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A review by wildlyminiaturesandwich
The Sending by Isobelle Carmody
2.0
I have literally been reading this series for half of my life. I first started Obernewtyn when a friend gave it to me for my 16th birthday in 2000 and now, 16 years later, I'm finally on the last book.
It hasn't taken me this long to read the books though. Oh no, I finished the first four books within a few weeks of starting the series. Then of course I had to wait eight years for book five, which meant that by the time it came out I'd forgotten what happened in the first four and had to re-read them again before reading five. After another three year wait for this book, book six, I bought it ... and put it on the bookshelf.
You see, I assumed I was going to have to re-read the entire series yet again before starting The Sending because after three years I'd forgotten most of it. I was busy, I was reading other books, I didn't have time to get invested in the series all over again, I wasn't even sure why I liked the series any more ... Basically, I just REALLY didn't want to re-read them all again.
So the book sat there gathering dust for five years. Of course, it's only now after finally reading the sixth book that I realise there was absolutely no need to re-read the first five because this one has the entire story all crammed into the first half of the damn thing! I am not even kidding, someone who has never read any of these books could easily start with this book and not be lost at all.
After re-reading the first five books again (why!), I started reading The Sending at the end of May ... and have only just finished it now in the middle of July. The first time I tried to read it, I got about 30 pages in and was so bored I actually fell asleep, so I gave up and moved onto another series. I finished the entire Selection series (five books) before coming back to try again but once again I got another 40-50 pages in and gave up in tired frustration. This time I finished seven other books before coming back and I only came back to the The Sending because I had nothing else to read. By then I was determined to just finish the damn book whether I liked it or not.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I'm not gonna lie, I skipped MANY pages in the first half of the book. Even if I hadn't just re-read the entire series I still would have because it was just so frustratingly slow. I swear, snails move faster than the pace of the this book.
As I've mentioned, the whole first half of the book is literally just Elspeth wondering around Obernewtyn thinking about everything that happened in the first five books, moping about the fact that Rushton isn't there, and waiting to be summoned to go on her quest. Parts of it weren't even things that had happened in the first few books but just stuff thrown in by Carmody to obviously fill space. Elspeth repeats herself over and over again to the point where I wanted to tear pages out of the book and burn them!
The only interesting part in the first half of the book, in my opinion, was the fact that Elspeth and Rushton finally managed to get passed all of their fears and be intimate for the first time and even that was boring. After essentially "growing up" with Elspeth, watching her struggle to overcome her inner demons, crying with her as she intended to give in to her own death when Rushton was attacking her; I was looking forward to the moment ... Only to have it all fall flat and read as incredibly boring as the rest of the first half of the book. Sad.
The next quarter of the book is pretty much just Elspeth, Maruman, and Gahltha trekking through the high mountains with — surprise, surprise — nothing but Elspeth's thoughts to keep you entertained. Nothing truly interesting happens in this part of the book, unless of course you happen to find cantankerous, silent companions and barren, windy mountains interesting. If that's the case you're in for a treat as Elspeth describes it all in brain-meltingly vivid detail.
Elspeth eventually meets up with some long-lost friends and new companions in the mountains and that's when things start to become a little more interesting. And I do mean only a LITTLE more interesting. The last quarter of the book is very much the same as the previous one except there is more people talking ... too bad that talk is all centred around Elspeth YET AGAIN going over what happened in the first five books!
It's only really in the last few pages of the book, when things start to go horribly, predictably wrong that I found I wasn't having to force myself to read the book any more. And it's only because of that little bit of interest that I have even bothered to pick up the last book, even though I've heard it's worse than this one ... Well that tiny bit of interest and the fact that I've already wasted 16 years on this series and I just want it to be over.
Which is truly sad because I actually enjoyed the first half of the series, only to have it ruined by the last few books.
It hasn't taken me this long to read the books though. Oh no, I finished the first four books within a few weeks of starting the series. Then of course I had to wait eight years for book five, which meant that by the time it came out I'd forgotten what happened in the first four and had to re-read them again before reading five. After another three year wait for this book, book six, I bought it ... and put it on the bookshelf.
You see, I assumed I was going to have to re-read the entire series yet again before starting The Sending because after three years I'd forgotten most of it. I was busy, I was reading other books, I didn't have time to get invested in the series all over again, I wasn't even sure why I liked the series any more ... Basically, I just REALLY didn't want to re-read them all again.
So the book sat there gathering dust for five years. Of course, it's only now after finally reading the sixth book that I realise there was absolutely no need to re-read the first five because this one has the entire story all crammed into the first half of the damn thing! I am not even kidding, someone who has never read any of these books could easily start with this book and not be lost at all.
After re-reading the first five books again (why!), I started reading The Sending at the end of May ... and have only just finished it now in the middle of July. The first time I tried to read it, I got about 30 pages in and was so bored I actually fell asleep, so I gave up and moved onto another series. I finished the entire Selection series (five books) before coming back to try again but once again I got another 40-50 pages in and gave up in tired frustration. This time I finished seven other books before coming back and I only came back to the The Sending because I had nothing else to read. By then I was determined to just finish the damn book whether I liked it or not.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I'm not gonna lie, I skipped MANY pages in the first half of the book. Even if I hadn't just re-read the entire series I still would have because it was just so frustratingly slow. I swear, snails move faster than the pace of the this book.
As I've mentioned, the whole first half of the book is literally just Elspeth wondering around Obernewtyn thinking about everything that happened in the first five books, moping about the fact that Rushton isn't there, and waiting to be summoned to go on her quest. Parts of it weren't even things that had happened in the first few books but just stuff thrown in by Carmody to obviously fill space. Elspeth repeats herself over and over again to the point where I wanted to tear pages out of the book and burn them!
The only interesting part in the first half of the book, in my opinion, was the fact that Elspeth and Rushton finally managed to get passed all of their fears and be intimate for the first time and even that was boring. After essentially "growing up" with Elspeth, watching her struggle to overcome her inner demons, crying with her as she intended to give in to her own death when Rushton was attacking her; I was looking forward to the moment ... Only to have it all fall flat and read as incredibly boring as the rest of the first half of the book. Sad.
The next quarter of the book is pretty much just Elspeth, Maruman, and Gahltha trekking through the high mountains with — surprise, surprise — nothing but Elspeth's thoughts to keep you entertained. Nothing truly interesting happens in this part of the book, unless of course you happen to find cantankerous, silent companions and barren, windy mountains interesting. If that's the case you're in for a treat as Elspeth describes it all in brain-meltingly vivid detail.
Elspeth eventually meets up with some long-lost friends and new companions in the mountains and that's when things start to become a little more interesting. And I do mean only a LITTLE more interesting. The last quarter of the book is very much the same as the previous one except there is more people talking ... too bad that talk is all centred around Elspeth YET AGAIN going over what happened in the first five books!
It's only really in the last few pages of the book, when things start to go horribly, predictably wrong that I found I wasn't having to force myself to read the book any more. And it's only because of that little bit of interest that I have even bothered to pick up the last book, even though I've heard it's worse than this one ... Well that tiny bit of interest and the fact that I've already wasted 16 years on this series and I just want it to be over.
Which is truly sad because I actually enjoyed the first half of the series, only to have it ruined by the last few books.