One month to go until The Red Queen is out, and that means we're up to the 6th book in the Ober Chron: The Sending! I'm still half-way through The Stone Key, but figured it was time to start the thread for those of you who have kept up with the re-read schedule.
Anyway, we've been doing this since May, so you get the drill by now; discuss away!
this book is so much of a waiting book; it is like the calm before the storm. There was so little happening on surface after TSK but so many undercurrent, I have been doing a quick re-read of the others and really feel the last two books to have a solid grounding in Elspeth's world.
I have a Maruman theory that he has done a similar thing to the Agyllians and help his mind in the realm of colour (?) waiting for a body to meld to. I had previously thought he was put under a cryogenic sleep in order to make it to Elspeth's time but now I am less sure. My theory is based around things in The Sending but i don't have my book on me to provide my back up quotes. There was the one about Maruman having 'made himself up' where Casandra was telling a child about him and the other one about the wolves saying that he was narjulk (?) like the fusion of Gavan and Rasiel.
sorry for the bad spelling and inexact quotes. I am on holiday and couldn't take the book with me.
Dream Traveler - I love your idea that Maruman has somehow preserved his life/self by maintaining his spirit/consciousness in the same way the Agyllian Elders do. It doesn't explain his haggard/old appearance, but any arguments I would make against your theory are based mostly on the assumptions of Elspeth, which tbh I'm surprised she still makes considering how often assumptions make an fool out of her :p
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The Sending was difficult for me to read the first time I got my hands on it. Coming from the rushing events of The Stone Key, I was expecting more of the same fast moving plot and constant reveals. I read at a cracking pace until I found myself at the end feeling like nothing had happened. Which it didn't, really, at least not in the way I was expecting.
This second read, knowing what kind of book I was in for, I still found it to meander in places (I lost track of the amount of times Elspeth wished she could be like the beasts and live in the moment..) but overall it was a compelling book and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The thing that struck me most is how obvious Dameon's deep romantic love for Elspeth is. I wonder how that is going to reveal itself, and what the fall out will be. I love Ruston and Elspeth together but at the same time I kind of wish D&E could have their moment, I just love him so much. I also found myself wondering why the animals shun Darga as abnormal but still flock to Gavyn, considering they're the same. Is it just because of his enthralling abilities?
Everything here sets up so well for the final book to come. I feel like I have questions that need answering but at the same time I feel satiated enough to wait in content anticipation. No idea how it's going to end!
Now I admit I have to go back and read The Keeping Place, which I always skip on re-reads because it's so damn depressing :(( but at least it will keep me occupied until The Red Queen arrives!
I love The Sending- it is the tension build up to the climax. It is a lot more emotional for Elspeth in some ways, loving Rushton then having to leave him, and having to depart from Obernewtyn, to leave behind one of the only places she could call home, to go out into the unknown on a quest for the machines that could destroy the world, being the only one that could stop the destruction occurring... no pressure Elspeth!
Rhenlings: what do you think they are?
I kind of think of a bat / eagle type of thing.
More like a vampire bat.
Basically finished (still have the epilogue), and I could have sworn to you that we found out what the stone sword said, I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for it to be revealed, but nope. Once again my mind has played a trick on me (as with Malik's trial which I swear happened).
I really do think that the book suffers a bit from a slow beginning, largely because it's half of the story, which is unfortunate. Of course, it's great to see so much, and experience everything, but for less keen readers, I'm sure it's a little dull.
I'm really curious as to why Elspeth pees so much, the pregnancy theory seems to be true just because of how often Elspeth goes to relieve herself, I swear we hardly got it in the previous books (I think it might have happened), and I think there's probably 5 times it's mentioned! Not sure how she could be pregnant that much for this to be a thing, since it hasn't been that long, but something is definitely up!
Also thought we got more of Jacob's journal being read, she kept saying she was going to read it on the trip, but I swear she didn't (the others read some, but not her).
Also forgot Rasial-Gavyn and their story which is more fascinating, plus Maruman being narjulk, very interesting if you consider The Dark Road, hopefully we find out more about him.
Ah, only 2 weeks left (unfortunately means exams are close too....)
I've finished it recently too - and LOL you are right, Elspeth goes to the toilet a lot. The pregnancy theory still doesn't work, though; you only need to pee all the time later in the pregnancy, it's way too early for her for that (baby needs to be big enough to be pressing on your bladder. Bet you wanted to know that).
@Daniel - she's probably developed type 2 diabetes from all the chocca she drinks : P.
Ha ha about Elspeth 'relieving' herself a lot! I honestly think IC is just striving to make the journey more realistic by including these mundane details of the trip.
Yay! Managed to finish the re-read in time for The Red Queen being released on Thursday!! I loved The Sending. I forgot so much of what happened in the book that it was so lovely to read it again. Just a few thoughts…
- Love this sentence: “I always wondered if we had learned from the Beforetimers’ mistakes to temper our imagination with enough humility to make us think twice before we set out to change the world to suit our desires†(p.15)
- Talking with Maryon - “There are more rare an’ potent links even than love, though. Th’ one between you an’ Ariel is such a one, as is th’ link between him an’ Dragon†(p.70). What does this mean?? Stronger link than love? Destiny/ fate?
- Dragon and Ariel are Keystones but Elspeth is not – “I dinna ken what you are, Elspeth Gordie. Whenever I focus a vision on ye it is like lookin’ into th’ heart of a storm… Yer more than a keystone, an’ ye draw them both to you†(p. 73). Cryptic and reveals something of the mystery surrounding Elspeth and the part she is to play before the end.
- Doktaruth’s talk with Cassy is so interesting! “Sentinel is the most sophisticated and intelligently responsive computer program ever devised… It is said to be the first computer program with the capacity for true intellectual development†(p.108) – It seems to me that they created an artificial intelligence!! I also loved the talk about cryogenic pods and the Eden project.
- Doktaruth talking about Eden/ possibly The free-running barud – “I do what I do as best I can and take comfort from the fact that even if humans do die out, Eden will retain the potential for animals and plants to regenerate†(p.109)
- The Sentinel Facility and Eden are on the same continent(p. 109) which means the Red Queen’s land is joined up to the Land – I have this notion that they will fly there using some Beforetime machine/ plane
- The Land of the white-faced Lords sounds like Chinon (Asia) – which was largely unaffected by the nuclear holocaust and is still in possession of beforetime machines – only disconnected from the rest of the world
- Intriguing dream of the past – the two women (Hannah? and Cassy) in the Beforetime with a sleeping cat (Merimyn/Maruman) with a bandaged head. This may have been after they had been woken from their cryogenic sleep – which means Maruman would have been put in a cryogenic sleep too
- The efari: “That still does not tell us anything about the efari,’ Swallow said. ‘What sort of people would stay behind if they thought a city would be destroyed?’ I have a thought that the efari are artificial intelligence – robots who were commissioned to keep the work going – keep everyone in cryosleep until the earth was restored
- Spirit links and bonds: All the talk of spirit links/ linking to a person that has died and forming bonds between two people has made me think that the dark, mad spirit (Destroyer) that seeks Elspeth could be the spirit of someone who has died – Jes, Alexi – tied to a living human (Ariel)
- Rasial and Gavyn accidently merged spirits (and became the flying wolf-man) – completely forgot about this!! This could essentially lead to a whole realm of possibilities
- Najulk – unnatural – Maruman is also Najulk – I wonder who Maruman’s merged spirits are? Cassy? Hannah? Etc.
- Moss’s body taken by the efari to the Beforetime city instead of eaten by some unknown creature?
Loved the re-read and cannot wait to read The Red Queen.
I only got half way through and I've been agonizing as to whether to finish my Sending reread.... I think I'm just going to start TRQ. I'm too excited!!!
