N.

O.

Okay, I'm never reading this. Thank you for leaping in front of this (extremely slow, molasses-like, old-as-trees) bullet.

[osprey_archer]

I guess Carmody felt she had to end it that way because it was prophesied in an earlier book that Elspeth would never return to Obernewtyn, but (1) it would be nice to see a prophecy bucked JUST ONCE in this series, and (2) even if the prophecy renders Obernewtyn out of the question, how about letting Elspeth stay in Redport as an advisor to Dragon or something like that. All her friends are there! Dragon definitely needs advisors! UGH.

The animals didn't even need her for their journey. They have a supercomputer to show them the way. She is severed from everything she ever loved FOR NO GOOD REASON.

[hyperion_swan]

NO
this ending is terrible crol
/o/
orz

[osprey_archer]

I KNOW RIGHT. I think what really gets me is that it's presented as a reward. She's been ripped from everything she's ever known and loved - as a reward! WHY.

[morbane]

Augh. Thank you for this service. More augh.

I feel like I'm... almost okay with the whole 'off to land of animals, never seeing friends again' thing, just to go with the immense, staggering weight of the prophecies so far. There should be a tragedy or their should be a triumph but I'm sort of not following 'shut off the supercomputer' except as a deflation.

(It sounds as though in plot terms this book could easily have been 400 pages long, maybe with an extra 50 pages devoted to the lives of Elspeth's remaining friends in the Land and how they move on.)

[osprey_archer]

I think if Elspeth's trek to the land of the animals were purposeful, if they needed her, then it would still be sad but I would be okay with it because there would be a point to the tragedy of it. But as it is, they don't need her - through the convolutions of the plot they have a supercomputer to lead them - and it's not presented as tragic anyway, but as a reward. Elspeth's version of going to the Grey Havens, I suppose.

Except that unlike Frodo, Elspeth does not seem at all in need of the Grey Havens. She's still very much connected with her friends and her home and they still want and need her, so where does the supercomputer get off "rewarding" her by tearing her away from them? WHY.

And yeah, the book could have easily been half as long as it was. The Habitat sequence could have been condensed down to 50 pages and lost nothing - or maybe even cut entirely.

[sovay]

I realize that there was a prophecy and everything, but honestly so much of Elspeth's life has been dictated by prophecies that I would have been 100% okay with her bucking this one and going the fuck home.

One of the reasons I treasure the film Labyrinth (1986) is that it breaks that trope-magic must depart, people must be separated from what they love, it's all some metaphor for growing up and putting aside childish things, I suppose-with great satisfaction and it makes everyone who's watching it happy.

[osprey_archer]

There are so. many. prophecies in this series and I would have liked to see Elspeth buck one of them. JUST ONE.