Darksong

The Legendsong #2

by Isobelle Carmody

These are the signs by which the Unraveller shall be known:

Half-blind yet seeing all,
marked by visioning yet without Darkfall mark,
who lives yet sings the death song,
who is born yet is not of the Song of Making,
who is gifted from the Great Waters,
who is crowned in bright flame
. . . Legendsong of the Unykorn.

After crossing to the troubled world of Keltor, Ember learns that her twin sister also crossed, and is in great danger. She must find Glynn and warn her before it is too late.

But Ember is dying and her only hope of healing lies upon the mysterious island of Darkfall, in the form of the soulweaver Chieftain Signe. Time is running out for both sisters but only the mysterious manbeast Ronaall knows that the fate of Keltor and of Glynn and Ember's world - our world - is also at stake, for what befalls one world, will befall all worlds...

Darkfall is the second in the parallel world trilogy, The Legendsong Saga, which began with Darkfall. The third and final book in the series will be Darkbane.

Darksong is the second in the parallel world trilogy, The Legendsong Saga, which began with Darkfall.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction Fantasy, Australia

780 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Isobelle Carmody began the first novel of her highly acclaimed Obernewtyn Chronicles while she was still in high school. The series has established her at the forefront of fantasy writing in Australia.

In addition to her young-adult novels, such as the Obernewtyn Chronicles and Alyzon Whitestarr, Isobelle's published works include several middle-grade fantasies. Her still-unfinished Gateway Trilogy has been favorably compared to The Wizard of Oz and the Chronicles of Narnia. The Little Fur quartet is an eco-fantasy starring a half-elf, half-troll heroine and is fully illustrated by the author herself.

Isobelle's most recent picture book, Magic Night, is a collaboration with illustrator Declan Lee. Originally published in Australia as The Wrong Thing, the book features an ordinary housecat who stumbles upon something otherworldly. Across all her writing, Isobelle shows a talent for balancing the mundane and the fantastic.

Isobelle was the guest of honor at the 2007 Australian National Science Fiction Convention. She has received numerous honors for her writing, including multiple Aurealis Awards and Children's Book Council of Australia Awards.

She currently divides her time between her home on the Great Ocean Road in Australia and her travels abroad with her partner and daughter.

Librarian's note: Penguin Australia is publishing the Obernewtyn Chronicles in six books, and The Stone Key is book five. In the United States and Canada this series is published by Random House in eight books; this Penguin Australia book is split into two parts and published as Wavesong (Book Five) and The Stone Key (Book Six).

Reviews

[Manda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's strange to think that I read this the year it came out- when I was 12 and in Year 7. I'm now 20 and I've just finished my second year of uni- still waiting for the Darkbane. Damn you, Carmody, damn you.

UPDATE: It’s 2020, I am 30 years old and still waiting for Darkbane. This is not meant to be mean or entitled in any way. Rather, it’s an unusual record of time passing.

[Miriam Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when it came out, and still consider it one of my favourites. But I refuse to recommend it to anyone as I have now been waiting for the last book for over 10 years... How hard is it to finish a series, really?! She's written a pile of novels since.

[Sisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone knows that you begin an Isobelle Carmody book at your peril since she takes - literally - a decade to finish her most famous and popular series, frequently taking detours to write other books and start new series. But the Legendsong trilogy (of which Darkfall is the first and Darksong the second), is my favourite out of all her books.

I'd read this before, in 2003, so forgot most of it. But I never forgot how much I loved Glynn and Solen together, and how transported into raptures I was over the feinna. One mention of it's liquid eyes and I melt. Although I don't always love her writing style (the frequent mentions of Chaos and the segues began to bug me after a while), she is the master at creating other worlds, and filling them with so much detail and description that it feels real. The Legendsong world is utterly believable and tactile, and lush.

What really amazed me is how easily Carmody is able to draw you into this world and make you REALLY believe in the "religion", for want of a better word, of the order of the soulweavers and their beliefs that the Unraveller will come to release the Unykorn. I mean, I'm an atheist for heaven's sake - which means that I should at least have some understanding, with the Draakan cult. But this is not so. In the end I think this is because of how Carmody has portrayed all the characters; you can't help but recoil from the Draaka and her beliefs and gravitate towards Glynn and Ember and all their allies' plights.

I can't wait for Darkbane, the last book to come out, although it won't be for another year at least. *sigh*

[Jossie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This my favourite book by Isobelle Carmody. I've read many times with maybe a year or more gap between, and each time I forget things and then am pleasantly surprised to experience this wonderful world of Keltor and it's relatable characters. I recommend this series to everyone. Darkbane is eagerly anticipated, but we still have to wait a while for it... but each time I reread this series, it is offers more and more, and rereading it is such an experience because each time I get to go back to this beautiful story, characters and world, and makes me reflect again and again of the chaos and indifference that our world suffers from.

[DJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this series, but I wish she'd finish it off already instead of starting new series every few years!

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

fuck why did i start reading this so late in the year my reading challenge is fucked this thing was 700 pages fuck fuck

also where the fuck is darkbane FUCK

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I’m giving this book four stars because I feel like it’s a massive achievement of mine to get to the end of it. Over 24 hours of audio and one of the heroines is so thick it’s frustrating but I have realised that this is young adult so perhaps that is why? I definitely want the final book in this trilogy to be written and published as I’m invested in the story and want to know how it ends. It’s a very long saga but I think that’s probably because it’s fantasy genre.

[Heather S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much. I love the connections and love growing between people. I love the feinna. I love that I have absolutely no idea what happens next!
I know people are sick of waiting for the finale, but honestly I will continue to enjoy the two books over and over.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longer than it needs to be. Hope she brings out the final book before I start forgetting things because I'm not reading it a second time, no matter how good it was.
What a cliffhanger to leave people on for so many years!

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. It's killing me. It's frustrating. Carmody has got the characters and the world for a really good high fantasy series but she just doesn't want to deliver it.

Darkfell had been heavy, but I decided to give Darksong a fair chance because the storyline seemed about to take off. Alas, no, after 176 pages, it hasn't yet. Characters started to get closer in Keltor and I thought that I had got through the worst part. But no, she decided to send them away.

The series has three POVs (Glynn, Ember and it-who-segues) and all of them spend hundreds of pages just watching their world around, pondering what they might do next or why they did what, always trying to be unnoticed, then barely interacting with people, often dreaming of other worlds/past lives/legends without enlightening anything new in the process.

I'm really upset that Carmody didn't make the most of the rest of her characters. Solen, Argon, Bleyd and their siblings, the myrmidons, ...

It's a pity that they had so much potential but Carmody decided to hold on so much.

I've been given it a chance for 176 pages but I'm sick and tired of following the three of them (I think it takes 50 pages to go from Glynn's room to the kitchens) and their eternal pondering meanwhile (even though sometimes you get wise real life reflexions through it).

Sad I'll never know what's going to happen.
So much potential.


I warn you too that it's been years and the third book it's still not published.

[Laura Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, this series, and in fact all of Isobelle Carmody's work! (Especially love the Obernewtyn Chronicles). I love when you pick up a huge thick book like this, because you can guarantee that it's going to be packed with action and plot twists - and there is certainly not a shortage of plot twists in Darksong!

*SPOILER ALERT*
I think this is one of the things that draws me to these series, because I really can't predict what will happen from chapter to chapter. The number of times that I thought Glynn was done for, and then she (or the forces in the Void) found some way to get her out of trouble. The sisters' visions of each other and yet their blindness to the implications of these visions (e.g., Glynn not figuring out for herself that Ember is the visionweaver and also the Unraveller) adds an element of exciting frustration that makes me read faster and faster so that I can get to the point where they figure it all out!

The links about politics and social climates that Carmody makes between Keltor and our own world are insightful (similarly done in the Obernewtyn Chronicles), and so these are not just entertaining books but really make you think about current issues. Combined with the rich, complex, absorbing detail provided about Keltor and its inhabitants, makes this book a joy to read.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait for the next book (which apparently has been waiting 20 years to come out), though she did finally finish the Obernewtyn series, so I live in hope!

[SpentCello · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging story, well-crafted world, interesting and diverse characters, and a strong music focus were the main positives for me in this second entry in the Legendsong Saga. Unfortunately, there were some detractors: too padded-out and long, lack of clear focus especially in terms of social issues, some plot discrepancies and a tedious and repetitious perspective swapping device.

It's hard not to compare this to Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles - there are innumerable similarities, but especially the mind/magic system and the idea of a central mythological figure who laid the path for a prophesised hero of future generations. For someone like me who enjoyed Carmody's other work, I found it an interesting insight to see how she's shaped and pushed some of her ideas over the years. There is a similar focus in the Legendsong Saga (as with all of Carmody's work) on social and political issues, however, it felt undirected and weaker than some of her other work. In Obernewtyn there is the central political issue of the balance of terror inextricably linked with a critique of the destructive side of human nature. This galvanises the entire series and gives it a clear message that is poignant and strong. The Legendsong Saga is missing that. There are a bunch of socio-political issues that are all briefly touched on and generally held under the umbrella of Chaos. To me, this wasn't as effective as positioning all the other socio-political issues around one key central theme, and instead felt a bit scattered and generic. You could argue the central point everything revolves around is that the world (our world) is fundamentally broken. I agree with this, but it still feels too generic and isn't illustrated through a particular point, and instead it vacillates between numerous unrelated social issues as if someone were shouting 'Capitalism is why the world sucks! Tokenism is rife in charitable causes! Artists are neglected and not respected! Kids are addicted to drugs! Domestic violence is horrible!', and while sure, I agree with the sentiments, using them to point out that the world is in the grip of chaos and is not civilised (despite what the majority like to think) is not particularly insightful (or original for that matter).

Part of the problem was the clumsy Watcher character, who doesn't really need to be there except as a deus ex machina. The jarring and repetitive leaps back to the Unraveller's world (our world) were where Carmody expounded upon most of her ideology, and I think this makes her key points lose their importance, as they seem slotted in and tokenistic - they're just signalling that there's going to be a perspective change. Similar to my feelings after reading the first book in the series, I think the Watcher as a character could have been ditched entirely and the overall novel would have benefitted.

I have been quite negative, which undermines the fact that I actually enjoyed large parts of this novel. I like a lot of the characters and particularly the fact that their diversity is not remarked upon, but is instead just omnipresent. I also felt the overall plot was engaging, although interspersed with some slightly more poorly constructed episodes. I do hope that Carmody writes and releases the final entry in the series at some point, but I'm very happy to patiently wait until the time is right.

[Sara Foley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, even better than the first book: deep, lyrical and enthralling - but now I’m depressed that the third book has never eventuated 😕

[Weirdfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

*archiving to my read shelf from 10 or so years ago*

[Georgia Power · Rating 5 out of 5]

18 years. Yes, I’ve suffered for 18 years waiting for Darkbane. My heart literally still sings every time I reread this series. Come on isobelle. It’s time!

[Debbie Tink · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely story. Glynn and Ember. I love the feinna.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I too am 30 years old and still dream of this world. Please isobelle darkbane 💕💕

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a long read that I wasn't sure I could stick with it but I am so glad I did because it was totally worth it. The first half dragged a bit but picked up swiftly as connections between characters fell into place. I was equally interested in Glynn and Ember's storylines, whereas in Darkfall I was predominately interested in Glynn. The political plots thickened but I must admit I could of used a character list of everyone to help keep track of it all. Hope we don't have to wait too much longer for Darkbane and that Glynn and Solen finally get a chance to be with each other physically.

[Salimbol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series over ten years ago, and while I remember enjoying it, virtually none of the details had stayed with me. So starting this, the second book in the Legendsong series, I had to perform all the mental gymnastics that you have to go through when you enter a series part-way through. Having said that, once I'd found my feet I really enjoyed this story. It's long, complex and thoughtful; the characters feel real; the world-building is interesting; and I really appreciate the fact that it revolves around two sisters, swept to a parallel world.
Side note: I'm getting well caught up on Australian fantasy now; I really need to do the same with New Zealand fantasy!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one. Its very long which doesnt bother me. I've now got my head around the politics and most of the characters. There are so many that at times I did forget who was aligned with who. The plot thickens as various factions vie for control of the world (s?) our twins have been sucked into. A big grumble from others is that it has been aroung 11 years since writing bk 1 and 2. A bit too long between drinks I think to wait for bk 3.I was lucky as I have only just read the first 2 this year. The tension is mounting as key figures are near death and the baddies abound.Lots of unsolved mysteries as well.
Looking forward to the final book !

[Eran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot-wise both books have been nice, but felt too childish at times, and tinged with such notions as other of Carmody books seems to have, that animals are intelligent as or more than humans, the modern way of the world is cruel and full of suffering and needs to be fixed, and such notions which feel irrelevant, and don't resonate with me.

The structure of the books, that every other episode is "segue" and irrelevant felt rather exasperating and most of the time I found myself thinking "not again, I'll just skim this part".

oh well, all in all it felt a bit too "hippie" at times, but it was nice, if the third book ever comes out, I'll probably read it.

[Moopies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Plot thickens! The Awesomeness continues on from the last book, but We learn that Ember has crossed over too! and so she becomes another viewpoint that we get to experience this world from ^_^ Ember is quite dark because she is dying and doesnt really want to live, this book shows us how she feels, and why she feels. It's all so very interesting, I LOVE the plot twists, it deffinitely had me bitting my nails and wringing my hands with worry! however will anyone survive!!

So very excited for the next one~

<3

[Megan Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these two books over and over again in my teens - more than fifteen years ago. I loved the emotions I felt playing out as I read.

Isobelle Carmody is a wonderful author, and this is still my favorite series of all time. I reread it again last year and I found it held up this title. For me, it is up there with The Kingkiller Chronicles and Stormlight Archive.

Even with the trilogy not complete please do not be scared away, it is worth the read even without the end.

And Isobelle, please finish the trilogy. I do eventually want to know what happens. :)

[Kelly Callaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isobelle Carmody creates wonderful worlds peopled by realistic characters. Like many other fans I am disappointed that book 3 is not available.

Glynn and Ember have 'settled' into life on Keltor, making their separate ways to Darkfall for different reasons, while hiding the true that they are strangers. Glynn has fallen in with a bad crowd but despite some terrible scraps maintains her dignity and integrity. Ember meanwhile realises that rejected love will not make death easier. The book finished with both sisters and the main protagonists heading towards the same island.

[bin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing that I didn't like about this book was that stupid fienna. I get it, you're awesome- but your annoying.
Still love Glynn. Can't believe she was tortured like that!!!
But it is a bit obvious that Ember's the unraveller, and it's a bit unrealistic how Glynn hasn't come to that conclusion yet. I mean, she got sucked into another world- not much else can be unbelievable. Doesn't she realise by following her sister she's makeing the prophecy true? Grrr...

[Kiri · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was still fairly interesting, it got bogged down with excessive vision sequences and recapping events which had happened earlier. I also got tired early on of its convenient way in which characters would see a vision anytime something interesting was going on which they needed to know about - which necessitated a retelling of events over and over to other characters which was pretty dry for the reader. Cut out all the visions and it makes a pretty good book.

[Willem Malan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ideas about the themes of chaos and song in every being. But i sort of got frustrated at how there constantly seems to be something going wrong that could have simply been avoided had the characters simply thought things through.


the politics of keltor also became stiflingly overbearing later in the story. Too much emphasis was played on political explanations and statements for me to get into the story.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that I'm familiar with the legends and politics outlined in Book 1, I was free to enjoy Book 2 without all the hard work. And I did. The story was exciting and the characters had depth. I want to jump straight into Book 3 but, alas, it has not been written yet! AAAARGH!
Recommended reading for lovers of fantasy and adventure (YA and above).

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A continuation of the most beautiful first book in the Legendsong series, this book equals the first in its power to mesmerise.

I am desperately awaiting the release of book 3, but sometimes I wonder if it'll ever happen.

Come on Isobelle!!!